October is always the beginning of the busy part of the year, Quarter Four. This year was no different, though the ways it was busy were different. October has birthdays, trips for my brother, NaNoWriMo prep and everything else that comes with normal life.
This year also had early voting and a funeral.
Originally my plan in October was to figure out the plot for my next book, And She Hunts. We didn’t really do that. Instead, we read a lot and played a lot of Stardew Valley.
Life Update
I spent a good chunk of October sick again, this time with allergies. The middle of the month, I woke up one morning (actually the morning I was going to a funeral) and my throat was on fire. For a week, it felt like anytime I swallowed, I was eating knives.
To this day, I’m positive it was allergies. It took about a week for my system to get rid of whatever was in me, I was fine for a week, and then I woke up sick again (with allergies as far as I can tell) last Tuesday. Even now, almost a week later, I still don’t feel great. I’m stuffy, my nose runs a lot and my voice still feels really weak.
The fact I’ve been this sick with allergies twice in one month feels like a good indicator of just how stressful this year has been - my body can’t even fight allergies well. And God bless my boyfriend who is doing everything he can think of to help me - we bought a new humidifer after he woke up one night hearing me struggle to breathe because my throat was so dry. We’ve been drinking sleepytime tea for a week straight. I don’t think it actually makes me sleepy, but it’s a nice way to unwind.
The first week I was sick, I went to another funeral too. This one was for my great uncle, the younger brother of my grandfather who died earlier this year. My uncle lied here in Austin and I last saw him around the 4th of July. Just like my grandfather, I think my uncle was ready to go.
I can’t blame either of them - both of them were 90s, had been widowers for years and lived alone. You watch all your friends die and leave, too, and you want to go, too. Both of them were so devouted in their Catholic faith, I hope Heaven is everything they could ever imagine.
However, the month wasn’t just death and illness. I talked about it here, but last weekend, I went to my parents’ new house for the first time since they moved everything in. I spent time with my brother, and he always puts a smile on my face. Especially since we didn’t do the road trip to Midland this year, this was a great replacement trip (and a much shorter one).
My boyfriend and I voted early, and this was the first time we’d ever had a long wait. There’s typically a few people when we go to vote and we might have to wait 10-15 minutes, but last week we had to wait over an hour. And then my machine glitched while printing my ballot and I had to do it all over again.
I’ll be writing more about voting and my political history on Tuesday but I am a firm believer that America works better when more of us vote.
Writing Recap
There wasn’t much of this. I wrote about 700 words on the first trying to get an idea of what this book would be. I dabbled in some brainstorming and a little bit of research. I just never felt like I gave myself time to sit down and spend time. Mostly because of the allergies.
But that’ll be changing this month.
Reading Recap
We read seven books this month! Which is more than I think I’ve read any other month this year? It wasn’t quite everything on my list but it was much more than any other month.
The Unknown by Riley Sager
This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum
Pretty Dead Things by Kelsey Cox
Dissection of a Murder by Jo Murray
Final Girls by Riley Sager
The Shadows by Alex North
When the Night Comes Knocking by Katherine Daniel
November will be an even busier month, so here we go.