Writing:
Been doing some today, but in general writing less than I want, it’s mostly down to being so sleepy all the time, which I suspect is insulin and therefore diet related. I sleep well at night (generally), get up and feel wide awake, have some breakfast which is generally low sugar (my most common breakfast these days is 2x potato waffles and an egg (or two) and occasionally some ham). but by mid-morning if I’m not doing something mobile, I literally cannot keep my eyes open. Which means the time of the day when I am generally most productive writing wise, I’m achieving nothing.
On top of which I have been having some story issues, due mostly to a couple of characters wanting to go their own ways and not follow the story I’m trying to tell. This has the knock-on effect of them not being in the correct place or mindset to support other characters who need them to help tell their story.
Super Mage (formerly Briar) who was originally going to be a WhatIF G1 character, who was then redeveloped into a G2 character is now back to G1 (G1 is set 2006-2010 (currently only covers ’06-’07) G2 is 2016-2020 (and really only covers 2016 so far, though there are stories that fit under the G2 label outside of that date range – it’s complicated)). Because I decided that one of the books, I plan on writing will take the original back story to Super Mage and fully realise it without any mention of Earth or Whateley, I decided that I wanted to rewrite the character so that her origin is fully based within the WAU, but she apparently doesn’t much like this. It’s also damaged a little by the idea of Arcanix a type of mathematics that describes magic, which I wrote as the kind of thing a super advance magical civilisation would use if they hadn’t focused on technology. But part of what I need super mage to have/do is Arcanix.
So, trying to get everything where I want it in my WhatIFs is hard. I also came up with another G1 character who is basically an “avatar” of Typhon/Echidna, by avatar I’m using the traditional non-mutant definition of avatar which within the stetting means that the character is the physical manifestation of that god/goddess, in this case he/she will take the fallen god into his/her body and become over time much stronger, while the fallen god/goddess gains a useful host. But the character is not a mutant, I already have a mutant avatar in my G2 stable.
Super mage then returns to Whateley to teach Arcanix in G2, where she will teach it to Astral who has become incapable of understanding any normal maths due to a super version of dyslexia/dyscalculia/etc. Yet because the normal maths has been removed, she can do Arcanix much easier than most other Earthian humans. But super mage won’t do as she’s told. :/
Life/Health:
Last year I had a sebaceous cyst on my neck go septic, after a few weeks of steadily increasing pain, I had it removed under general anaesthetic with the following three weeks having the dressing changed (not fun, and also expensive). In the last few days, the lump – what I assumed to be scar tissue – in the same place has become inflamed and is obviously septic now, so I am in some pain. Main reason why I’ve got any writing done today is that I have felt too sore and grotty to do any riding (including taking the dog out). Also the aforementioned issues with feeling sleepy after eating is making some parts of life a little annoying – I suspect that I will be having some blood tests in the near future to try and see what is going on with that.
Otherwise I feel remarkably healthy, I’ve been eating better and exercising more, had a haircut so I have short hair again – I regret it as I have wanted long hair since I was about ten years old, but I already have a large head, and wearing a cycling helmet with a large head is already difficult (I’m already at the largest commonly sized helmet) adding big hair to that was not doing me any favours. I am going to have to find myself some shoes for cycling in which offer me a bit better support than my current New Balance trainers as I’m having issues with sore or numb toes on longer rides.
Cycling:
Which brings me neatly to my current favourite hobby.
My bike has had its derailleur and derailleur hanger straightened which has stopped most of the horrible noises it was making from being made. And I can now use all of my gears. I’m expecting the dropper post (that allows me to adjust the height of my saddle on the move) to arrive tomorrow, which I will hopefully be able to fit myself (Dr Velo is busy), I’ve watched a guide on YouTube and it looks like it shouldn’t be too hard. I also have the first of two water-bottle holder bolt things that go in the M.R.S. Modular Rail System that the bike has instead of standard bottle cage standoffs (Why? Because!) which I am hoping to modify so that I can mount two bottle cages side by side,
I’ll then use a second mount further down the downtube to hold a tool bag/bottle, which will replace my current saddle bag which doesn’t play well with a dropper post. And then add a bag to the front of the top tube for other things I might want on my rides. I’m going to pick up another lock or two for mobile security, but as I now have my Sold Secure Diamond lock which means my bike is insured when locked at home, that isn’t quite such a desperate issue as it has been.
I’m planning on heading off to Escape Bikes in Ingleton which is my local Haibike Dealer to have a look round, depending on my neck hopefully fairly soon. They might have some other ideas and it’d be nice to touch base with someone other than 3 Peaks Cycles in Settle (who are great by the way) who don’t seem that enthusiastic about mountain bikes – they mostly seem to focus on gravel and road bikes/kit. Not a bad thing, but I don’t ride either of those.
I have continued to do longer daily rides, the dog and I did ten miles yesterday followed by a solo ride of another 10 (I’d done some earlier in the day while running an errand) so did about 23 yesterday, they day before I did around 25… so riding greater distances in general than I did specially last year – and that’s down to not hating cycling up hills anymore. Though I do have an issue getting going on very steep hills as the back wheel just skids out unless I’m on the saddle, but I can’t start on the saddle or the bike falls over before I start moving.
I am having an issue with my feet which is either caused by my saddle or by poorly chosen shoes, though in honesty I ride in what I have and I don’t think I can afford to buy bike specific shoes any time soon, I’m hoping that by riding more my feet will get used to the issue. Maybe Escape Bikes will have an idea, the only other place fairly nearby is in Keighly, they stock one of the best brands of wide/large shoes which might be the route I have to go, but at ~£100 or more, I might have to give that a miss at least for a while.
My next big ride will be to finish the ride I posted about here last week, doing the bit I missed and possibly the extended version which goes round the back of Pen-y-ghent, it adds quite a bit to the distance travelled and I wouldn’t want to do that with the dog or in poor weather so that might have to wait until the weather gets nicer later in the year. I’m also planning on facing my demons and riding up past Crummack onto the tops – a steep offroad route, I’ve pushed the old bike up it a couple of times – would be nice to know I can cycle it now (I want to try long lane again now I have all my gears too). And I’m planning on redoing the extended Settle Loop, that I attempted with my nephews last summer. That will be fairly soon I hope, but wanting at least some dry weather both before and on the day, now would be good but my neck is not happy.
And then when I have the dropper (and bottles) all sorted out I’m going to see if there any riding groups around here, I’d love to do some rides with other people, gets a little lonely to always be on my own – Stanley is great, but not a great conversationalist. And there are tons of great rides to try even limited to starting from Austwick or Settle due to lack of driving legality/vehicle (I can drive fine, just not legally). I might try and get the train from Settle and start from one of the stations up the line too. But that will have to wait until later in the year.