Blogging & Writing

7 Ways I Manage My Energy As a Chronically Ill Freelancer

Kate Sloan

There are many ways in which I am deeply privileged, and one of them is that I’ve been able to carve out a career for myself as a freelance media-maker working from home – which comes in handy an awful lot, seeing as I’m also chronically ill.

In my early 20s, I had an office job where my shifts went from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m.; I had to set my morning alarm for 4:45 a.m. to get out the door in time, and even then, I often arrived late, foggy-headed and clutching caffeine like a lifeline. I literally can’t imagine what it would be like to try to do that now, in my 29-year-old achy body that sometimes needs 2-3 days of rest to recover after carrying a load of groceries home.

Energy management has become a more and more important skill for me as my illness has gotten worse. It’s not easy, but usually it can be done. Here are some strategies I rely on; maybe they’ll help you, too, if you have issues balancing your energy levels enough to remain as productive as you want to be.

 

Change locations. You know how competitive swimmers often shave their body hair so they’ll be more aerodynamic (or, uh, aquadynamic)? That’s a great illustration of a principle I find paramount while living with chronic illness: If a task is hard, lessen or eliminate every changeable factor that is making it harder, even if those changes seem small or insignificant. They add up.

This is why, when I’m having a bad pain/fatigue day, sometimes I won’t even sit at my desk when I start work – I’ll just roll over, grab my iPad, and work in bed. Or curl up on my couch with my phone and start answering emails. If I feel depressed or isolated, sometimes I’ll take my iPad or notebook outside with me, and get some work done in a park or on a bench somewhere. All of these alternate locations can feel less physically and mentally demanding, somehow, than sitting at my desk – and that can make a big difference in my overall output.

 

Take breaks to rest. I used to “rest” mid-workday by eating lunch at my desk while watching a YouTube video, or (even worse) catching up on articles I’d been meaning to read. But this isn’t really rest, in my opinion – or at least, it’s not sufficiently restful to charge me up in the way I need when my workflow is interrupted by fatigue.

I’ve learned that I need to take at least 1-2 periods of actual rest during any given workday. For me, that looks like spending anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour lying in bed, doing something very low-effort like reading a not-super-cerebral book, listening to a podcast, playing a video game on my Nintendo 3DS, or literally just lying there. It makes a HUGE difference for me; I find myself much more alert and able to work after resting for a while.

I’ll also take naps as needed, complete with an eye mask and earplugs (would recommend), but I try to limit those because they can fuck with my sleep schedule.

 

Weekend Wednesday! My spouse’s company is currently testing out a 4-day work week program, after news of excellent results emerged from other companies doing the same. They’re taking Fridays off – but I’ve recently started doing something similar: taking Wednesdays off.

There was one glorious semester during my time at journalism school when I had classes on Monday and Tuesday, and on Thursday and Friday, but none on Wednesday. It meant I could take a break, in the very center of my week, to recoup and prepare for the rest of the week. Sometimes I’d sleep all day, if that’s what I needed; sometimes I’d catch up on homework, do some errands, spend time with family, go to doctors’ appointments… whatever I wanted or needed to get done, but didn’t have the energy to do after 6-hour lectures on digital journalism ethics.

I recently decided to try to return to this routine. CGP Grey calls this practice “Weekend Wednesday” (although, in his version, you work on Saturdays to make up for it – which I don’t do if I can help it). It has helped a ton; my Thursdays and Fridays go much smoother now that I’m not totally run-down and haggard by the time they arrive. I think calling this practice by its cute alliterative name somehow legitimizes it in my mind; I no longer feel guilty about taking the entire day off each week. I know I’m extremely lucky to be able to do this.

 

To-do lists galore. I can’t manage my energy effectively if I don’t even know what energy-expending tasks will be expected of me on any given day. Every morning, I write out my tasks for the day in my Notes app. Sometimes – especially on days when I feel under the weather – I’ll write myself (or ask my partner to write me) a schedule, with certain tasks assigned for certain times of the day. This allows me to map out everything I have to get done and space everything out appropriately.

I also find to-do lists helpful on days when I can’t get everything done, because instead of despairing about what a failure I am, I can just move those items to the following day’s list, and trust that I’ll do them then.

 

Spacing & pacing. There was a time, earlier in my life, when I could have, say, recorded 2 podcasts, written a blog post, had a catch-up phone call with a friend, cooked dinner from scratch, and gone to a party, all in one day. There was a time – but that time is no longer.

I’m in the privileged position now of (usually) being able to space out my appointments and deadlines in a way that respects my waning energy levels. I try, for example, to never schedule more than one podcast recording in a day, because they’re one of the most energetically draining things I do all week. I also try to keep big assignments’ deadline days completely open, so I can spend the whole day polishing and editing, without needing to stress about getting anything else done.

When I find myself overbooked, I schedule at least an hour of rest between activities – and if I can’t do that, I plan to take it easy the following day, because I’ll need to.

 

Maintain boundaries. As many freelancers have learned the hard way, “I create my own work schedule” can all too easily devolve into “I work all the time.” I used to, but now I do not, because I cannot.

These days, my work hours are generally 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; I’ve learned from experience that while I can work outside of those hours, the quality of the work tends to suffer if I do. It is difficult sometimes to hold this boundary, particularly when it comes to scheduling guests on my podcasts, but I try my best to stick to it, because even the coolest, most captivating guest would prefer to talk to the version of me who isn’t slurring from fatigue and distracted by pain zaps.

I have to maintain time- and energy-related boundaries in my personal life as well as my professional life. Often, this means leaving a social event while I’m still having fun, so I can get back to my bed before the ton-o’-bricks that is fatigue finally hits me. It sucks, but it’s necessary self-care, and also keeps my friends from having to deal with my tired, irritable self at those times.

 

Respect the body’s natural rhythms. As I mentioned, I tend to work from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (if that), and that’s because I’ve observed that those are my most productive hours. I was only able to discover this for myself after quitting the dayjob that had required me to get up at 9 a.m. for 4 years. Life suddenly felt less cloudy, depressing and demoralizing once I was able to wake up whenever my body felt like waking up. (This same effect is also why, incidentally, I very nearly failed the only 8 a.m. university class I was ever forced to take, solely because it was at 8 a.m. Classic.)

Fellow chronically ill writer Esmé Wang has written before about getting her best work done between the hours of 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. That’s inspirational to me – to know yourself and your body well enough that you can design your life to suit your needs, and to unapologetically hold those boundaries. Ah, bliss.

 

Fellow chronically ill babes, what are your preferred strategies for managing your energy well enough to stay relatively productive?

My New Work-From-Home Setup, Part 2: My Desk

Kate Sloan

Writers can debate endlessly about whether the space where you choose to work, and the tools you use to do that work, actually matter. Some writers can throw their laptop in a tote bag and take it to a café, or the library, or a random picnic table in the park, and create masterworks; others need their perfectly-appointed desk with just the right mood lighting, soundtrack, and assortment of artisanal pencils if they’re going to produce their best work.

I can go either way, but that’s partly because I’ve rarely had an actually-functional workspace in my life. A blend of depression, body pain, and chronic disorganization has often led me to clutter up desks and tables with useless tchotchkes and accumulated trash, choosing instead to work in bed or (in pre-pandemic times) at cafés and bars. I always wanted to have a more settled, organized workspace, but rarely got my shit together enough to actually make it happen.

Earlier this year, for my birthday, a few different friends and family members very generously got me gift cards aimed at helping me update my workspace, because I’d mentioned wishing I could do that. Wanting to put their gifts to good use, I started brainstorming what I wanted and needed to make my vintage, worse-for-wear wooden desk into an oasis of creativity. Here are some of the things I bought to spruce the place up…

 

• Since one of my main issues was constantly having too many random objects all over my desk, I decided storage was a top priority. My desk has two built-in drawers, one of which I use for weed stuff + incense and the other of which I use to store logistical necessities like Scotch tape, loose change, and my passport – but everything else needed a place to go. So I bought an assortment of stackable wooden drawers from Kirigen, and a matching monitor riser that also has a couple of drawers in it. These have already made a HUGE difference for me. Some of the stuff I store in these drawers: pens, pencils, extra batteries, extra pairs of glasses, documents, cards/letters/notes, notepads and notebooks, index cards, spare sets of earbuds, cheques I need to cash, and an occasional snack.

• Buying my new monitor was a JOURNEY! I wanted a specific 24″ ViewSonic monitor (the VX2485-MHU model) because the Wirecutter had recommended it as one of the best budget monitors they’d tried, and because it has a USB-C port, allowing me to connect my MacBook Air to the display and charge it with just one cable. I ordered a pre-owned one from an online seller, but it got lost in the mail somehow, so they refunded me. Then I saw a new version of the same monitor on a semi-sketchy retail site and asked Staples if they could price-match it, which they agreed to do. But 2 weeks after I’d already placed my order through Staples, they told me the monitor was actually out of stock, and cancelled my order. So I ordered it from yet another store, and it finally arrived. I’m glad I managed to acquire this one – it looks pretty damn good for being a $300 monitor, and fits nicely in the space allotted for it.

• One of the bulkiest items on my desk, pre-makeover, was my Day-Light SAD lamp. It was a must-have for my depression, especially in the winter, but I’d had that particular model since 2007 (!!) and knew there were some less cumbersome options on the market now. I arranged to give my old lamp away to someone from a local mental health support group who needed one, and then bought this new one, the Day-Light Sky. It takes up way less desk space, and I love that its angle is adjustable. I currently have it sitting atop a small stack of hardcover notebooks, to give the computer monitor enough space to fit neatly underneath.

• I told you about this keyboard when I showed you my working-from-bed setup. Still loving it! It’s the Logitech K380. I adore its sweet pink hue, softly clicky-clacky keys, and ability to swap between up to 3 different devices as needed, so I can move from my computer on the desk to my iPad in bed with ease.

• My mouse is the Logitech M720, which is also great. I’m considering switching to an Apple Magic Trackpad, though, because after years of using a trackpad instead of a mouse, I find them much more intuitive now. But this mouse is lovely, as far as mice go.

• My spouse bought me a beautiful vintage pink Brother typewriter as a gift after we watched the movie California Typewriter together. It’s mostly a decorative item because I lack the hand strength required to really hammer out any substantial pieces of writing on it – plus I worry about annoying my roommate with the loud typing – but I love having it displayed on my desk. It’s such a gorgeous symbol of my writerly ambitions and achievements, and I enjoy occasionally banging out a poem or two on its snappy black keys.

• A while ago, my friend Thomas sent me a spinning desk toy called a Mezmoglobe, and that’s sitting underneath my monitor riser where I can periodically spin it and admire its gleaming prettiness throughout the day.

• While it isn’t new, I do want to mention that my coaster was a gift from Penny, who is an incredible photographer and used to make these adorable sex toy photo coasters. This one features a picture of the NobEssence Romp, easily the prettiest butt plug I’ve ever owned. I use it every day for water, coffee, cocktails, or whatever else I happen to be drinking while I write.

 

Things I’d still like to acquire for my setup:

• A webcam. I used to just use my laptop’s built-in webcam for Zoom calls, video podcast recordings, etc. but that’s less convenient now that I keep it tucked under my monitor riser. I’m hoping to pick up a Logitech C920S on the Wirecutter’s recommendation. It’ll sit nicely on top of my monitor and make all my video calls and livestreams look way better.

• A better system for getting my microphone and headphones out of the way when I’m not using them – like maybe a boom arm.

• A better desk chair. Right now I’m still using the blue faux-leather one my dad bought me for about $50 at Staples when I was in university, and it’s really seen better days. I’m considering getting an Albin task chair from Wayfair. It’s surprisingly hard to find an armless chair that’s slim enough for the space under my desk, ergonomic enough for my chronically achy body, and costs less than a zillion dollars!

 

What workspace essentials are you loving lately?

What Are Your Professional Boundaries?

Kate Sloan

Some spiritual traditions posit that souls are reincarnated, and that some souls spend entire lifetimes trying to make amends for, or improve upon, things they did in previous lifetimes. If this is true, it seems clear to me that I must have been sent to this earth to work on my boundary-setting. It is a theme that has haunted my life.

For one thing, I’m a woman, and that’s a gender group our society explicitly encourages to be bad at boundary-setting. Women are supposed to juggle a career, housework, caretaking of their partner and/or children, and their own self-care, all while somehow being “chill” about the amount of physical, emotional, and logistical work thrust upon them. Women are also routinely encouraged to ignore or suspend our own boundaries in the realm of the romantic and sexual, chiefly because it often benefits shitty men when we do so. (Yuck.)

I’m also a freelancer and a person who works from home, two oft-overlapping identities that make a person even more vulnerable to having their boundaries bent or overstepped. Freelancers may experience bosses and editors expecting quick responses to any and all communiqué, work overflowing past the hours allotted for it (often without additional pay), and friends and family assuming we’re available at all times simply because we set our own schedules. It’s a nightmarish career for anyone who struggles with boundary-setting!

…Except that it doesn’t have to be. Whether you see it as a spiritual lesson or a purely practical one, there is much to be learned from having your boundaries repeatedly steamrolled in settings both personal and professional. The better I get at protecting my own energy and time through ruthless boundary-setting, the stronger and happier I feel overall. It’s a fantastic skillset to develop, for so many reasons. I’m not always as good at it as I’d like to be, but it feels great when I am.

One of the reasons I’ve been obsessed with boundary-setting in recent years is that my chronic illness has gotten worse and worse. My flare-ups are triggered by stress, among other things, so stress reduction is a top-level priority for me at this point. One of my new year’s resolutions for 2021 was to eliminate as many unnecessary stressors as humanly possible from my life this year, and setting better boundaries in my work life is a key way I’ve been doing that.

 

Here are some of my current professional boundaries:

  • I only work between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., and only on weekdays. This includes work-related writing, answering business emails/DMs/etc., doing research for articles, and so on. Past 5 p.m., and on weekends, I am unavailable for business interactions. There are 2 exceptions to this rule: 1) If I’m genuinely excited to work on something – such as if inspiration for a fun blog post suddenly strikes on a Saturday – then it’s okay to work on it at any time, so long as I’m not pushing myself too hard. 2) I sometimes have to do podcast recordings outside of work hours due to guests’ scheduling needs, which is fine. I’ll just try to rest for an equivalent amount of time during the next work day to make up for it.
  • I do not accept writing assignments that pay less than $0.20 per word. (If the assignment in question offers a flat rate or an hourly rate instead of a per-word rate, I’ll try to convert it to per-word to figure out whether it meets this standard.) In the early days of my career, it made some sense to take on low-paying (and even unpaid) assignments much more often, to build my portfolio, skillset, brand, and professional network – but with two book deals and countless bylines under my belt, I deserve and expect better payment these days. I sometimes consider lower-paying gigs if they offer some combination of creative freedom, a topic I find fascinating, a prestigious byline, fun perks (e.g. free travel), and/or cool collaborators, but for the most part, I’d rather have fewer projects (even if that means making less money overall) than feel resentful of the low-paying work I’ve allowed into my life.
  • I don’t generally accept feedback on my writing from people who have not actually read the piece(s) they are criticizing. I used to think theirs was a valid form of critique in some ways, but there have just been too many baffling instances of people becoming angry or upset because of what they assume I’ve written, having not even read what I’ve actually written. Almost all of the time, the points they’re making are already addressed in the piece, and sometimes we even agree with each other. You cannot reason with someone who is arguing from a place of presumption and bad faith. Reading someone’s work is the lowest possible bar you have to clear before you’re able to critique it in a coherent, accurate, and good-faith manner.
  • I don’t write things I don’t really believe, ever. That means, among other things, that I don’t accept sponsored post assignments from clients who demand fraudulently positive reviews of their products/services. Everything on this blog (except for a handful of guest posts written by people I personally invited to contribute) is written by me and reflects an opinion I actually hold (or, at least, an opinion I held at the time that I wrote it).

 

Despite how clearly necessary these boundaries are, it can be surprisingly hard sometimes to hold firm when they are pushed. This is why I have certain stock phrases/messages I can send to firmly but kindly express my boundaries, such as:

  • “That rate is too low for me, but best of luck!”
  • “For your future reference, I work Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET and am otherwise out of office.”
  • “From your suggested rate, it sounds like you’re looking for an entry-level writer. As you know from my portfolio, that isn’t me, so it sounds like we’re not a fit at this time.”

 

Some such sentences sound embarrassingly self-aggrandizing (particularly when you have impostor syndrome!), such that I sometimes have to give myself a little pep talk before I can hit “send.” I often have to remind myself to avoid language that softens my boundary (e.g. “Just a reminder that I mostly only work on weekdays…” or “Usually my rate is at least double that, but…”) and to remain firm in my tone. Sometimes I’ll have an assertive, communication-savvy friend or partner read over my message before I send it, to make sure I’m expressing myself clearly and kindly. Or sometimes I just trust myself and click “send” easily, knowing I’m doing the right thing for myself and that any client worth having will respect my boundaries wholeheartedly.

Standing up for myself is simultaneously one of the scariest things I ever do and one of the most empowering. It doesn’t always feel comfortable – or even possible – but whenever I manage to do it, my life gets easier, calmer, and happier. My achy body appreciates the reduction in stress immensely – and my nervous brain appreciates the reminder that my needs and wants are just as important as everybody else’s.

My New Work-From-Home Setup, Part 1: Working in Bed

Kate Sloan

Lately I’ve been overhauling my entire work setup at home, and loving it. Seeing as I’m now fully self-employed and perpetually juggling a full docket of blog posts, client work, podcasting, and book-writing, it felt important to make some changes so my setup would be as well-tailored to my needs as possible.

I’m gonna do another blog post soon detailing the changes I made to my main workspace at my desk (I’m just waiting on my new monitor to be delivered!), but today I thought I’d tell you about another “workspace” of mine that I’ve also overhauled recently. Let’s talk about what I use when I’m working from my bed.

See, as a chronically ill person, there’s usually at least 1-2 days per week when I’m too achy, sleepy, and/or gloomy to sit at my desk for long stretches of time. On those days, I tend to curl up under my duvet, surrounded by strategically-placed pillows, for a supine work sesh.

My old bed-work setup consisted solely of my laptop (a MacBook Air) and a lap-desk from IKEA that keeps my computer from overheating on the duvet and also has a compartment where I can store my iPhone upright for easy access. However, my 13” computer is a bit bulky for this purpose, and I wanted a system that was smaller, sleeker, and more portable, especially since (in non-pandemic times) I travel a fair bit and don’t always want to bring my big ol’ lap-desk with me.

The main component of my new bed-work setup is an iPad mini 5. Mine is a 64GB model in space grey which I bought refurbished last year, having noticed that my chronic pain had gotten bad enough to warrant a smaller, lighter device for difficult days. In the months since, I’ve more often used it as a leisure device, for watching Netflix, YouTube, and (yes) porn – but it works quite well for professional tasks as well, because it’s fast, powerful, and versatile, and has a beautifully bright and vivid screen.

When I want to work on my iPad, I hook it up via Bluetooth to my pale pink Logitech K380 keyboard. I picked this keyboard because it’s one of the Wirecutter’s top recommendations, and I absolutely love it. The keys are pleasantly clicky-clacky, which I enjoy in contrast to my laptop’s hyper-quiet keys. I also love that this keyboard can be connected to up to 3 devices at a time, which you can switch between with a press of a button. This means I can use the same keyboard whether I’m typing on my computer, my iPad, or my phone. It’s quite slim and light, so it’ll be easy to throw it into a purse alongside my iPad if I ever want to get some work done at a café or another public place. The one thing this keyboard lacks, that I wish it had, is a slot for propping up my iPad so I don’t have to bring an iPad stand with me. I recently ordered a typewriter-inspired Knewkey mechanical keyboard which will do a better job of this when I need it.

Speaking of iPad stands, I do need one while working in bed, and the one I chose was a recommendation from my tech-nerdy spouse Matt. It’s the Yohann iPad mini stand, a gorgeous piece crafted from walnut. Matt recommended this stand for me largely because it’s designed to work well on soft surfaces, like a bed; its curved design enables it to keep my iPad upright at a workable angle even as I shift around in bed, adjust my pillows, etc. At $129 USD, this was a pretty hefty investment for something that simply holds my iPad up, but it’s 1,000% better than what I was doing before (attempting to prop up my iPad against a stack of pillows or books), so to me it was worth the dough.

The final component of my work-from-bed setup is my Adonit Mark stylus, which I bought because the Wirecutter recommended it and also because it comes in a stunning shade of turquoise. (I love this shade so much that it’s actually the exact color of my duvet cover, which unfortunately means I sometimes misplace the stylus in my bed due to how well it blends in!) At just $20, this was the least expensive part of my bed-work overhaul. A stylus enables me to “click on” things on my iPad’s screen without having to reach too far with my hands, which is suuuper helpful on bad shoulder/neck pain days.

I also have a 6-foot-long charging cable for my iPad, so I can charge it while I’m working no matter where I choose to situate myself in my bed. I am a big fan of extra-long charging cables in general, especially for chronically ill people, because unlike shorter cables, they don’t require you to choose between charging your device and staying in a comfortable position.

Software-wise, on my iPad I usually use Google Chrome for any in-browser writing (such as this blog post), Google Docs for articles and client work, and Scrivener for my books. These all sync across my various devices seamlessly, making it easy to move my entire workflow from my desk to my bed when I need or want to.

This is what’s working for me; I’d love to hear from other writers in the comments about what works for you when you write in bed!

“I Could Write About Sex Literally Forever”

Kate Sloan
What I looked like on September 23, 2016

Friends, this week has been a ROUGH ONE as far as my chronic pain goes, so I haven’t had much energy to work on blog stuff. In an effort to get some of that energy back, I turned to 750Words.com, a website that lets you write daily “morning pages” (a creativity-generating practice from Julia Cameron’s brilliant book The Artist’s Way). After I wrote my morning pages today, I went back through my archive – I hadn’t been on 750Words in nearly 5 years, gasp! – and found this old entry from September 23, 2016 where I was talking about wanting to write a book.

With my first book available for preorder now and my second book in-progress and due in a few months (!!), it seemed like a particularly good time to publish this little stream-of-consciousness ramble about Big Book Dreams from back in the day. Hope you enjoy – and if you’re a writer, I hope what you take away from this is that the projects you want to work on can, and probably will, materialize someday. ❤️

I just want to be at a writer’s residency and working on a book in the quiet of the woods, surrounded by reading materials, notebooks, pens, my laptop, birds chirping, looseleaf tea brewing just as the ideas brew in my head. I want this to be real. I want this to happen. I want it so badly I can feel it quaking in my bones. The ache to work on a big-scale project has been percolating in me for months but I don’t know quite what shape this desire will eventually take. Ideas have come and gone, but the fire hasn’t stuck around in any of them yet.

I don’t know if I’m actually mature and level-headed and emotionally steady and passionately committed enough to write a book; that is such a deep and lengthy commitment and I’ve never worked on a writing project of that length and scope before. Except, I guess, for my blog. I’ve been doing that for four and a half years (that semi-anniversary comes up in just a few days actually) and I haven’t even remotely run out of juice and enthusiasm for it yet. I started a sex blog because I knew I could write about sex literally forever – all the ways it intersects with the other parts of our lives, all the ways it is informed by all our interactions and experiences and feelings and memories and histories – and that has proven to be very true. I can go and go and go. I have so much motivation to work on this website. It never runs dry. And even if it occasionally does, I always have so many posts queued up that I can coast through the dry spells, still publishing twice a week like I always have. It’s a good feeling, to know I’ve been so consistent, so dependable, such a reliable source of enthusiasm and information for my readers.

I am very lucky and privileged and blessed to make money from this, but I am also thinking I need to get another job soon because I would like to make enough money to be able to move out, or to afford to travel and go on these retreats and things I want to do. I want the money to pour in from many more sources than it currently is, even though it’s already coming from multiple sources of which I’m very proud (my blog’s affiliate commissions, advertisers, Patreon supporters, copywriting/blogging work for other websites, journalism and essays, even occasionally porn and camming and other forms of online sex work).

I feel so determined to make a career of the things I love to do, and it feels within reach, as I was telling my therapist earlier this week. It feels imminently possible and doable because I know that I am talented and my content is good and helpful and I’m constantly told that by the people who devour my work. I have the feeling of supported notoriety that I craved so badly for all those many years I was blogging on LiveJournal and TeenOpenDiary and putting my outfit photos on Flickr and writing about my life on Tumblr and putting music videos on YouTube and wanting desperately to attract people who would understand my weird brain and accept it in all its broadness and quirkiness and positivity. I wanted to find the people who would be most helped, uplifted, and entranced by the kinds of things I wanted to write. I’ve found those people now.

It’s so juicy and good and I wake up every day lately excited to crack open my laptop and work on something, whether it’s an article for the Establishment or an essay for Bitch Flicks or a series of erotic vignettes for my blog or a chapter of the book on unrequited love I’ve been slowly drafting and mapping out in Scrivener. I don’t know what the eventual project will be that I pour out into the world and make my legacy with, but I know it will be significant to some folks and that is a good thing to know. I have more to say, more to do. I am working toward something that will satisfy and fulfill me. God, it’s delicious.