I have leave planned for April and May. I don’t normally take leave for the sake of taking it but this will be the most leave I’ve taken since my surgery. Because of that, I plan to cram in a lot of exciting things to do ₍₍⚞(˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)⚟⁾⁾

Plans I’m making:

• Swamplesque~! (this will be my first burlesque)
• Eumundi Markets (I love their ginger beer but have never visited)
• a trip to the museum (I’m going to see the 90s queer identity and club culture exhibits)
• another writing retreat (Writvember begins with the new wheel turn!)
• a media day (learning how to use my camera again)
• craft retreat! (use that yarn! finish those projects!)

I want to do a lot of work on my writing and hobbies during the weeks I have off. I have a working idea of the costume I want to wear to the Abbey Medieval Festival this year after umming and ahhing over whether or not I wanted to go again. I went last year and the festival is great but they clearly didn’t plan for the volume of attendees. Food and drink stalls had massive lines and it was difficult finding anywhere to sit that wasn’t out in the sun or in a walkway. It was pretty overstimulating. This year we’re planning on taking our own food and maybe even camping chairs. At least half the group is on the neurodivergent spectrum (we have a mix of ADHD and autism) and so we’re thinking that a “care cart” will be a non-negotiable if we want to consider going again.

I made parts of my costume last year but am lucky that I have clothes that went with it. This year, I have a different theme and scheme in mind but it’s definitely more complicated than what I did last time and so we’ll see how far I get through it. I always have grand ideas but then either find it too difficult to start or too intimidating to start. I’ve really tried to make sure my ideas are “doable” to stop them from adding to the mountain of “fantastic” ideas that I have that I put into my project journal, think about for weeks and then don’t think about again for months.

The idea that I have for the Abbey isn’t “not-doable” but really relies on how much of my motivation burst I can get in. I have completed projects in a single week that I thought not doable before but ended up so focused on it that I was amazed with what I created afterwards. The only issue is that this really only works so long as I can maintain a healthy level of expectation throughout the time I’m making it. And by that I mean I need to make sure I spend more time excited about and enjoying the process of making something that I do thinking about what it’s supposed to look like. That’s how I made those Halloween head-mask things. I just sat down, thought about them and then spent like four days straight making them. And they turned out fine ┐(´ー｀)┌

As I write this I get excited about my Abbey project. But I can’t tell you yet (˵ ¬ᴗ¬˵)

I always forget to take progress pictures. I get caught up in what I’m doing and it’s not until it’s too late that I realise I didn’t document any of it. This is particularly frustrating when I don’t remember how I achieved something. I think the best thing about having progress photos is that I can see the work I put into whatever it is I made. Sometimes I make something that surprises me but the fixation period is so strong that feels like I’ve done the project overnight like some lucky accident rather than the product of hard work. Having the progress pictures reminds me that I can make almost anything with effort and these aren’t just strokes of luck I’ll never be able to replicate. It’s about invoking encouragement and motivation based on something I have done before and so can do again!