Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 5

Readathon

In the quest to read more this year, I joined a May readathon. I will post results after the month has ended, BTW.

I stumbled across readathons on YouTube while I was looking at reading journal setup videos. The first few I heard talked about seemed too cumbersome for me. If it's difficult, why do it? Reading is supposed to be fun.

Then I heard about this particular readathon, and the prompts for choosing books were much simpler than the other ones I'd seen.

I decided to give it a try. Maybe I'd fail spectacularly, but you don't know until you try, right?

I downloaded the files and filled in the To Be Read worksheet on the spreadsheet they had. I also sent it to a couple of my friends. We're doing a book club read. Or maybe a book buddy read? How many people do you need to have a book club? There are three of us, we pick a book, and we discuss that book. I call it a book club.

With three of us in it together, I was sure I'd do better than I expected. Plus, I've started listening to audiobooks while I knit, so that's increasing my reading time.

Double plus, I can put a readathon spread in my still-imaginary book journal!

An aside: When I was downloading the readathon files, I accidently downloaded the year long, book a month, reading thing that was similarly named to the readathon. One book a month? The prompts looked completely doable. I was in! And the first book I read in April (when I downloaded the files), fit one of the April prompts.

I did miss the first three months, but I'll go back and do those late. Why not? It's all about reading more after all.

Reading Journal, the Fiction Edition

Back in 2024, I mentioned that I was going to create a nonfiction reading journal. Posts are here, here, here, and here. I had the best of intentions, but didn't get very far.

In 2025, I made a resolution to read more fiction. Then began a great debate. Do I do a reading journal for the fiction books I read? After all, I'd failed mightily with the nonfiction reading journal. I'm not even sure where it is right now.

I decided yes, I do want to do a reading journal.

Next dilemma: Do I create a separate fiction writing journal or combine it with the nearly unused nonfiction reading journal?

This one took longer to decide. It seemed silly to start yet another journal when the last one is virtually empty. On the other hand, I'm sure I could do a better job this time, and maybe if it looked more attractive, I'd continue to do something with it.

After days of debate, I decided I would do a separate reading journal for fiction.

And this is as far as I've gotten. I don't know how I'm going to decorate it or how I'm going to set it up. I don't know which journal I'm going to use. Then there's the um, hey, remember the Hobonichi Cousin planner that was supposed to be your media journal for 2025? The one that's sitting unused? Maybe use that?

Yeah, I ignored that little voice. Brand new journal it is!

Then the next debate began: What size did I want to use? About the only size I don't have in an empty notebook is the B5. I do own the B5 size, but I'm using it. Well, sort of using it. I started it, put some stuff in, and abandoned it.

This debate only lasted a few hours. I have a number of 8x8 square notebooks, and it would be silly not to use that size since I specifically bought them to be book journals. (Although one is my ADHD declutter the house Pirate Book...that so far as failed spectacularly.)

Have I set anything up yet? No! But I have read books and saved the book covers. When I have enough to fill a sheet of stickers, I'll print them out and think about tackling the new fiction reading journal.

Still Not Brave Enough for a Sweater

I keep saying I'm going to knit sweaters. I really want to do this because there are some super cute patterns available. Unfortunately, sweaters intimidate me.

Shawls, however, are my jam.

I never wear shawls, but the reason I like knitting them is that they're not difficult, I don't need to worry about having the right number of stitches per inch because who cares if the shawl is bigger or smaller than it's supposed to be? It's more interesting to knit than a scarf or hat. They also take a little time, so it's not a few days and done, but neither is it like when I knitted the blanket. That took six months.

The other bonus is that I have yarn kits handy for a number of shawls, so I don't have to buy anymore. I can use what's on hand.

When I needed something else to knit, I raided my yarn stash and found a kit I'd bought in 2021.

The Winston Shawl ended up being a fun knit! I liked it because it was easy enough for me to memorize the pattern section I was working, but it was challenging enough to be interesting. I like to watch TV while I knit or listen to podcasts, so the sweet spot is something interesting, but not too hard.

I wish I was a better photographer. The colors appear all washed out in this shot, but the yarn is rich and vibrant.

I learned a few new skills on this project, which is always the goal. I picked up 437 stitches to add the green section at the bottom, which is a skill I've struggled with in the past. This took me multiple tries, but I finally did it. I learned how to knit the honeycomb look. I also learned out to do an attached I Cord at the top of the shawl.

I swear the yarn is navy blue and the green/blue yarn is really rich in color. I don't understand why I take such bad photos.

I've got another shawl to work on next. I found this yarn kit while I was hiding in the closet when the tornado sirens went off. But that's another story.

Not My Goal

I began knitting as stress relief back in early 2017. It was a way to relieve anxiety without getting a prescription. Since then, I've probably reached an intermediate knitter level. Maybe borderline advanced.

From the beginning, I chose projects that would teach me new things--new stitches, new ways to bind off, anything I hadn't tried before. It helped me become a better knitter faster because I operated under the premise that if I messed up, I could always undo it and start over.

Despite my desire to learn knitting and my choice for adventurous projects, its primary purpose is stress relief. First, last, and always.

There were knitting designers I really liked, and I began subscribing to newsletters. Discount codes for patterns are always welcome and it also gave me sneak peeks at what they had coming up. As time passed, I got more and more designers.

And then one of these designers stopped sharing patterns or coupon codes. Every email from her was about taking her class to become a knitting designer.

I don't want to design knitting projects.

I want to knit projects other people created. I don't want to sell patterns. I want to buy patterns and knit them and just have it be a hobby, not a job.

Once upon a time, writing was for fun. Then I sold my first book to New York, and it became a job. Writing is still a job, and while it's the job I always dreamed of doing, it's not relaxing. I worry about every plot point, every story detail. I fight with my characters because they go on strike if I write them doing something they don't want to do even if it advances the plot and makes my life easier.

I need knitting to remain a relaxing hobby. I don't want to worry about anything except having the correct stitch count on the row. Heck, I don't even do lace knitting any longer because it stresses me out.

I finally unsubscribed from this woman's emails. She wasn't about knitting patterns any longer. She was all about selling her class to women who dream of being knitting designers.

That's never been my goal.

Chaos Reigns

There are a few things that cause me to struggle with my ADHD. Some of them I forget until the next time I run into the issue. Some are just obvious. My frustration now is about organization.

I want my office neat and organized. I hate writing in here with clutter and chaos everywhere, and yet I can't seem to find the energy to start tackling it.

It's overwhelming and that paralyzes me.

There's also finishing up my dad's bedroom. He lived with me for about seven years before he passed away so there was a lot of stuff. With help, I managed to handle most of it, but there's still a fair amount left to be done in there. Plus, I put a lot of my craft stuff in there to get it out of my office. Now not only is my dad's room loaded with his stuff, but it's now also loaded with craft supplies.

Another room that's overwhelming me now.

Then there's my closet, the pantry, the kitchen, and don't even ask me about the bonus room upstairs.

I had this idea of breaking things down to its smallest component and doing one tiny thing each week. I even took a notebook and created an entire theme for decorating it. And I haven't done much of anything with it.

Recently, I bought a spiral-bound workbook for organization. It has checklists and things like that. I haven't really looked through it yet. Until this book is completely finished and uploaded for its July release, I need to keep all my focus that direction, but I did glance at it and I'm worried it was a waste of money because some sections pertain to things that I don't need.

I guess we'll see when I have time to get there.

It's too bad professional organizers are out of my price range. With ADHD, I do better if I have someone working with me and that's what an organizer would do. They also cost the moon, so workbooks it is. Maybe even a few online videos.

Bang! Crash!

Years ago, I bought a set of Corelle dishes--four bowls, four small plates, and four dinner plates. They had a red design on them, and my kitchen in my home in Minnesota had red accents. You know, red towels, a red cover for my mixer, and a red knife set. Things like this. The red design went with the look.

A few years back, my dad broke one of the small bowls. I didn't think Corelle broke, but this showed me differently. And when I went online to try to buy a replacement, I discovered they no longer made that pattern.

Three bowls it was.

This is the way it stood until a few weeks ago. I was cooking. I needed a bowl to mix something in and it was a small amount, so I grabbed one of my Corelle bowls. I didn't clear the one I was taking out from the bowl beneath it and the other bowl plummeted out, hit my granite counter, and exploded, shattering into dozens and dozens of shards.

Yes, Corelle definitely breaks. It took forever to clean up all the mess. I swept. I vacuumed. I used a wet cloth because some of those pieces were nearly microscopic. That's how many pieces it broke into.

Now I was down to two bowls. I went online to search for more bowls and wasn't surprised my design wasn't available. If I couldn't buy it three or four years ago, it would take a miracle to find it now. They did, however, have small bowls with a red rim. Close enough, I thought.

And then I saw the price. They were double what the plain white bowls cost. Even though I at least wanted a tiny bit of red, I did the sensible thing and bought the plain white bowls. It's still disappointing, but they're the right size and they do what I need them to do. Aesthetics be darned.

Scorpion PTSD

The towels I was using were starting to become ragged, so I went to my linen closet and pulled out ones that looked nicer. They'd been washed and put away as soon as I bought them, just waiting their turn to be used.

As I'm drying off, something dark flies to my right side. I glance over and screamed. I didn't have my glasses on, but it sure looked like a scorpion.

Mostly.

You see, the house I lived in before this one had scorpions. I never knew when or where they'd turn up.

One time, I pulled down the ladder to the attic and had one nearly land in my hair. I had them in my kitchen, in my bedroom, in my family room, and my pest control company was out spraying for them regularly because their usual pesticide doesn't kill scorpions.

This is why when I see something dark and scorpion shaped, I assume it's a scorpion.

As I screamed, I moved away from it, and thought, you know, this looks a little odd.

I put on my glasses and took a closer look. Hmm. I edged closer. It was black thread. A lot of black thread. I don't know where it came from because the towel was gray, and like I said, I washed it before it went into the linen closet.

I lived in the scorpion house for a little over three years. I've been in my current home for more than seven years and there are no scorpions here. I thought I was over those things. I even leave my shoes on the floor sometimes where I would never have done that at the scorpion house. Apparently, I'm nowhere near over those little buggers.

Scorpion PTSD is a thing. I'm living proof of it.

Trusting Instincts

While I was writing Wicked Intention, I had Archer use Zo's full name every time he spoke it.

As I was editing, I kept coming back to those few scenes over and over. Zo liked the abbreviated version of her name rather than the full thing. Why did I have Archer using Zofia all the time?

On one pass or another, I changed some of the Zofia references to Zo before the book was published.

Now as I'm writing Wicked Ambition, which is the seventh book in the Paladin League series, it's clear that Archer uses full names for all the women working for him.

It's Zofia, Catriona, Marianna, Francesca, and Iona and not Zo, Cat, Mari, Frankie, and Io.

Zo might prefer Zo, but Archer doesn't care. All the instances I changed from Zofia to Zo were wrong. I should have left them alone because I was right the first time.

This year, I've set the goal of updating the pages at the back of my books. I'm starting with the Paladin League series. And while I'm updating the back matter, I also went into Wicked Intention and changed every time Archer said Zo back to Zofia.

I didn't trust my instincts while I was editing the book, but now I know better. 

Riddle Me This

My old laptop died unexpectedly in 2024. I had a large hard drive, but it was nowhere near as large as the drive I got on the replacement laptop. With all this extra space, I did not expect to run into issues with storage.

Silly me.

It began with my backup service. It restored files that were already on my computer, stopped running because the drive was full, and then (after I fixed some of the duplication) despite claiming it would resume where it left off, it wanted to start all over again! I downloaded the files I wanted to make sure I had, and a couple months later, when my subscription expired, I let it lapse. This headache was not worth the money.

Some of my storage problems might still be related to this because I haven't gone through and deleted every duplicated file yet. It's on the To-Do list, but there are a lot of other things on that list ahead of it.

But my 1 TB hard drive was nearly full and balking.

Last week, I finally had enough. Pictures, videos, graphics, music--they were all coming off the hard drive and going onto an external drive. I just needed to buy one. After weighing size versus cost, I chose a 5 TB option.

I moved photos first. Apparently, not the problem.

Music went next. Nope.

Then I did my graphics folder. There was the issue.

I'm not sure how it didn't choke my old laptop. I bought that one in 2016 and I know I didn't have 1TB of space on my hard drive, yet somehow, I had space there. The new laptop? It was screaming I'm full!

I have more stuff I need to move and even more to organize, but at least I can work on my laptop again without worrying about things not saving because of space issues. Sigh. I guess I should have paid for the 2 TB laptop, but since I was already like doubling my storage, it didn't feel necessary.

Next time, I'll know better.

The Inspire 3 Saga

I told this story a couple of months ago in my newsletter, so if you're a subscriber, this will sound familiar to you. If you're not a subscriber, you can sign up on the Coming Next page of my website. Just scroll down a little bit to the form.
To keep track of my sleep, I wear a Fitbit. It was a Fitbit Luxe. When I bought mine, there were multiple versions available, and it was on sale, so it was only slightly more money than the Inspire I had at the time. I loved the shape of the Luxe. It was narrower than the Inspire and it had a pseudo-metallic bezel around it that made it look, well, luxe.
For months before The Incident (capitalization is intentional), the battery was becoming an issue. Instead of charging it twice a week, I was charging it every other day. I'd also developed a problem with it freezing. The only way to restart it was to put it on the charging cable, so basically, I just charged it daily. And I restarted it daily because when it froze, I didn't get any sleep data.
Frustrated, I looked at replacements, but the only Luxe available was hugely expensive. It was also a style that I personally didn't like. Then I remembered someone I worked with had bought a bargain brand. I found a knock-off that looked exactly like my Luxe for a fraction of the cost. I ordered it.
I hated it.
The plastic band felt cheap. Despite fiddling with the settings, I couldn't get the thing to stop from lighting up all the time, and my friends, it gave off enough light to guide the alien motherships into Earth. Not what I wanted to see in the middle of the night when I'm trying to pull my blankets up to my chin.
I went back to my ailing Luxe. Surely, it could limp along until new Fitbits came out and I could buy another (more affordable) Luxe.
Alas, The Incident buried that idea forever. I was sitting at the table, working on my journal, when I felt something weird at my wrist. I glanced down. The Luxe screen was hanging to the device by a wire.
I pressed it back together, but I knew it wouldn't last, and worse yet, the seal was broken. I wouldn't be able to shower with it on any longer. If I tried, water would get inside and kill it once and for all. I pulled out the cheap knock-off. Surely, I could learn to live with it.
No. I absolutely could not live with it. That thing was too annoying. It was also not accurate. As an example, I woke up one morning, checked it and it said I slept nine hours. Nine hours? I did a little math using the time I went to bed. Yeah, there is no way it was nine hours. This thing was delusional. It was Saturday, so I got up, had coffee, did my Spelling Bee puzzle, and as the screen on the knock-off happened to be on the sleep hours, it now said I'd slept 10.5 hours.
Coffee and a word puzzle counted as 1.5 hours of sleep!
And the damn screen on the thing will not stay dark. Grr. So annoying.
That was it for me. I couldn't take it any longer. Even though I wasn't particularly excited to buy a Fitbit Inspire 3, it was better than living with this knock-off brand. I also managed to land on a sale because it was Presidents' Day weekend. I wasn't excited about any of the band colors, so I ordered another band, too. Also, on sale for the holiday weekend.
I still like the looks of my old Luxe better, but I'm back to only needing to charge twice a week and no more freezing and restarting necessary, so overall, I guess I'm happy.