Feeling productive and focused

September has been a good month, I feel like I’ve been quite productive and achieved a few things off my never ending to-do list.

Read on for my monthly recap, where I take a look at the areas of my life that are important to me, that I’m working on or trying to improve.

Reading

I finished four books this month!

Finished

• The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. I’m not really sure if I enjoyed this book or not. I think I only understood it because I listened to the Slavic Lit podcast episodes about it. I’m not sure if it was the particular translation I read, but it felt like a much more modern book that it is.
• The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. I didn’t really know anything about this book going in, except it was really well recommended. If I’d known it was a biblical retelling I probably wouldn’t have bothered. It was a lot of “and this happened, and then this happened, and then this”.
• Fool’s Fate by Robin Hobb. The conclusion to another trilogy. I think this will be the last that I read in this universe. I really enjoyed this final part though, made the slog of some of the earlier books worth it. The first trilogy has a huge impact on me the first time I read them and I’m glad I came on this journey as well, but I don’t need to go any further. For me, the story is complete.
• Broken by Jenny Lawson. I enjoy Jenny’s books, but in small doses. She gets to be a bit too much for me in a fairly short period of time. This was her COVID book and had some funny stories.

In progress

• Winter’s Heart by Robert Jordan. Still no progress .
• Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake. Starting to get into this again. When I picked it up again it was a bit of a slog, but I feel like the story is picking up now and I’m keen to pick it up each evening.
• Do Hard Things by Steve Magness. Got through a couple of chapters before I had to return it again. Now I’ll have to wait another three months before it comes ready again.
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C S Lewis. Had to return and waiting for hold to come ready again. Not much progress before that happened
• This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J Levitin. Hold came through and am reading this in bits and pieces. I’m really loving the knowledge dump though, I feel like I’m only picking up on a small amount if it, there’s so much in there.
• Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. Saving this one. Read a chapter after finishing Master and Margarita. Might do another chapter after I finish the first Gormenghast.
• The King in Yellow by Robert W Chambers. Read a couple of chapters. Trying to chip away at it to get it off the list.
• The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. About halfway through this and almost ready to DNF it. Very YA.
• Katabasis by RF Kuang. So excited for this one. I was going to wait until I’d finished Gormenghast to start this, but oops, I slipped and accidentally read the first three chapters…
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain. Picked this up to fill in the gap while waiting for Narnia to come through.

Health

Have been so so about keeping up the health tracker. I stopped tracking food as that was the most time consuming part and what probably kept me from filling it out.

My weight has still not moved, at least not in the right direction. But I haven’t been great with training this month. I feel like my diet has been lower calorie than usual though.

I’m going to continue with the extra fibre. It has made a difference to my poops, for the better. I’m trying to eat more protein still, but haven’t been very successful. I tend towards skipping meals, rather than just having a protein shake at a minimum.

Have skipped a lot training, but have been walking a good amount. I think now that S’s play is about over we’ll both go to more Muay Thai, and I’ll make more effort to get to BJJ. I also want to run more. I did run after work one day, I went along the cycleway which is a nice flat run.

In October we’re away for a night and I’m going to visit the local parkrun. I mentioned to a work colleague and she said I’d better get a PR, so now that’s my goal. I have to beat 36m 43s.

For next month I’ll try the below training schedule:

Monday - Muay Thai

Tuesday - Run

Wednesday - Hill walk or Run

Thursday - Hill walk & BJJ

Friday - Run

Saturday - Parkrun

I’m sure I won’t hit all of that, but that’s the ideal. I just need to find a way to get some weights in there as well.

I caught another cold. It was pretty mild but that’s my fourth since coming to NZ. Thankfully it stayed in my head and didn’t go to my chest so recovery was quick.

Mental health feels pretty good. I’ve enjoyed having the extra time to myself while S has been at the theatre so much. It’s seems a bit selfish, but I actually want him to keep signing up for plays so that I can continue the alone time.

I think a part of my mental health being good right now, is that I’ve reached a nice point in my goals and dreams. I’m spending time focusing on art - needlework and writing. And I feel like that is benefitting me. I’ve stopped trying to be everything. I’ll maintain a base level of fitness, but I’m not trying to be a fighter. I’m happy with work so I’m not constantly looking for new jobs. I’m really kind of at peace with where I am right now.

Writing

I’ve written about half of this month’s prompt, which will also be my first entry in the local writer’s group comp. But more importantly, I catalogued all my short stories so I know their word counts and genres, and I’ve started submitting them for publication. Ideally I would be reworking and improving them, but this is a big first step. I have submitted four already.

Journaling hasn’t really happened, but I still want to keep trying.

Book of Stitches

I completed a project at guild which was more fun than I thought it was going to be. I learned more than I thought as well, and it sparked some ideas for me. As well as finishing that project, at the last meeting there was also a talk from a lady who has just completed her MFA. I actually want to email her and let her know that she has inspired me. I was also really happy with the feedback I got on my guild project. I ended up changing the stitching and I wasn’t sure if it would be well received or not, but it was! The tutor specifically said that it really pleases her when students do their own thing with the ideas that she is teaching. That was also kind of the theme of the talk.

I’m still thinking about the diploma, I’m wondering if there might be other avenues to do the same thing. But if I do, I’ll wait til next year to start it.

I reworked an older pattern in preparation for Banned Books Week. My most popular Etsy pattern is a blackwork pattern that says “Read More Books”. I made another version that says “Read Banned Books” and I plan to do a sale or something.

This month’s (last months’s) stats are:

Views: 167 (224)

Visits: 90 (125)

Sales: 3 (3)

I have made some movement on getting my stitching blog started, so I think I’ll have that first post up before next month.

Finances

Only my the last of my HECS debt to pay off now and I’m so close that I’m throwing every spare cent at it to get it finished. At the moment, looking at a debt free date of 19th January 2026, but I know I’ll have it paid before then.

Have not moved on sorting Japan pension refund, or reporting tax to the ATO yet.

Work

Work is still work. Will probably drop this section if there’s still nothing to report next month.

The focus for next month:

• Submit story to the writing comp
• Get a PB at Caroline Bay parkrun
• Publish cross stitch guide on stitching blog
• Start a new embroidery project