A long pause so...an update
Okay, if you read this blog (hey, someone might) you may hvae noticed a distinct lack of any activity whatsoever in recent times. Sorry! I'm afraid I've been a little unwell of late and really haven't been in the mood to type in blog entries - or to do much of anything to be totally honest. I finally gave in to the fact I was feeling like crap and went to see someone about it.
Result is I was diagnosed with severe depressive disorder - clinical depression in old money. It's fun let me tell you. (Yes, I'm lying) So I was put on pills to alleviate the symptoms. First citalopram and then fluoxetine. Neither of which seemed to do me much positive good and both of which came with a whole host of side effects that made me feel crappier.
I'm now off meds and trying to deal with things (unless doc advises I go on other meds - we'll see). I'm hoping to find enough strength to start getting my life back - and hopefully developing some new coping strategies for the things that bother me as they're not going away. My issues are private - I'm not going to bore you by oversharing. Suffice to say most of them are nothing new, it's just that the ways I used to cope in the past stopped working when I was ill at the start of the year.
So I'm on the hunt for new ways of dealing. (Wish me luck.)
Yesterday my wife told me to write a review. (A film review - I've not read a book this year.) So I did. It took a while, probably four times as long as they normally take. But I completed it. And submitted it (to Murky Depths).
Now I'm in the waiting period - to see if I can still pass muster. And I'm intent on writing another after this post. Typing words into this blog is meaning I'm actually typing. And I need to type to write reviews, so when the blank page proved a little too intimidating as I tried to write tonight's review (another film review) I thought I'd blog a little, hoping it would be easier and provide a simple way in.
It seems to be working. Now all I have to do is try to ensure I maintain the momentum I've gained with this blog entry.
So I'm going to just pass on some writing news - I do have some for pieces written before my recent mind-wobble started.
Murky Depths (http://www.murkydepths.com/) has a number (reasonably high number too - about 20) of recently newly published reviews of mine on their site. Just click on the link above and scroll down to find a link to the reviews menus on the left of the screen (or you can use their drop down menus at the top if you have IE). I would list the new ones but there really are too many.
Eschatology Journal (http://eschatologyjournal.org/) has published one of my stories (Again written last year) on their site. The story, "Chicken", can be found at the following URL http://eschatologyjournal.org/2011/03/23/chicken-by-i-e-lester
And they also published a story written by my wife, under her Carey Lester pseudonym. It's her first sale. "The Dance" can be found at http://eschatologyjournal.org/2011/04/09/the-dance-by-carey-lester/
They even managed the wonderful coincidence of posting it on my wife's birthday - an extra little bonus present for her - in addition to her waking up in a Venetian Palazzo (we hired an apartment there for the week). Finally I've just received news that New Myths (http://www.newmyths.com/) should be posting another of my reviews on their site (for Tim Waggoner's Dead Streets) in the next couple of days. And they want more from me - so I think I may have to try reading something. Maybe the new Lavie Tidhar novella from PS Publishing. I like his stuff. Yeah, that could re-ignite my reading desire.
Anyway - to reviewing...
Result is I was diagnosed with severe depressive disorder - clinical depression in old money. It's fun let me tell you. (Yes, I'm lying) So I was put on pills to alleviate the symptoms. First citalopram and then fluoxetine. Neither of which seemed to do me much positive good and both of which came with a whole host of side effects that made me feel crappier.
I'm now off meds and trying to deal with things (unless doc advises I go on other meds - we'll see). I'm hoping to find enough strength to start getting my life back - and hopefully developing some new coping strategies for the things that bother me as they're not going away. My issues are private - I'm not going to bore you by oversharing. Suffice to say most of them are nothing new, it's just that the ways I used to cope in the past stopped working when I was ill at the start of the year.
So I'm on the hunt for new ways of dealing. (Wish me luck.)
Yesterday my wife told me to write a review. (A film review - I've not read a book this year.) So I did. It took a while, probably four times as long as they normally take. But I completed it. And submitted it (to Murky Depths).
Now I'm in the waiting period - to see if I can still pass muster. And I'm intent on writing another after this post. Typing words into this blog is meaning I'm actually typing. And I need to type to write reviews, so when the blank page proved a little too intimidating as I tried to write tonight's review (another film review) I thought I'd blog a little, hoping it would be easier and provide a simple way in.
It seems to be working. Now all I have to do is try to ensure I maintain the momentum I've gained with this blog entry.
So I'm going to just pass on some writing news - I do have some for pieces written before my recent mind-wobble started.
Murky Depths (http://www.murkydepths.com/) has a number (reasonably high number too - about 20) of recently newly published reviews of mine on their site. Just click on the link above and scroll down to find a link to the reviews menus on the left of the screen (or you can use their drop down menus at the top if you have IE). I would list the new ones but there really are too many.
Eschatology Journal (http://eschatologyjournal.org/) has published one of my stories (Again written last year) on their site. The story, "Chicken", can be found at the following URL http://eschatologyjournal.org/2011/03/23/chicken-by-i-e-lester
And they also published a story written by my wife, under her Carey Lester pseudonym. It's her first sale. "The Dance" can be found at http://eschatologyjournal.org/2011/04/09/the-dance-by-carey-lester/
They even managed the wonderful coincidence of posting it on my wife's birthday - an extra little bonus present for her - in addition to her waking up in a Venetian Palazzo (we hired an apartment there for the week). Finally I've just received news that New Myths (http://www.newmyths.com/) should be posting another of my reviews on their site (for Tim Waggoner's Dead Streets) in the next couple of days. And they want more from me - so I think I may have to try reading something. Maybe the new Lavie Tidhar novella from PS Publishing. I like his stuff. Yeah, that could re-ignite my reading desire.
Anyway - to reviewing...
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