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Dear Diary

A 3882-post collection

Sneezin' and Wheezin' Season already?

I'm going through the tissues like they're going out of style, right now. It could be my hardy perennial self-neglect at at work, because I've not been taking my supplements... or it could be Sneezin' and Wheezin' Season.

Allergies are such fun.

I have a whole lot of sniffling and snorting and coughing and horking up linings of my bronchial tubes to look forwards to. For extremely limited definitions of "look forwards". Sneezin' and Wheezin' Season is hell. And I have one more payday before I can stock up on the juice and ginger ale.

Sigh.

On the plus side, 2015's Year of Instants has been cleared for general audiences. Anyone who's been holding off on paying me money for easy access to 365 stories in one handy volume can now rest easy that shoulder-surfers can also enjoy the content without thinking that you're some kind of perv. Do try and encourage them towards buying their own copy. Thanks in advance.

Fanfic gets the audiences in, but pro fic pays the bills. Le sigh. My current only hope is that my existing fans reel in more fans through word of mouth. Because lord knows that I can't frelling afford even Facebook advertising right now.

UGH.

I have to start hunting agents real soon now. Inertia is a terrible overlord, with its cronies: stress, anxiety, and doubt. But I can't sit here and whinge about my life. I have to at least try to get out there and climb the long ladder of success.

That way I can moan and whine about any failures along the way. YEARS OF MATERIAL! Thumb's up. Huzzah.

And, in the unlikely event that I become remotely successful, I can moan and whine about how I hardly have time for myself any more. It's win-win.

Kidding, of course. I will love having an income from something I really can't stop doing. It's what going on tours will probably do for my spoons that might be a problem.

And the inevitable "Who the fuck is this noob" author experiences where I go to read to an empty room or to two or five people who are just waiting for the next panel. Or where my merch table is treated like it has the Plague. I have a plan though. Get a shirt printed up that reads: "FREE CANDY! Ask me about my books." And wear it. And actually have a wide selection of Australian lollies to share.

It's amazing how Minties can break the ice.

And if EGDB takes off, I may also have shiny things at my table. Lure them in with promises of jewellery, sell them a book on the side.

I have a plan. Whether or not it's all gas depends entirely on my ability to combat inertia in the first place. But I really want to have a polished novel ready to go. Even if it's just going to go to Amazon or Smashwords in the end.

Gotta keep on trying. Fail faster. Eventually that wall will get tired of my concussion and fall over.

Firkin sleep issues

I woke up at 3AM again.

This time, I'm keeping a journal of my wakings and potential causes. See if there's a pattern. Confirm or deny what I already suspect.

And what I suspect is - my brain is its own worst enemy.

When I woke this morning, a weird dream turned into a real logistics battle in my head and then my thoughts wouldn't shut the fuck up. So I got up and worked on some fanfic because trying to go

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Ugh

Dentist appointment, today. Gonna get that plaque scraped off my teeth et cetera. And told that I might lose my front teeth if I'm not careful.

I'm being careful as much as I can, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to get artificial incisors. Sooner or later, it's going to happen. It's pretty much inevitable.

Fortunately, my dentist is just as invested in me keeping my teeth as I am.

What I am going to do is drag my little

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I am becoming an old fart

Or maybe I'm made of old farts, it's hard to tell. Or maybe it's the good old self-neglect at work.

I'm stiff. I'm sore. I'm worn out by going to the movies ffs. Going to bed doesn't give the rest it used to. The pillow is trying to kill me.

OK I probably need to find the right kind of pillow, but it seems to be an elusive beast that uses Brigadoon as it's sole habitat. Everything has memory foam cores, these

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Ah, Monday.

One more day of relative peace and quiet and I didn't get anything that I was gassing about doing... done.

Oh well.

We have plentiful amounts of foodstuffs, thanks to a trip down to Golden Circle and Dicksons' [and more money was spent on Unsuitable Food than what you might call the genuine article]. I do have a bargain tray of Chook Thighs, so that and some simmer sauce is doubtless going to come to a pleasant arrangement in the not-too-distant future.

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OK about those last two diary entries...

I swear I previously published them. And yet, somehow, they turned up as drafts on my editor. I make sure each diary blog is posted before I trundle on with the story.

I'm sure.

I'm mostly sure.

OK, it's what I usually do and I don't always check and I should. Darn it.

Meanwhile, it's promising to be a very quiet weekend without my little darlings filling everything with noise. Beloved and I spent most of yesterday just slobbing around. It was

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Payday! And other reasons to be happy...

I have a giant Toblerone and undaunted enthusiasm. The sugar has done things to me and because this happened, I went and made this happen.

Yeah. SPG has a reddit forum and I am a hopeless little weeabot.

That, and I love libariproject's art to infitessimal pieces.

I shall be securing noms, today. Cheap noms, of course. Because budgets are a thing. One more payday and I can consider actually buying culch, beads, and whatnot from AliExpress. And then I can

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Another party survived

This time, I went to a family gathering and did not get slammed on. Yay. All the major players in the Nutter-slamming contest were busy with other things. I'm sure the present helped :D

I also ate way too much chocolate for my own good. That said, there's three states of chocolate: Not enough chocolate, enough chocolate, and tomorrow's chocolate.

There's no such thing as too much chocolate.

There might be such a thing as too much driving. Beloved had intestinal problems,

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Yesterday and today.

Yesterday was April 1 here, and I forgot to post anything remotely hilarious. Today would have been Da's birthday... and I miss him. But I also want to have a little fun... because some of the stuff coming out of Tumblr right now is the sort of thing he might have appreciated.

I know I'm going to offend MeMum [srsly, Mum... don't look at my Tumblr today. You'll get cross] but I just feel like I should do what I'm doing.

I

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Owies. And a review of sorts. (partial spoilers)

I. Hurt.

Long distance driving is not good to me. And though I traversed between Burpengary and Chermside every day for months on end, in '14, I'm feeling the hurt today.

I drive tense. And that's bad.

It also didn't help that there was a huge traffic accident between A and B, either. I had to nip up a side road to get past six tow-trucks, four police vehicles, two traffic-redirection light-up billboards, three ambulances, two visible bashed-up cars, and an uncountable

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Inertia is fun

It's almost 9 and I still haven't done anything productive. I have plans to see Deadpool and plans to see The Wonder Woman Movie er... Quasi-Homo-Erotic Posturing no. Wait. I got this. Batman vs Superman.

There we go.

Anyways, I have something of a personal mission to see all the grimdark and potentially nasty stuff I want to see but usually can't, before the kids come back from Scenic Coominya. And only so much money to see us through until next payday.

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Discoveries and developments

I took my first walk in a fortnight, this morning. My feet hate me as a direct consequence. I have to go shopping, but at least I have money to pay for shit.

I shall make a list of the things we need and the things we want and then attempt to get them as cheaply as I can.

And a good friend recommended Mark Reads and I have found there the most adorable cinnamon roll on Youtube. He reads books out

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CHOKLIT DAY!

...I might have an intense relationship with chocolate...

The sky might also be blue, and water may be wet.

Miss Chaos, the most enthusiastic person in the house about chocolate day, stayed up until around eleven and is now completely conked out. She shall doubtless spend her every waking hour nomming on eggs and bunnies.

I have to ration myself. Boo.

My attempt to bribe Mayhem with albums failed, so I just gave him the other two. Sigh. Motivating that lad is

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Chocolate-day eve

It's going to be a real fun chocolate day because it co-incides with mum-in-law's birthday and I don't know if we got her anything. I know what she wants, I just don't know if (a) I can afford it and (b) if we can get it in time.

Squeaky bum time, folks.

I found another $2 coin, so there's a chance I could afford the thing of her dreams. Gain some brownie points and maybe trade those for her good favour when

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Climbing back up...

My mood's improved a lot. Yay. I'm not back up to 'normal', but I can feel I'm close.

Snuggle time and bubble time should help. And since it's a public holiday, I like my chances.

The general theism behind today says I shouldn't be working? I think? But I have a work schedule and the Powers once indicated I should be writing. Hint: never ask the Powers for a clear and undeniable sign. You WILL get one.

For the record - they're

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