A gradual return to work and change of schedule seem to have made all the difference.
Life in general
I made some decisions while I was off.
First, I wasn’t going to return to work full bore. It’s what I’d done in the past, and within days of my return, I was teetering on the edge of burnout again. I didn’t want that to happen this time. Or ever again, frankly.
When I spoke to my doctor last month, I asked for a gradual return to work 3 days per week for 2 weeks and 4 days per week for 2 weeks. The week of my return was 3 days, anyway, so I didn’t have to do any juggling there, but I opted to work Monday through Wednesday the week after, Monday to Thursday the week after that, and Monday to Wednesday plus Friday for the final week of my gradual return to work. My days off would be covered by sick leave.
Interestingly, I’d already asked for July 31st and August 1st off, which meant that I’d have 2 additional part weeks before finally returning to full time work the week of August 11th.
Second, I changed my daily schedule from 8:30 to 4:30 to 9:30 to 5:30. I need more time in the morning to get my shit together.
It worked out well the first couple of days, but I had to go into the office on July 4th and exchange my work laptop. The exchange itself was fine, but I wasn’t advised to bring my authentication key with me. It was okay, I was assured, I could log in from home, authenticate, and that would complete the process of transferring my profile from my old computer to my new computer.
Except, when I got home, I couldn’t log into the VPN. After a frustrating hour with the National Service Desk and an escalation to level 2, I confirmed with my team that the VPN was down. There was nothing I could do. I’d have to keep trying to log in throughout the day. Which I did.
I finally managed to get online after 5 pm and sort a few things out. A wasted day, but I survived it without melting down.
Other than that, I prioritized regulation and trying to manage my spoons. It quickly became apparent that I returned to a work situation and project that was both completely changed and not changed at all from the time that I left.
I was looking for another assignment, but that wouldn’t become possible until after the current project was put to bed, for better or worse.
But the change in schedule and gradual return to work were, for lack of a better term, working 🙂
The month in writing
The cutting pass for Reality Bomb continued and, as I predicted, I started cutting more in the second half of the novel. In fact, I cut almost as much in one day as I had in the previous two months combined.
Then, I hit a point where I had to completely rewrite/revise whole chapters. This was the place where I had, in my last draft, started writing from scratch because the specifics had changed so much. So, this wasn’t surprising, but it was disappointing. I keep expecting to write better first draft material. I must temper expectations.
By the end of the month (and this pass) I’d cut 3,612 words. In total, I cut 5,056 words for the whole pass. Not nearly enough, but it was a good start.
I let the draft sit before going back at it.
I finished and submitted another review and started working on a couple more. In the meantime, one of the reviews I had submitted to a journal was returned and I had to select a new market.
My review of Christie Climenhage’s The Midnight Project was published in The Seaboard Review on the 21st.
Then two more reviews were accepted, so it’s all working out in a round about way. Submitting reviews, it turns out, is just like submitting anything else. Sometimes you get an acceptance, and sometimes you don’t.
At the end of the month, I renewed my writerly PO Box and the PO Box for SF Canada.
Filling the well
Canada Day (July 1st) was the last day of my sick leave. I went for a swim and was gentle with myself in preparation for my return to work on the 2nd.
The full buck or raspberry moon in Capricorn was on the 10th. Shortly after, forest fire smoke returned, obscuring the moon.
The new oak moon in Leo was on the 24th.
The second part of Janice Hardy’s “Tricking your brain into plotting” was on the 3rd. This one focused more on the application of the tips and tricks presented in part 1.
I signed up for a Tiffany Yates Martin webinar through Jane Friedman. “Mastering Character Inner Life” was on the 9th. Excellent, as always.
I attended “AI for Artists,” a webinar promoted by the League of Canadian Poets and presented by the Canadian Artists Network, on the 22nd. Good information, but I may watch the replay.
Finally, I signed up for a Clarion event, the “Summer of Science Fiction & Fantasy: Martha Wells in conversation with Kate Elliott” on the 30th. It was a great conversation between two great women of SFF.
My next EAP appointment was on the 3rd. Nervous system regulation and stim toys remained a hot topic. It was also recommended that I get a fitness ball to sit on, as well. Unfortunately, I was up against demand avoidance or maybe autistic inertia (or both?). I did not want to go shopping. But I finally did on the 24th (new moon day) and got a bunch of cheap-o stim toys at Dollarama, a fitness ball, and some fairy lights to pretty up my office when I finally get around to finishing cleaning and reorganizing it. It’s not going to be a big rearrangement, like I was envisioning last year. The length of power cables and the like will not permit it 😦 But I’ll make a few changes to make the space a happier one to exist in.
We met again on the 15th. It was another good session, but I get the feeling she wants to yank the apron strings out of my hands (!) EAP does limit the sessions we can have, but I like the accountability.
In the wake of that appointment, I decided to search for ND-affirming therapists in Sudbury … and I found one! We had a brief, “getting to know you” session on the 29th, and I start in-person sessions on August 7th.
On the 21st, my support group facilitator held an impromptu summer social. It was good to stay in touch because we usually take the summer months off. Everyone started sharing their special interest collections. It was great fun.
What I’m watching and reading
Phil and I watched Murderbot (Apple TV +) and we both loved it. A great adaptation of a fabulous novella. Murderbot has disturbing memories of … it (possibly) murdering a bunch of humans, hence its chosen (and private) name. It’s also hacked its governor module, something it must hide from the corporation that owns it. It’s then assigned to a research team from Preservation Alliance, who do not support slavery. They want to make friends with it and—horrors!—eye contact. But missing sections of their survey map and dangerous, and more importantly, undocumented lifeforms, cause the research team to reach out to another nearby team … who do not respond. Despite its desire to watch quality streaming entertainment, Murderbot must save the PresAux team repeatedly.
I finished watching both seasons of Pantheon (Netflix). The AMC animated series, based on the stories of Ken Liu, explores the effect of uploaded intelligence (UI) on the world. Maddie’s father, David, who was dying of cancer, volunteered to have his consciousness uploaded in an experimental trial. Maddie and her mother are told the trial fails, but years later, Maddie starts to get mysterious messages in a chat room. Eventually, she learns that her father is still alive and he’s not the first or only UI in existence. Complicated by clones, a sentient anti-UI virus, and the scheming of a dying tech billionaire to extend his life, Pantheon examines the meaning of personhood, the right to exist, and the survival of humanity, post UI. The ending is ultimately hopeful, but I have a feeling that there was more to the story. The final episode crams in A LOT. Still, loved!
Then, I watched Ironheart (Disney +). Riri Williams gets herself kicked out of MIT and heads home to Chicago. In need of large sums of money to rebuild her suit, which was destroyed in transit, she is tempted by Parker Robbins, AKA the Hood, into participating in a series of heists. Something isn’t quite right about Parker and his cloak, though, and Riri wants to get her money and get out before she gets caught. Only six episodes, Riri’s story felt shortchanged (like Echo’s before it), but it was an interesting meditation on trauma and love and perseverance. Enjoyed considerably.
I watched Sinners (Crave). I’ve heard so much prise for this movie and it’s all true! That’s all I’m going to say because y’all need to watch this movie.
My first listen of July 2025 was Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab. Three women’s lives and deaths intertwine through the centuries.
In 1532 (Spain), María hungers for independence, but the only avenue open to her is to marry well and have children, which she does not want. Though she marries, her every attempt to gain independence is foiled by her husband and his mother, and she goes to great lengths to avoid pregnancy. It’s only when she meets the Widow that her life changes … forever.
In 1827 (England), Charlotte’s forbidden desires result in her being shipped off to a strict aunt who will see her introduced to society and properly married. When Sabine offers her freedom, Charlotte can’t resist, nor can she imagine the terrible price she will pay.
In 2019 (America), Alice has travelled halfway around the world from her home in Scotland, seeking to start fresh in college after a personal tragedy. An uncharacteristic one-night stand transforms her in ways she never wanted, and she sets out to solve the mystery, and get revenge.
This novel asks tough questions. How much will you sacrifice to get what you want? How far will you go to justify the poor decisions of your past? When revenge fails to make things right, how will you go on? As excellent as Addie, but completely different.
Then, I listened to the Audible Original/Great Courses collaboration Slow Down: How doing nothing makes us better humans by Constance Kassor. Each of these nine lectures, based on a course Kassor and her colleagues designed for Lawrence University, focuses on an area in which you can learn how to form better habits, striking a balance between what needs to be done and what you need to thrive. These areas include getting better sleep, cultivating relationships, engaging in creative tasks, incorporating mindfulness into your day, and more. Brief but impactful lessons in how to live a better life.
Next, I finished reading Thyme Travellers: An Anthology of Palestinian Speculative Fiction edited by Sonia Sulaiman (coming September 5, 2025). Full disclosure: I met Sonia through a Writing the Other workshop, and we were part of a Discord for a while. When I saw that she edited this anthology, I requested it for review.
It’s fabulous. Sonia collected stories from across the Palestinian diaspora, from speculative fiction veterans and emerging writers from Australia to Egypt, Lebanon to Canada and I think the timing of this anthology is perfect. Anyone who cares about the genocide currently being persecuted in Gaza should read this book.
The story that stayed with me the longest was “Down Under” by Jumaana Abdu. Nouran tries to dig her way to Palestine from Australia. After two abortive attempts, a young boy takes her to his sister’s bedroom where, under the bed, is a tunnel. Eventually, Nouran catches up to Haya, the boy’s sister, and the two of them work together until soldiers stop them. It’s a harrowing tale about what it takes to reach home.
I listened to The Wrong Witch to Hex With by Molly Harper. I listened to the first in the Starfall Point series, Witches Get Stuff Done a couple years ago and enjoyed it. Starfall Point is unusually full of ghosts and it’s the responsibility of witches to deal with them. The Wrong Witch to Hex With is the first in the Moonshadow Cove series, and centres on the Seaworth sisters, finfolk, far from their ancestral Scotland and charged with the protection of a precious egg, though Starfall Point’s ghosts are their day-to-day responsibility. Their magic is waning and with both parents dead, there’s no one to guide them in their task. Linney, the youngest Seaworth, is bored with her sheltered life and fond of escaping to Starfall Point. Trying to hide from her older sister, Linney ends up in a ghost tour, and the ghosts are begging her to correct the guide, who can’t seem to keep his facts straight. That guide is Grayson Brockhurst, who inherited the business from his grandfather. He’s about to learn that ghosts are very real, and they’re not the worst thing he has to fear.
Then, I listened to The Second Summoning by Tanya Huff, the second (duh) book in the Keeper’s Chronicles. After closing the portal to hell in the furnace room of the Elysian Fields Guesthouse at the end of the first book, Claire gets used to having Dean, the guesthouse’s dogsbody, around. When the two finally consummate their relationship, the possibilities blow wide open, bringing an angel and a demon into the world. But neither being is quite what they’re supposed to be, leading Claire, Dean, her cat Austin, and her sister Diana on a merry chase across southern Ontario. Claire’s out to return the angel and demon to their respective domains, but Diana has other plans, as do the angel and the demon. A fun, light novel.
Next, I shifted back to non-fiction/self-help with How to Stop People-Pleasing by Wind Goodfriend, another Great Courses/Audible Original audiobook. Short, but full of good information and practical exercises to get to the heart of the reasons (there are probably more than one) you choose to people-please. Very helpful in my own journey from burnout to contentment.
Then, I did a more thorough search of the Audible Plus catalogue and discovered the remaining two audiobooks in the Starfall Point series by Molly Harper. I continued with Big Witch Energy. Witches Get Stuff Done was Riley’s story. Big Witch Energy is Caroline’s. Caroline Wilton would love to leave Starfall Point, but every member of her family who has ends up dead. So, when her high school sweetheart, Ben left to attend medical school, she let him go. Years later, he returns, divorced and with two children in tow. Caroline still loves him, but there are some unresolved tensions—not to mention ghosts—in the way, and when Ben’s children both exhibit supernatural abilities, it makes everything more complicated. When the ghost haunting the Wilted Rose, the Wilton family’s bar, literally brings the house down, Caroline must gather her coven, not just Riley and Alice, but also their two new members, Ben’s children, to deal with the threat. Except that the ghost has a human partner who wants Caroline dead. Light and fun.
Next, I listened to the Audible Original, Alanis Morrisette: Words and Music. I’ve always enjoyed Alanis’ music, and now I have some background to go with. Very enjoyable.
Then I finished the Starfall Point series with Never Been Witched by Molly Harper. Alice Seastairs led a quiet life managing her grandparents’ antiques shop and dating a local lawyer, but when Riley Denton came to town, Alice’s life changed, she dumped the lawyer, who turned out to be a dark and shifty dude, and she became part of a found family of witches. Collin Bancroft has bought the Duchess Hotel and wants Alice to source antiques as he restores the hotel to its former glory, but there are ghosts to contend with, ghosts that may be tied to the secrets of Shaddow House and the Welling locks that keep the ghosts trapped there.
Poor Alice suffers verbal abuse and gaslighting from her grandparents and her former boyfriend. It was wonderful to see her finally stand up for herself and set firm boundaries. A solid conclusion to an enjoyable paranormal romance series.
I dipped into non-fiction again with From The Wiz to Wakanda: Afrofuturism in Pop Culture, a Great Courses and Audible collaboration, by Grace D. Gipson of Virginia Commonwealth University. In six lessons, Gipson covers authors, movies and series, comics, art, fashion, and architecture. Informative and entertaining.
And that was the month in this writer’s life.
Until next month, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!
I acknowledge with respect that I am in Robinson-Huron Treaty territory, that the land from which I write is the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe and home of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek and Wahnapitae First Nation.
Always Looking Up 