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Update 8/15/2018

Hey folks, sorry I keep missing my weekly mark - a lot has happened lately. In fact, that's what I wanted to write about tonight.

First of all, I wanted to give a huge thank-you to everyone for the copious benedictions through Facebook, text, or a regular phone call over the past couple of weeks. If you're not sure what I'm talking about: last week, I admitted that my mental health is suffering to a large number of people and humbly asked for emotional support. Some sent texts, some called me up, others sought me out in person. It was the "Dragon Ball Z" Spirit Bomb of kindness and love that I definitely needed, and I'm deeply grateful to everyone who answered my plea for help.

I've been noticing, as my life has slowly been taking shape into something new, that a lot of things about my old life are falling away, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. This is a time of transition in my life, and I'm doing my best to be proactive about helping things take shape in a way that makes me feel empowered.

One of the things that has provided a lot of much-needed consistency and motivation over the past year has been writing this blog each week. When I started, I was an intern working ten hours per week without pay...now, I'm employed full-time. For a while there, I wasn't working a full 40 hours per week, unless you factor in commute time. Now, it's more like 55+, if you factor in the 2-3 total hours I spend commuting every day. Plus, if I want to do something after work - networking events, seminars, plays, etc., it takes what little time I already have and further shrinks it. Between work, the imperative self-care, and occasionally doing things to have some fun on a weeknight or attend career-building events, I'm finding less and less time for other things. That includes writing this blog.

Actually, that's not entirely true - I have time to write after work. It's just that lately, I've had a harder and harder time thinking of what to write. I feel almost like I'm cheating, writing these generic "updates," when in the past I've spent upwards to 7 hours or more researching and writing titanic articles like my Ajit Pai or Wakanda article.

I feel like my time could be better spent building towards longer-term goals. Right now, I think that means I'm going to spend less time and energy posting on this blog every single week, and instead, writing for actual websites, or chipping away at a book that I'm actually going to try to publish.

I have an idea about a book I want to write, and I think the way to do it is to set a word count each week that I force myself to meet no matter what. As long as I'm either writing a submission for a magazine or website, working on a book, or blogging - I think it's okay if I only do one per week, as long as I'm writing.

So, if you regularly read these, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Unfortunately, you may see less of them, at least for awhile. I'm still figuring things out, but this will not be the last time I post on this blog. In fact, with the extra time I'll have, I may even be able to share some things that are even better than my usual blog posts. In time.

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