What I'm up to now

Writing

With the novel finally out in the world and my brain adequately rested and regrown, I'm onto the next project which has already semi-stalled just three weeks after restarting. It's not a full stall, just a slow patch as it requires input from my collaborators. Gosh, it's almost like working in a proper job again 😛

While waiting for the slow patch to speed up, I'm tending to the 3rd project in the list, a novel but one that involves no magic or research into spaceships and weird physics.

Organising my life

It's that time of year again where I experience an unstoppable obsession with planners, diaries, notebooks, and tweaking my daily routine. Used to be that I'd consider this a project, and perhaps a personal failing at not finding a ONCE AND FOR ALL solution.

Now I realise it's a beautiful, seasonal thing. Perhaps I'm plugged into the matrix of planner and stationery addicts around the world. It transcends location and creed and bank account preparedness. Utopia!

Staying active

I stopped Pilates after sustaining a hamstring injury at pole. It was only a minor injury, so my new physio let me off with a slap on the hams, glutes, abs and lats. It's been an unexpectedly validating experience to find this physio and go deeper on why my body doesn't respond well to a lot of fitness advice I've been given (especially unsolicited advice).

I told myself I'd never wear pole heels, and have recently been forced to eat my words. A recent class experience showed me how these aren't just sexy vanity costumes, but actually precision-designed PPE. Bruises don't lie 😖

Terra serenus

Our new Finger Lime, Midyim Berry and Native Lemongrass are still alive! That's more than I could have asked for with the weather being funny and us planting into soil that still needs work. We'll be layering on some compost and mulch in the next week or two in preparation for the hotter months. I've started thinking about indoor plants as well as wondering how to cajole my local nursery into repotting my sundew for me -- turns out repotting carnivorous plants is my devastating weakness.

Finally, we have a redback spider living next to our front door. She's woven a pyramid-shaped web that's just amazing to behold. It's messy af right now, and I wonder if redbacks are like golden orbs and gradually tidy up the geometry of their webs over time.

Gaming playlist

  • Baldur's Gate 3
  • Gloomhaven (still, despite the dramas around the recent patch)

Misc learnings

How to mentor different types of writers (not sure how I ended up here, as I'm nowhere near bestseller level). David Goggins's "Taking Souls" and "Cookie Jar" strategies. "Capture, Configure and Control" systems for personal task management. Hypermobility. Wedding stuff (just book research lol, don't get excited). That there exists a thing called lactation cookies.

Current obsessions

Next year's planning stack. 4-Month Deep Life Overhaul.

Pls no

Culture of uncare. Hyperactive Hive Mind. Hyperconsumption. Bullshit jobs. Big Social. Walking into spiderwebs.


This "Now" update was inspired by Derek Sivers' Now page movement and Kohan Ikin's Now page.