Mile Marker #5: MMOs and Diet Bipolar Disorder
In which: Maggie talks a little about cyclothymia but mostly just deadlines and MMOs.
Welp, folks. I haven’t written a word in my WIP since July. That’s not the biggest deal on Earth, considering I churned out 30,000 words in July, but with a hovering self-imposed deadline, I’m a liiiittle anxious about getting there.
I’m aiming for a “draftdun” deadline of August 25th, which gives me -checks notes- eleven days to finish the first draft. That’s still totally doable considering there are two Tuesdays (my heavy writing days) and one full weekend between now and then, but having no progress over the last couple of weeks does make me antsy.
Plus, I’ve got a lot of time already spoken for: class is starting up again tomorrow night, my grandmother’s celebration of life is this weekend, we have a writer visit on Saturday (I can’t remember if that conflicts with Gambi’s thing and I should probably double check that, oops), and my folks are going to be in town this Wednesday through the weekend (and probably Monday? I should probably check that too).
I’ve also got client work breathing down my neck (but when do I not) and I had my final interview for a potential full-time job I’m actually pretty pumped about on Friday, and they said they’d be making a decision sometime this week. So I could be starting a full-time job in the middle of all of this.
Schnikeys.
But let’s be real: I’m having an off time. I have a form of bipolar disorder called cyclothymia (or as I like to call it, “diet bipolar disorder”). It’s pretty much exactly like bipolar disorder, but instead of rapid shifts every few days, mine take longer, and can last 5-6 days for manic phases (or “ups”) and up to three weeks for depressive phases (or “dips”).
The nice thing is that now that I’m on a good mix of medications, my ups and dips are less frequent and much more predictable. I’ve also been spending more time at baseline, which is definitely preferable. The ups can be convenient if I have, like, a deadline I need to work to, because usually they make me hyper-productive (in addition to just super annoying). The other thing is, I’ve been dealing with this since I was, like, ten, so I know the signs pretty well by now to get ready for a dip or an up.
And I am definitely coasting into a dip. It started this weekend, sometime on Saturday, and I’m hoping it’ll be a relatively short one. One other bonus with the medication is that the ups/dips aren’t usually as dramatic lately, and I’ve been lucky the dips have only lasted a few days. I’m hoping it stays that way. It’s Monday, so if we say this started Saturday-ish, I’m on day 3. Hopefully it clears out soon?
Aaaaaanyway, let’s talk about less depressing things.
Specifically, Palia.
My life is Palia now.
I mean, seriously, whose idea was it to take the cozy genre and slap it into an MMO? Apparently my whole life is the cozy genre these days because I just can’t get enough of it. (Becky Chambers, lookin’ at you, although I’m still mad about the ending of your first book. #JusticeForJenks)
Palia is just flirting with villagers, growing crops, hunting wild animals (with extremely satisfying headshots), cooking minigames, decorating your house, and traipsing along on cute quests that have made me laugh out loud multiple times. To get through my workday today, I’m definitely Pomodoro-ing some Palia. (Paliodoro? Pomopalia?)
Then I’m gonna make fancy chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner, and get to bed at a reasonable hour so I can hit the ground running on writing stuff and program homework tomorrow.
Sounds like a plan!
Til next time,
Mags
P.S. I did end up hearing back from that anthology over the weekend, and unfortunately, I didn’t get in. But! I am not all that discouraged as I really like what I wrote, and I’m planning on finding some alternate horror outlets/anthologies to pitch it to via Submittable. Ideally, free ones. Because money. Yeah. I’m really proud of that short story so I’m confident about finding a home for it! Manifesting it! And throwing my enemies into a tourist! eating! pit!