Bonjour, mes amies!
Yes, I know. I’ve been out of touch for…sheesh…a whole bloody week. My sincerest apologies to my dear blog friends for just disappearing out of the blue. As many of you know, I have a chronic illness (ulcerative colitis), and I’m afraid it got the best of me last weekend. I’m still not sure if it was a case of food poisoning or another freaky episode of colitis, but boy, did it knock me off my feet for a good long while.
In any case, I’m back and have missed everyone so much! It’s been a rather odd week, to say the least. The briefest activity (climbing the staircase) would wear me out for a few minutes, which is very discouraging to a long-distance runner such as myself. I think I’ll be able to slowly ease myself back into running again starting tomorrow, but as of now I’m taking it easy and getting lots of rest and sleep.
In the meantime, My Inner French Girl’s been hiding underneath layers of pyjamas and sweats. Ugh. When you’re ill, it’s difficult to watch the able-bodied around you because the whole time you’re thinking, Oh, I’ll never be that mobile again! Sigh. Isn’t that funny? I know that taking care of one’s appearance is part of good health, but…well…gosh darn it, I just can’t be bothered. I’m lucky if I wash my face every morning. (By the way, did I mention that the Himalaya Facial Cleansing Gel is the best cleanser ever made? It’s a bloody miracle.) And oh, damn, I ran out of my philosophy Hope in a Jar, and the nearest Sephora is five hours away over mountain passes and too much snow. Ugh. Yeah, it’s been a trying week.
I did have lots of time for thinking, though, and I’ve decided to make a few changes that will hopefully give me the more balanced life I’ve been seeking. My novel’s been feeling rather neglected lately as I’ve spent increasing amounts of time on my blogs and not enough on the enormous research required by the book. Also, my freelancing has been going up and down of late, and I definitely have to spend more time on it if I want to get bills paid. Double ugh. So I’ve decided to scale back a bit on the ambitious schedule I’ve had for MIFG and will post thusly:
a) The book review, which previously had been posted every Wednesday, will now run every other Wednesday.
b) Film reviews will be posted every other Friday. (This obviously won’t change, as I was working towards this anyway.)
c) Beauty reviews will still run once a week, either Mondays or Thursdays.
d) No posts on weekends.
The Tuesday Web crawl will run when I come across any interesting blogs or articles, but this may not be every Tuesday. I just haven’t had the time much lately to really get some good trolling down. And dammit, I want to finish the bloody book!
That’s it! Oh, and one more thing: I’m experimenting with some advertising opportunities, which will probably show up on Monday. Don’t worry, the editorials won’t be affected; I’ll still be my usual snarky, albeit coolly sophisticated self.
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{ 10 comments }
Glad to hear that you’re better! Were you/can you find out exactly what caused this bout so you can be prepared for next time? Just remember that your health is your number one priority, then your novel, then your blog. As long as you don’t completely disappear from the face of the internets.
I’m sorry you’ve had such a bad week! Just keep focusing on getting healthy and taking care of yourself!
Marjorie, I was going to send you an email today because I was so worried about your lack of posting! Glad to have an explanation and I hope you are feeling better.
I personally was amazed by your ambitious blogging schedule and I know what you mean about it getting in the way of other projects.
I want to write a book too and I basically have two years to do it (for reasons that will be revealed along with the theme of the book, tee-hee,) but I can’t seem to get off the blogs and blogging…
Anyway, this is a blog comment, not a letter, right? So I’ll stop here but hope you are back to your energetic self soon.
Also, to cheer you up, I just bought Accelerate through your Amazon link. (I wanted the CD too!)
Yeah! So glad to have you back in the land of the living!
gvI am so happy you are feeling better. Your experience has motivated me to stay away from popcorn. Poor, you!!
And, I am a big believer in blogging without apologies. You post when you can and you don’t when you can’t. We will always be here when you get back.
I am in total agreement with Randal’s ordering of priorities: health, novel, and then blog. Well, maybe skin care needs to go in there somewhere. You get to decide where. 
Aw, you guys are too bloody sweet! Thank you for your kind thoughts! I’m so focused on taking care of myself now, it’s not even funny.
Peppermint tea? Check.
Lots of fruits in the house? Check.
Lots of meds? Check.
Lots of fun movies to watch? Check.
Good books to read? Check.
Fun friends to chat with? Check. Check. Check.
Dear Randal, Amen. Although when I said that to my husband, he cleared his throat and said, “Uhm, don’t forget me on that list.” So okay, there’s health, THEN my husband, THEN my novel, and THEN my blog.
Never did find out what it was that I had, but I suspect a combo of the two (food poisoning and colitis). I’ve had food poisoning twice before, and it wasn’t nearly that bad. Ugh.
AS, merci for your comment! Yeah, things are much better now, thank you so much!
Dear Betty, bonjour and merci! Yeah, I think I was too ambitious at the time, but I’ve gotten some perspective since then. I can’t give it up completely as I love it way too much, but I do enjoy having a life outside of my laptop.
It’s good that you have a deadline. I’m such a procrastinator that things like National Novel Writing Month are vital for people like me who need a good kick in the pants for motivation. Have you started working on your book at all?
And thank you thank you thank you for your Amazon purchase! Yay! I’ve been experimenting with the different advertising opportunities, and Amazon.com is a really easy one to set up. Of course, some of their business practices of late have been rather questionable, so I continue to monitor whether or not it’s a worthwhile endeavor.
Salut,
Marjorie
Dear Fuji Mama, and it’s so great to be back in the land of the living! Arigato-gozaimashita.
LBR, my dentist says that we shouldn’t eat popcorn anyway. He said that those little husks can really wreck your gums. Not that that stops me, of course. But my latest trip to the theater has now convinced me that smuggling your own snacks is definitely the way to go.
I like what you said about blogging without apologies. Okay, I take it back.
As for skincare, I kinda exaggerated that part. I. Will. Not. Go. To. Bed. Without. Washing. My. Face. It’s such a necessary ritual for me that the one time it did happen where I just couldn’t be bothered to wash my face before going to bed, I remember it to this day. (College. Philippines. Very late night.)
I never got to go to Target. Rumor has it that certain locations carry one or two philosophy products, but I’m not sure Hope in a Jar is one of them, or if my store is one of those locations. Will have to try tomorrow or succumb to the Internet.
Salut,
Marjorie
LOL! I have a deadline that is linked to the content of my book and the title, but that doesn’t mean I have started writing!
Sigh…
Dear Betty, well, if you’re anything like me, you’ll get the book finished. It’ll just mean lots of late nights and weekends in the months leading up to the deadline.
There’s nothing like a looming deadline to get my procrastination into gear.
Salut,
Marjorie
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