I can’t believe a month has already passed since my last blog post. Emotionally, I’m doing better than I was then. With the help of my psychologist, I overcame the anxiety I’d been overwhelmed with. My day job has been getting me down though. One thing I had liked about this job I’ve held for twenty-one years versus my previous job I’d had for five years was that there was minimal politics. That seems to be changing, and it feels like more weight to carry.
Despite this, I’m still writing every day. Although recently it’s been slow going. I finished Entry 119 today, but it took me three weeks. (I mentioned in last month’s post I needed to do a lot of world building. This was Entry 119.) Prior to this entry, there had been only one entry that exceeded 3,000 words, but 119 exceeds 4,500. With all the character introductions it might read like a data dump and overwhelm readers, but if it does, I think I’m okay with it because, in that way, they’ll be sharing what Orly experienced.
Unless I’m on vacation to write, most entries take me one week to complete—Monday through Sunday. Since Entry 119 took three weeks, I’ve fallen to being only seven weeks ahead of the online publishing schedule. I hope to get back to having ten entries in pocket though as I have extensive notes already written for the remainder of the journal.
Last month, I mentioned three books I’d read that helped me get through my anxiety. In July, I finally read The Waves by Virginia Woolf. It had been on my bookshelf for years. Thirty pages in, I had to start over because I didn’t understand what I was reading. But after beginning again and reading it all the way through, I felt what a masterpiece it is. It’s so rich and layered. And it’s the most the poetic novel I’ve ever read. There’s so much in it that today, I began reading it again. I’ve never re-read a book so soon after finishing, but I want to do this while all the characters and their lives are still fresh in my mind so I might find things I didn’t pick up on during my first time through it.
I booked a hotel in Shinjuku in November. It’ll be the second time I visit Tokyo and the second time I’ll spend my birthday there. From Tokyo, I plan to visit Vietnam. I’m traveling alone again though, still trying to get accustomed to it, but already I feel anxious when I think of all the details. I’m planning to rent a friend there to go to theatre with me and maybe a museum or two. Who says authors lead lonely lives?