In my last newsletter I mentioned two things that were going well, and I’m happy to say they are still going well. First, I think I’ve finally found a medicine mix that’s working for me and know I just have my fingers crossed that it stays this way and doesn’t turn on my body like the last good mix did. Second, I finished the outlining of the first half of my current book and put together an editorial To Do list of things I need to rework to make the first half of this book as strong as it can be and to set up the second half for success.

Some of these tasks are easy, like rewriting a scene here and there for clarity or to update some detail, and others are a bit harder like rewriting and removing a couple of side characters who ended up doing more investigating and providing more information about the case to the reader than Aaron was. Then there are the bulk of the tasks that are going to be hard. Tasks that two years ago I wouldn’t have been able to do. Tasks that two years ago I wouldn’t have even had the focus to think about and develop in the first place.

You have no idea how excited I was when I finally got this list put together and realized I actually have not only the writing skill, but the focus and the attention to detail needed to pull these changes off. This book has a lot of moving pieces and I’ve avoided writing something like this until now because I knew I didn’t have what it takes to make it work.

So no matter what is going on in your life that has you frustrated or blocked, know that even a flake like me can eventually find a way to make it happen. Who knows how the full project will eventually turn out. It may completely fall apart, but I have the confidence now to know that whatever this book throws at me, I’ll be able to handle it. I’m not exactly sure my therapist gets what a huge breakthrough this is for me, but he’s helping me work through a lot of different things, so I’ll let him slide on this one for now.

I can’t recommend talk therapy highly enough for everyone, but especially neurospicy folks like myself who have a bit of extra trouble navigating this plane of existence. I always thought it was just a lazy cliche about writers with therapists, but once again, the cliche works because it’s based in a whole lot of truth.

What I’m Reading: I was in a bit of a slump for a while, but that was broken by reading the delightful forthcoming mystery from Catherine Mack called Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies. This book was a blast and was funny but not in a stupid slapstick way. There was some heft to the story and to the characters that worked really well. I also finished Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect, which I enjoyed much more than the previous book in this series. It was less on the nose with the meta aspects and the narrator’s storytelling asides were fewer and more enjoyable than the last book where they grew very, very annoying and distracting.

What I’m Watching: I finally finished the third season of Only Murders in the Building and really enjoyed it. The plot wasn’t the greatest, but I absolutely love the interactions between the three main characters. I also watched the new two-part Steve Martin documentary in Max and it was amazing. A great, in-depth view of his entire career. Highly recommended. I also started Sugar on Apple TV (I feel like Apple TV has become what HBO used to be with an almost flawless record for high quality and intriguing shows, comedy and drama) and really enjoying that as well. I feel like this is a show that would have been better released with all episodes instead of weekly, but I realize that method only benefits viewers like me and screws over just about everyone else involved with the show. My favorite recent show though is the new Fallout series on Amazon Prime. Fallout 4 was the first video game I ever played completely through and was fully absorbed into the world, so I was very nervous this show would ruin that. But somehow it only manages to make it better and make me feel like I’m living through a new edition of the game. It’s funny and gory and smart and just bonkers fun. All you need to know is it features Walton Goggins as a sort of zombie cowboy bounty hunter.

What I’m Listening To: I’ve been listening to a lot of smooth jazz in the mornings to get my day started and I’ve also been listening to a lot of other pre-made playlists to put together my own playlists for my new gig as a trivia host. Oh, did I not talk about that? Guess I know what I’ll be writing about next month!