I took a break from ye olde newsletter to look for a new hosting service, and then life got so busy I didn’t have time to research newsletter hosting services, and now here we are at an embarrassingly late date, at the same exact place, just overdue.
I sure was optimistic at the beginning of the summer! I posted a recap of the pandemic in the form of seventeen months of increasingly wild-haired selfies. I took a part-time job at a local historical society, taking care of a REALLY AWESOME archival collection that I’d love to talk about (except I’ve shrouded my day job life in secrecy, so alas, no). I joined a committee, and a second mentorship program, and I saw family members in person that I hadn’t seen in a year, and I got notes on a novel revision from my agent, and I enrolled my kid in school, like actual in-person school—
And everything pretty much crumbled after that. Delta, local school districts fighting over mask mandates, a close relative ill (not covid but bad, not covid but anybody’s care for anything might be impacted by the hospital crush). It was too much. I bailed on in-person school a week before day one, and found space for my kid in an independent study program.
So here we remain, heading toward month eighteen.
I admit, I wallowed for a couple months. As one does! But if the floodwaters aren’t going to stop, I suppose I’ve just got to learn how to navigate them better. Waders, boats, life jackets—I DON’T KNOW FLOODS, I LIVE IN DROUGHT CITY, just fill in the metaphor that works best?? I’m levitating by my own bootstraps, is what I’m saying, and if I pause to look down I’m going the way of Wile E. Coyote.
So let’s not look down.
ANYWAY! Here are Sam’s Hot Tips For Carrying On In the Slow Motion Apocalypse:
NOVEL REVISION ROUGH CUT - after months despondently prodding this thing with a stick, I’m throwing overthinking to the wind and cutting and pasting all my favorite bits into a new document, then seeing what I’m seeing. Future Sam has some transition work cut out for her. I don’t envy Future Sam!
TURNING OFF MY WIFI AS NECESSARY - between social media and the fresh flood of work- and volunteer-related emails, I have a really hard time managing a work/life balance. I inevitably decide I need to “catch up real quick” and then hours later I resurface, a whale who has finally come up for air but is now depressed. So goodbye WiFi, I guess!!
KEEP THEM HANDS BUSY - finally, when all else fails, it is time to grab a crochet hook and get yarnin’! I have leveled up my skills to three dimensional animals (please read that in a very fancy voice, thank you). I made the mistake of letting my 6-year-old look over my shoulder while I was browsing patterns, which then caused a domino effect of other related children (and adults) finding out what he’d requested from me, which means I’ve now committed to making seven amigurumi koroks from Breath of the Wild.
ONE DOWN, SIX TO GO!
Next time on Samtastic News:
Lord help me, the next time my phone buzzes I will throw it in the creek bed, I can’t take any more news. But I haven’t forgotten my pledge from *cough* months ago:
A VCR has been acquired.
A pile of B-movies has been located.
Next month, The Return of B-Movie Review begins!