Finally some progress!

I've wanted to write a post with some updates on everything. I mentioned in a previous post about all the work that has been stalled in the last 6 months. I never mentioned what caused it besides some health issues, so I figure I should start there. Back in March when I started feeling terrible, my wife suggested that I get checked for Epstien Barr Virus, (EBV). It's the virus that causes mono and once the infection clears, it usually goes dormant in your body, never to bother you again. My wife is one of the rare cases that continually reactivates, giving her near-constant fatigue. I went to my doctor and was tested and guess what - I had an active infection!

Six months later, I'm still feeling the fatigue from it. Sometimes it manifests in extreme tiredness, sometimes it's a really bad back ache. However it shows up, I'm just unable to do much besides taking care of myself and my family. Cooking and cleaning kinda go by the wayside, and any creative endeavors can go to hell. It's been an extremely frustrating 6 months and has made me realize how difficult things have been for my wife, who's had this problem for years.

With that explanation out of the way, I have been feeling better lately. I still haven't been able to do much during the day since work has taken up a lot of my energy. I have been applying to a ton of jobs lately that would allow me to work from home and not work with the public, which is probably the most draining aspect of my current job. I'm hoping getting any of those would allow me at least a little bit of free time during my day to make progress on my writing.

I did take time off work last week though with the plan to spend the whole time editing Old School Evil 2 to get ready for publishing. And it worked! I spent about 4-5 hours each day last week and edited the book with the help of my writing group's comments. They really helped make the story a lot more cohesive. I have to admit, it felt so putting that much time into a personal project without interruption. I was still pretty tired when I quit each day, but I wasn't nearly as drained as after a day at work.

Anyway, the next step is printing out a copy of the whole manuscript and reading through it, mostly so I can make notes on continuity. I'm hoping that I can finish that within a week as well, but I'm okay with it taking a little longer.