Happy New Year to those who celebrate it! Let's hope that 2026 will be better than the previous few years!
So far this morning I've taken my Visible reading, then my blood pressure, then my pills, run the first virus scan of the new year (which was reassuringly clear) and I've just got washed and changed.
It's the start of JanNo today, so I'll prolly be less active than usual... I hope I remember to save the edits this time lol
Let's get today's to-do list together then officially start JanNo.
For the final time in 2025 I've taken my last two pills of the day and I'm heading off to beddy-byes.
It's the start of JanNo tomorrow so I'm not sure how active I'll be, but I promise I'll be safe.
I'll see you all at some point in the morning.
Nite nite orl
It's been a long, painful, exhausting, stressful day today, so it seems my Visible reading first thing was spot on.
My best friend has discovered that other than the first part of the edits of my NaNo25 novel, nothing else has been saved so I've lost about 10-15,000 words and days worth of sleepless nights! I'll have to start pretty much from scratch again for JanNo which is frustrating, but Gaia/Loki/both must have something up their sleeves for me with this memoir and it'll just take more edits and time than I was hoping.
Gotta remember to phone the pharmacy tomorrow about my missing loopy pills so that I've got enough to see me through until the end of the festive season, instead of running out half way through when nowhere is open.
My last two pills of the day have been popped and I'm heading on up to beddy-byes now.
I'll see you all in the morning.
Nite nite orl
Pinch and a punch for the first of the month!
It would have been the first day of NaNo today, except that it's no longer functioning and I've written my 50,000 words in October, so I'm using November for the first edit, having December off then hopefully the second edit for JanNo.
It's also Saturday today, so as well as my blood pressure and pills, I've also turned the imersion heater on for a bath. I've got another cold brewing, so it'll be another VICKS bath as opposed to a bubbly one and I'll be drinking cold relief drinks instead of tea/coffee today too.
I've brushed my teeth and tongue and put my watch on to charge up for the first time today.
The daily virus scan was clear and bath-time will be at 5am then I'll have my breakfast.
I've just seen the reminder about putting the blood pressure spreadsheet onto my health site, so I'll try and remember to do that after I've put today's to-do list together. I've gotta download the PDF of October's Visible feedback too.
Time to get today's to-do list together now I reckon.
BBS
...having a full belly after such a big lunch, getting more feedback on my misery medical memoir that I wrote for NaNo24 and edited for the first time for JanNo25 and especially for how little my energy is going to cost me this month 'cos I've already saved about a tenner this month, plus at least £2 today and it all adds up!
I'm also grateful that I phoned the pharmacy first thing and I'll hopefully have my newest prescription in my hands tomorrow morning.
I'm also grateful that I can keep doing my laps this week but I wanna try and get my weight even higher if I can so that I can confidently do the laps without worrying about how much weight I'm losing.
On top of all that, I'm grateful that I found out for sure what the advanced issue is with the virus scan... I know that it'll just take a bit of time and patience and it'll magically heal itself rather than being infected by anything nasty.
Today has been a good day.
...two things: first for my gorgeously hot, lavendar-scented, bubble bath this morning and second for the first day off from everything this year.
The bath was exactly what I needed to unwind from the last month and to celebrate officially finishing the first edit/re-write of my JanNo book and to welcome in a new month.
Today has officially been my first totally free day this year and it's been weird in a good way but I've been wondering what I'm forgetting. Monday is a free day too, Tuesday is my groceries, Wednesday my weekly virus scan and backups and also the annual service of the central heating, Thursday and Friday are free, then it's the weekend again, so it's gonna be a hectic couple of days but I'm really hoping that'll be it... maybe coming up with ideas for and planning out my NaNo25 novel next week too? I've got zero ideas but it'll hopefully get me out of my grown-up non-fiction headspace and back into the children's headspace.
This blog post is getting waay too long so I'm gonna shut up now lol
My internet connection died on me yesterday afternoon and I was finishing off editing my NaNo book so wasn't able to say goodnight to you all last night.
So far this morning, I've taken my blood pressure, popped my morning pills and run the daily virus scan. I'm bloated after my pill-popping, so I'm not gonna have any breakfast this morning otherwise I'll be throwing up and won't be able to have lunch, so I'm just not risking it today.
I'm gonna try and remember to send my best friend the fresh manuscript and ask him to tear it to shreds for me so that I can get it up to publishable standards. There are a couple of bits that are in red that I can't work out but I'm hoping that a fresh pair of eyes will be able to point me in the right direction.
The virus scan was clear and I've gotta remember to have a bath today ready for tomorrow. I need it after working up a sweat with my laps yesterday afternoon and my knees are complaining too, so hopefully the hot water will ease them.
Need to charge up my FitBit after my bath too.
Time to get today's to-do list together now methinks 'cos this blog post is getting waaaay too long lol
BBS
I've woken up in a reasonable mood today so I'm gonna make the most of it and try and put the finishing touches to the first re-write of my JanNo book.
I've taken my blood pressure (which was slightly raised), popped my morning pills, had my breakfast and now I'm charging up one of my phones and my FitBit while I wait for my first carer of the day.
Time to get today's to-do list together while my virus scan is checking my laptop, then I'll put today's breakfast photo up after I've resized it.
BBS
...C's unwavering support and patience with me for NaNo this year, for his understanding and notes during the research stage during pretty much the entirity of 2024 and his never-ending encouragement during JanNo.
He has been the one and only person who has been able to even start to decipher some of the notes in my hospital records and he's encouraged and supported constantly. He's known when to leave me alone and when to stick a rocket up my arse. He's encouraged and supported me as I wrote and edited for JanNo and I hope I haven't been too much of a PITA about it.
I've been a right cowbag during our friendship, but he's never left my side or jumped down my throat like so many others.
C's my best friend and I'm immensely thankful for his friendship and constant support over the last 26-ish years.
Well, today is the first day without any kind of creativity or research or editing in my day since June!
I've got a delivery of batteries due at some point today and I'm hoping for a long soak in a hot, lavendar-scented, bubble bath today.
My morning pills have already been popped including a 5-HTP 'cos my body gave me the signal that I was low in it again. Got a me-friendly creamy hot chocolate on the go too and my cold is winning over my immune system right now, so it's gonna be a sneezy, sniffy kinda day by the looks of things.
The daily virus scan found an "advanced issue" in a "sensitive document" so I'm assuming that's to do with the file I opened yesterday afternoon that I'm waiting to hear back about 'cos I can't do any more writing/editing of my JanNo manuscript until I hear back about it from the wonderful person I sent it to. It's about 20 pages out of almost 400 but it's vital to the manuscript.
Gonna put up today's to-do list after an edit of it for the New Year.
BBS.
...a very hot, very me-friendly creamy hot chocolate now 'cos I've got through the first part of the re-write/edit and can't do any more until someone is able to decipher my consultant Neurologist's handwriting for me.
Apparently the readability score should be 60-70 and my manuscript, right now, is 69.7 so I'm happy with that.
My bladder is really kicking off so I'm gonna go for a wee, refill a bottle with squash then make myself some creamy drinking chocolate and relaaaax.
...managed to go through the manuscript 3 times correcting minor things like spelling and grammar mistakes and adding/changing words so that it all makes sense and changing the tenses in a few places. I'm gonna spend today and tomorrow re-reading a fantastic non-fiction editing book that I discovered and read last weekend but which I've forgotten almost entirely now, so I'm gonna let the manuscript fester until Monday then make sure every word has earnt its place.
I'm saying goodnight to all my wonderful readers for the last time in 2024 and I want to scream a huge thank you to each and every one of you for keeping reading throughout the last year - seeing those "read" numbers grow for each post throughout each day gives me the motivation to keep going and keep posting and most importantly not giving up.
I'm hoping to put more honest health posts up next year 'cos my best friend C has been quietly encouraging me to let my mask lower ever so slightly and it's starting to feel like yes, my feelings, my emotions and my health do matter and it is OK to talk about how I'm genuinely feeling at any given time. I have as much right to be gloomy and whiney and struggling as you do to not read those posts if you don't want to. My mask has been firmly in place for the last 35 years so 2025 is gonna be the year that I try and pluck up the courage to let it slip and be honest enough to tell people "no" or "not right now" without apologising.
I've kept my New Year's Resolution this year and unless something drastic happens before midnight, there's no way I can break it now. I'll be unashamedly busy throughout January because of JanNo and I'm not going to apologise for being unavailable for the first time in my life.
I'm not sure when/how often/what I'll post until I've finished JanNo, so don't worry if there aren't my usual good morning/to-do/goodnight posts for a while - I'll be fine, I'll just be in a totally new headspace covering lots of firsts so I'll need to zone out potentially for the full 31 days.
Gotta remember that as well as JanNo it's the weekly virus scan and backups tomorrow too - you watch me forget though lol
This final blog post of the year is the longest one I've made for a while so I'm gonna shut up now and head on up to beddy-byes in the hope that the fireworks from my very local pub don't wake me up/keep me awake this year.
I'll see you all at some point in 2025.
Nite nite orl.
Well, it's the start of a new week and I'm already having techie troubles... I'm wondering if yesterday's techie issues were Loki reminding me of what He is capable of?
I've already taken my first blood pressure reading of the day, popped my morning pills with a glass of water, run the daily virus scan and unofficially weighed myself... I'm unofficially 2.05kg heavier than my minimum and 50g overweight unofficially but I'm gonna weigh myself after my carer has gone to make it official, but I might just stick to water instead of hot chocolates this week.
It's M's birthday today and I'm expecting a couple of deliveries too, so it's all go today!
JanNo starts on Wednesday so I won't be putting my laptop on the floor and will just be having instant soups for lunch so that I can keep on editing instead of having to stop and start. I've got two boxes of mince pies left so I'll have those for my lunch today and tomorrow then just the soup and water each day so that I can keep on editing instead of having to stop mid-sentence to eat anything and the water will be a good detox from all the coffee and hot chocolate too.
This first blog post of the day is waaaay too long, so I'm gonna publish it and put today's to-do list together before my carer arrives.
BBS
...found 3 books that will hopefully guide me through editing my medical memoir that I'm gonna spend the day reading and reviewing tomorrow so that I'm ready for editing in January for JanNo. Two of the books are under 100 pages long and the third book is 161 pages so I'll hopefully get them all read and reviewed and get myself prepared for getting the memoir into publishable standard.
I was really proud of my pill-popping this morning because I managed to get them all down without throwing my head back for the first 4 of them but my first night-time pill was a total shit-show and I had to take 5 gulps of squash and throw my head back 4 times before it eventually went down!
I've had a loooong day today and literally just remembered that I forgot to take one of my prescriptions this morning (it's 10 pills every morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays but I only took 9 this morning) and it's too late to take it now so I'll have to take it tomorrow morning instead and hope for the best.
I've just posted on FB asking for a crash-course in editing my NaNo MS for JanNo because it's full of firsts for me and I know barely anything about it so I'll hopefully get some feedback on editing a grown-up memoir as opposed to children's fiction before the end of the year!
My last delivery got posted through the door mid-exercise session this morning so I'm planning on spending tomorrow with my nose in a book and not moving far from the sofa all day - I need a day off from life and tomorrow is gonna be that day.
My FitBit is getting some emergency juice to see me through the night, but it's bed-time for me now.
I'll see you all in the morning.
Nite nite orl.
I've zoomed along since lunchtime and I'm hoping to be able to write another thousand words today to make it up to 8k today so that I can have my two J2O's and leave the final 4k for tomorrow so that I can have my last reward of the season until the editathon that is JanNo for me this year. It's been tough going at times, but I'm almost at the finish line and can almost smell my mocha being brewed at 7am tomorrow lol
I'm waiting for peoples questions about my disability and I've gotta come up with a blurb for the back cover, but they are both jobs for tomorrow methinks 'cos I need to finish off the manuscript first!
...the jab doesn't totally screw me up for the whole of November, I'm going to treat myself to a take-away curry in celebration of writing the book that's been inside me for the last two decades.
I'll treat myself to a treat-sized choccie for every 1,000 words I write in a day, a J2O for every 5,000 I write in a day and a curry when I've hit the 50,000 words to win NaNo.
For the first time in my life it won't be a children's book and I'll be laying myself wide open but I need to write it for me as much as anything, to try and get my head around what went on between 1999 and 2004 and to try and get my head around the fact that 2003 just doesn't exist for me any more for some reason.
I'm hoping that it'll maybe be picked up by trainee GPs/Neurologists/CNSists in the hope that maybe, just maybe, I can stop someone else going through what I went through and it'll be picked up within the magic 12 week window so that they can go back to living their life, fully cured. A simple blood test every few weeks would have lit up the diagnosis and I could have been cured and back at work in plenty of time for the Millenium Bug instead of spewing my guts up, not even being able to keep water in my stomach and being told that it was all psychosomatic.
NaNo will be writing and JanNo will be editing this year and I'm planning on lots of rewards throughout so that I don't give up entirely yet again.
It depends on how quickly I get answers from my GPs as to when it'll be ready for publication, but it'll be self-published through Amazon rather than through traditional channels because it'll be a one-off so won't be looking for a traditional publisher or agent... it'll be therapy for me as much as anything.
This blog post is waaay too long and it was only supposed to be a short one! lol
Edit: If you knew me when I first got ill and/or soon after I came out of hospital, can you ping me an email to AmandaGeorge@hotmail.co.uk and let me know how you knew me so that I can give you my book research email address to forward anything at all about my neurological disability that I told you/posted/emailed to you so that I can try and get things together and let me know how you want to be acknowledged in the book too so that I can give credit where it's due.
...that the 2 tubs of treat-sized chocolates at the bottom of the teetering tower over by the freezer, are reserved for NaNo24 and JanNo25.
I've got a tub and a half of treat-sized chocolates to get through in the fridge and there are 10 x J2O's ready to go for landmark writing treats so I'm all ready to go now.
If my maths is right (which it probably isn't lol) I'll be able to have a treat-sized choccie for every thousand words I write and a J2O for every 5,000 that I write. I'm gonna stock up on the Glitterberry J2O's for JanNo but they won't be available until closer to Christmas time and I haven't got room for them any more either lol.
I'm basically stocking up on treats little and often so that it's not so stressful or expensive to do it all at once, but NaNo is totally ready now, I've just gotta get into the intense writing headspace that I get into throughout November and I spend January editing.
It'll be weird all round this time 'cos I'll be writing non-fiction for the first time in my life, exposing a very private part of myself and my disability potentially to the world and hopefully getting into the hands of trainee doctors so that hopefully nobody else has to go through what I went through and am now stuck with for the rest of my life.
...a very creamy, very chocolatey drink right now and at least a couple more before I go to bed.
I've just put the finishing touches to the last of what I can do for the research and notes for my NaNo/JanNo book, I formatted 2 CDs and saved things on to them then got it all ready to get to my GP surgery... I forgot to sign the letter until it was too late though! Woops! Not to worry, it's happened before and I don't think it mattered then and it'll hopefully be the same this time too.
I've officially earnt my reward and can relax now 'cos it's out of my hands until I hear back with all the answers to my questions so I'm gonna seriously overdo it on the creamy hot chocolates now that I can finally take it off my to-do list for the first time since March.
Coming to get ya, hot choccies!