Ira Heinichen's Blog, page 101

Day 3,357: Trash Panda

A raccoon almost came into my office today to eat the cat food. He didn’t realize I was in there, and he literally froze for a second when he saw me. And then bam! He was out of our yard in about two seconds. I guess our reputation for putting out food has spread around the neighborhood. Which, of course, was inevitable.

The cats come and eat inside my office now when it’s raining out. I find it very…sweet. Nugget even took a little tour, sniffed my feet, and looked at me for a bit.

Liz to...

Day 3,356: Half A Traz

And I’m back!

Man…woke up today feeling COMPLETELY NORMAL. It’s the coolest thing with these vaccines, man; the immune response is LEGIT like being sick, but the recovery time is insane. The snap back to feeling normal is like a miracle, and I suppose it’s because we’re never really sick. There’s no actual virus inside us replicating itself, just the material in the injection. And once that stuff is sloughed off and broken up, the body just…returns to normal.

Anyway. That was a relief. Had...

Day 3,355: Yup

Indeed. The COVID and flu vaccines have fucked me up. I mean…not reeaaalllyy…but I am experiencing symptoms galore. On my ass all day today. Achy af. Fever, too. Immune system doing it’s work, which I’m grateful for. Also really looking forward to feeling better. Hopefully that’s tomorrow.

We shall see.

I think that’s it for me tonight, kids. I want to read for a little bit until I fall asleep, and I want to sleep through the night and wake up tomorrow feeling better. That sounds nice.

...

Day 3,354: T-minus…

The countdown to symptoms has begun, I suppose. I got both my flu and covid vaccine/booster today. About four hours ago. I think I’m due for a fever in about two-to-four hours if it’s like it was the first couple times I got the covid jab. We’ll see. Maybe this time I’ll feel nothing! Hope so. But, even if I do end up getting like achy and a fever, no biggie. It goes away super quick.

Coco has taken to peeing whenever we leave her alone in the house. I think it’s a separation anxiety thing. S...

Day 3,353: Hey!

Hey hey! I felt normal today. Whew. Taking the drugs last night worked. I am not, in fact, getting sick. Just…starting up a new routine I suppose. Body freaking out just like the mind is. Sigh. I wish it wasn’t so, but it is. And it’s good news, actually. I’d rather be psychosomatic than actually sick.

Better work day. Long. I didn’t get a nap in, but that’s okay. Another long one tomorrow…but I’m set up for success. Whew.

I’m going to make this one short tonight I think. Coco is snuggled ...

Day 3,352: Off

So…champagne. Damn, that stuff gives a hangover, doesn’t it? Both Liz and I. We finally opened our new years’ champagne, and we drank about 2/3s of it—not even the whole thing!—and we both woke up feeling like shit. It’s happened before. I remember one new years I had champagne and…tequila, I think? And holy shit, was I sick. Not nearly so bad this time, but it was enough to put me off the whole day.

Sigh.

I have this stupid lingering cough, and this weird thing where I wake up in the morn...

One Book To $10K

Happy new year!

2022 was a significant year for me as an author, a stepping-stone year. I learned some things that some of you may find interesting and hopefully helpful. Most notably:

My co-writer and I published a first-in-series at the very end of 2021, and we saw that book cross the $10,000 threshold in sales on its own, even though book 2 didn’t come out until the very end (November) of 2022—almost exactly a YEAR later.

That’s 1 book to 10k.

Now that book 2 is finally out (with ...

Day 3,351: Trance

I got to play a little DJ set tonight. I had planned to actually record a 55-minute set for use while I write, but the little digital recorder we use was actually full on its memory card. Oops. But, that ended up being just fine, because I kind of experimented instead. Which I needed to. What I’d put together was not going to make the best set. It needed some feeling out, other tracks, different orders. So, in that regard it was really quite perfect.

Work was great today! I was a little tired...

Day 3,350: 2OT

Quick one tonight so I can read before it gets tooo late. But…I woke up on time! I did some outlining! I finished up the last little bits of Netflix work that I had to make up because I stumbled going into my last few days before the holiday break. I was just burned out, man. So, I promised myself I’d make that time up over the break…and I did. Proud of myself.

I’m set up for success tomorrow.

I really needed this break. Man. So glad I had it. Now: back to work.

Night.

Day 3,349: Full Whack

First thought of the new year: it’s really fun to learn Brit turns of phrase, particularly those used commonly at the turn of the century/millennia, by watching Grand Designs.

Yes, we are still obsessed. It’s our show around this time of year.

I started day 1 of the pushups and sit-ups today. Going to attempt again to go all the way through the year with them, and then keep them up. More an excuse to get back into the swing of it. It’s a mindset, not a goal. I’ve also decided that I’m goin...