2024 Review/Health Update
In comparison to the previous few years, 2024 was quite slow…allow me to explain.
I didn’t spend a terrible amount of time in the workshop in 2024. I only completed two projects, the Utility Sink Cabinet and the Navy Seal Picture Frame. Neither project really taxed my creative abilities or skills as a woodworker, but I did enjoy both projects overall. The utility sink was a much-needed improvement to our laundry room, and my sister loved the frame and Lisa’s cross stitch contained within.
When it came to the workshop, I just was not feeling very inspired. I kind of lost a bit of interest in working out there after the picture frame was finished. I had something else I wanted to work on…
I finally sat down and started putting some real effort into my novel. It simply took me sitting at my desk, opening up a Word document and getting to work.
I put together my own version of the Save the Cat! beat sheet and began filling in the blanks, starting with my novel’s logline and short synopsis. Yes, putting together the short synopsis at this stage was a bit premature. However, I’ve got a much firmer grasp on what my story is going to be about than previously, and its content isn’t set in stone quite yet anyway. The synopsis will evolve a bit, just as my novel will as I go through it.
I next began putting together the backstories for my main cast of characters, of which there are six. It took considerable time to put this together. I thought I would be finished with one character, then I’d be out for a walk and I’d think of something else to add or change. I had first names for most of these characters already from my previous attempt at my book, I just needed to figure out last names.
An interesting change of events happened with one character, in that I had them envisioned looking a certain way, and the more I thought about their name and how I have it spelled, it led me to completely changing how they look. I think it’s now for the better, in hindsight.
During Christmas vacation, I got some actual writing done for the first time. I’ve mostly had the beginning and ending of my novel figured out already, so I went ahead and got the opening image completed in the first chapter…all 4-1/2 pages of it. It’s a simplistic few pages, having gone back to reread it a couple of weeks later. I’ve given more thought to this chapter and there is so much more I can and will add to it.
Overall, I’m really excited with the progress I’ve made so far. It may not seem like a lot to some, but it’s a huge step in the right direction for me.
In addition to the writing, I’ve done something else to help me with getting my novel off the ground…READING!! Other than the occasional woodworking book or the Save the Cat! books by Jessica Brody, I haven’t read a book for recreation in over 25 years.
Ever since I started this writing journey, I would constantly be told that I need to be READING books in order to better WRITE books. It was quite discouraging, to be honest. As I’ve mentioned previously in another article, I very nearly quit the first creative writing class I took a few years ago after the instructor told me that I’d likely not be successful at writing without first doing more reading. I might have convinced them otherwise with my Malaika story, which they told me was “the work of a professional”…HA, take that teacher person!!
I forget why/how I ventured onto the topic, but I learned that David L. Lander, the actor best known for his television role as Squiggy on Laverne & Shirley, had MS and hid it from nearly everyone for many years. He finally came out about his diagnosis and then wrote a book on his experience through all of it. I found a copy of the book on Amazon, but I wasn’t sure I really wanted to start buying books, especially to read them only once and then they just sat on a shelf.
Instead, I checked at my county library and they had a copy of the book on hand…perfect!! I drove down, got myself a library card for the first time since high school (some *cough* 30-plus years ago) and checked out David Lander’s book. It was a great read, at least to me. I appreciated how he tackled such a tough topic with his own brand of humor. He provided me some great information on symptoms and dealing with them that will help me with my novel’s main character (who will also have MS).
Shortly after finishing David Lander’s book, I headed back to the library to check out another book that was mentioned a bit in the first Save the Cat! book by Jessica Brody…Memory Man.
The main character, by way of a nearly fatal accident, has a perfect memory that is both a gift and a curse. While not THAT remarkable, my own memory is quite good and I have often viewed it in the same way, so this book interested me. I won’t spoil it, but it was excellent in my opinion. I found out it was the first in a series of books, so I’ve already gone through the next three books in the series, The Last Mile, The Fix and The Fallen. There are currently three more left in the series, and I’ll be starting the fifth, Redemption, shortly.
Other books I checked out and read included The Chaos of Standing Still, 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, The Karma Club and The Martian.
Karma and 52 Reasons were both written by Jessica Brody (mentioned above), and I wanted to check out her writing style. Both were written in the first person perspective and were about teenage girls as the main characters (hero). Karma wasn’t too bad and I got a few good laughs out of 52 Reasons (which is being made into a movie, I think).
The Martian, which I only finished a few days ago, was excellent as well. Having already seen the movie, I thought it would be interesting to read the book and compare the two (unfairly or not). I must say that I enjoyed both equally. The film, obviously, omitted a certain amount of material due to time constraints, but the overarching message was still clear. I really enjoyed Mark Watney’s log entries as written in the book. His candor and “I don’t give a fuck” attitude were quite refreshing.
For me, though, having watched the movie first, it gave a face and a voice to the characters in the book as I read their dialogue. I tend to be a bit more visual when it comes to reading (my own novel I envision as a running movie as I’m trying to work through it), so it helped me navigate things better. And, I must say, casting Matt Damon in the lead role was perfect. The only other person I could envision in that part would be Vince Vaughn.
Mexican Daughter and Chaos were more important reads for me than the others, as I was looking to see how others tackled a person’s grief and their ways of dealing with it. As my own novel deals with that very subject, I felt it paramount that I see what/how others have written on the subject. Both were very good in that area, but Chaos really hit me hard. That book had me welling up with tears a couple of times as I was relating my own experiences to the hero’s. This was another Jessica Brody book, and I think she did a masterful job. This will be a reference book for me, no doubt, as I get further along in my own story.
Reading…it’s fun(damental)!!
As for my physical health, there is not a great deal to report. My MS is still (thankfully) in remission. I still have the ever-present Lhermitte’s sign in my neck, but it’s barely noticeable on most days.
My JCV results are still in acceptable ranges, so Dr. G still has me on Tysabri infusions. However, he did discuss with me other forms of treatment that are available should my JCV numbers take a turn for the worse. I looked into the treatments he mentioned and all of them are oral medications versus injections/infusions.
I still haven’t found a new general practitioner since I last saw one three years ago. I got passed around at that practice too many times and I didn’t like that last doctor and haven’t been back since. I know I need to find another doctor soon, because I can’t afford to be careless with my health, especially given my family history of MANY things.
One thing I will say is that I need to get myself in better shape this year. I was a bit more sedentary with not working in the shop a lot, and it’s lead me to gaining 10 pounds as I am now just over 160 lbs. It’s not all lack of exercise either, as my diet has slipped a bit as well. It’s nothing terrible, it’s mainly I need to quit the snacking during the day. We’ll see how that goes throughout 2025.
My mental health, I think, is in as good a place as it’s been the last couple of years (since my breakthrough visit to see Malaika in 2021). I’ll admit that the presidential election was not helping for a while, but I’m back to where I need to be right now, I feel.
One thing that went a long way in boosting my mental health was another trip to Connecticut in August. I got the chance to go to an old fair I hadn’t been to in some 35-plus years. I realized that I am not quite as much into truck and tractor pulling as I used to be as a kid, but I still had a good time walking around and checking out the old farm tractors and the lumberjack show.
I also visited an old teacher and family friend, Mrs. Hall. I spent a good few hours just sitting and talking to her one afternoon. It’s impossible to get up to date on everything that’s gone on in the past 40 years, but I hit the highlights :)
Perhaps the best part of my trip to Connecticut was the chance to see my old elementary schoolmate and friend, Lisa. We weren’t anything but classmates throughout most of elementary school, but in 2021, I reconnected with her through Facebook and we’ve been friends ever since. We hadn’t seen each other in, literally, 35 years…since we’d finished sixth grade.
I spent a few hours at the small library where she works, just chatting with her about whatever came up in the moment. I had a great time, although I wish we could have spent more time getting to hang out and talk outside of her workplace…perhaps another opportunity will arise in the future.
There was one major milestone that was hit in 2024, and it was a huge one for me. I finally managed to live in a single place for more than six years. It doesn’t sound like much, but I was always constantly moving around every few years, starting at the age of six.
With that in mind, now that we seem to be rooted here, it’s time we start working on improving our house and yard. That started with clearing out most of the trees in our back lot. There’s only a few left (the ones I’m not comfortable cutting down myself) and then we’ll get some professionals in to take care of the rest…hopefully in the next couple of weeks of publishing this article.
I don’t make resolutions at the start of a new year…never saw the point. With that in mind, however, I did set a goal for myself back in November. I want to have the first draft of my novel completed by the time I turn 50. That gives me 2-1/2 years to get my book done. I think that is a reasonable amount of time, as long as I don’t squander it.
Other than that one long-term goal, I don’t think it is to my benefit to commit to getting any particular thing done in any given amount of time. It is not in my best interest, health wise, to stress getting a project finished. Things will get done when they get done.
