Author: Natalie J Case

Forever telling the stories that fill my head, in hopes I might keep the tenuous grip on reality that keeps me tethered here among the shadows.
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taking care of me

A few months ago, routine bloodwork came back showing that I am anemic. More bloodwork showed that I was severely anemic. What can I say, when I do something I like to go big. I’ve been on iron since and today I’m going in for a colonoscopy and endoscopy to determine if there is any internal cause.

I also need to go get labs done to see if taking the iron has helped, but I’ll do that tomorrow. My appointment with hematology is mid-January, so I need to get it done soon so that they will have the results.

Next up on my healthcare goals is getting my Nexplanon implant removed, setting up a mammogram, and getting back to the dentist.

It’s hard work, this getting older thing. 

In the meantime, I carry on with the day job and writing when I can. I really want a cup of coffee.

Alas, nothing by mouth until after the procedure.

What’s on your agenda this Wednesday before Christmas, readers?

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

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time journeys on

It is hard to believe that we are at the midpoint of December. It’s been a year of status quo, travel, and challenge. For a good chunk of the year, I’ve felt stuck in a rut, but I’ve also traveled to a number of places I’ve never been before (and a few I have).

Mom and I took a road trip north of here, into gold country. We visited little towns and historical sites. We took lots of pictures. On the drive home, I learned that she wanted to visit New Orleans. New Orleans has been on my bucket list for a long time.

Next thing I know, we’re planning a week in NOLA, with my brother coming along for the ride. We did all the touristy things and even caught a Saints football game.

I also got back to Austin in August, and a few trips to Tucson to help my stepmother. Racking up the air miles! 

But here we are, December 16…Christmas is just 9 days away. The new year is just 7 days beyond that and we’ll be in 2024. There was a time in my life when that seemed impossible. It’s going to be a consequential year. Everything is on the line in the November election. It is easy to sink into despair over the state of things, but I choose optimism.

I choose to believe that Americans have seen the chaos of the last two years and will do the right thing to protect our democracy. Anything else is unthinkable.

These heavy thoughts brought to you by a lack of caffeine. I best get to pouring my first cup of Death Wish Coffee. Y’all have a great Saturday, Readers. 

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changing gears

I’ve felt stymied on Book 4 of the Blood Witch Saga for months on end. I stare at the page and I type a few words, but I’m stuck.

So, yesterday I broke out one of the other works in progress, “The Daughters of Morru” which has been languishing on my hard drive for over a year. I read through the first three chapters yesterday after work and I can feel inspiration for the story. 

I am going to focus on that for a bit, see if I can’t shake loose some of this writer’s block. 

It is always a fun thing to reconnect with characters you love, whether as a writer or a reader. Hell, even as a watcher of movies/tv. It’s why we rewatch favorite shows.

I’m not sure if this will be a stand alone or develop into something more, but I have a good idea where the story is going, and how to get there from where I am.

I think I’ll read some more while I sip on my morning cup of coffee.

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kindness matters

One of the best things in the whole world, for me anyway, is giving to those who have nothing, no way to repay a kindness. Sometimes this takes the form of buying breakfast for an unhoused person, sometimes it’s five bucks to get someone home on the train.

When I’m feeling down, I seek out someone who needs something I can provide. But it is important to me that I don’t just hand them a cup of coffee. That isn’t where the kindness lives. It lives in listening to their stories, in letting them talk if they want to. It’s in sitting on a curb sipping coffee with them.

Yesterday, my mother and I spent the day putting together care packages for the homeless. We got a hygiene kit together (toothbrush/paste, wet wipes, hand sanitizer, lip balm, etc), added a hat and gloves, a pair of socks, then we packed some food in. A mandarin orange, peanut butter sandwich, some crackers, cookies, trail mix, and some holiday cheer in the form of candy.

We ended up with twenty care packages that are currently in my car. On my way home, I stopped twice to hand out bags to two gentlemen I see fairly regularly. One of them wanted to give me something in return. He was sweet, and told me a long, rambling story of how he got the piece he was giving to me, and how special it is. Doesn’t matter that it’s just a bit of plastic that broke off of some decorative thing. It was about him feeling like he had something to give me in return.

Today, Mom and I are taking the packages to an encampment of homeless folks, along with some blankets. It is starting to be cold here, especially at night, and while we don’t get snow and all that, the cold can still be deadly.

Kindness matters. Spread some around.

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dragging myself out of bed

Yesterday was the absolute worst day of this cold. I hardly slept the night before due to coughing and sinus pain/pressure, and the cough was just killing me. I took the day off sick.

I drank Nyquil and snuggled into a blanket/pillow fort on the couch and watched a bunch of Leverage episodes. I coughed up junk and went through a box of kleenex. I only left the house to take the dog to the park and to take my mother to her sleep study.

After dropping Mom off, I crawled into my bed, put on a long ASMR video and drifted into a Nyquil fueled coma. I didn’t get a lot MORE sleep than the night before, but it was all in one solid chunk, and that seems to have made all the difference. I’m feeling much better this morning!

I did, however, have to drag myself out of bed before I wanted to so that I could go pick up my mother by 5:30 am. I am hoping that now that I’m feeling more like myself I can actually get some work done on both my day job and my house.

I need a second cup of coffee first, though.

Hoping your Wednesday is fabulous, Readers!

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*cough cough sneeze sneeze*

I missed posting this weekend because I have been down with a nasty cold/virus. I’m still sick, but I think I’m starting to come out the other side. This has been a long, slowly developing illness. I started with a sore throat a week ago Sunday. The sinus congestion started late on Monday. Sneezing arrived on Tuesday.

Thursday I thought I was feeling better. Friday, I went out to a work event (paintball) and was okay until about 2 in the afternoon, when I suddenly felt completely drained. By the time I got home, I had started coughing, all the junk settling into my lungs.

I’ve been coughing ever since. The fatigue sidelined most of my weekend. This morning I’m feeling slightly better, I think. The fatigue isn’t as thick as it was yesterday. My voice sounds like I started taking testosterone. My throat is raw from coughing.

Okay, enough complaining. Let’s talk about Friday. It was the first time I had met any of my coworkers in person. I drove an hour and a half out to Napa to meet up with them at a place called Paintball Jungle. They have a couple of acres of land set up with forts, blinds, and other obstacles.

My first observation was, damn that paintball gun is HEAVY. I’m still feeling it in my arm! Now, I’m not the most agile individual, and being that I was somewhat sick I also wasn’t hugely energetic, but I went out there to try. And I did pretty good, right up until my energy drained out of my toes. I sat out most of the last game we played and instead sat and talked with others who weren’t participating.

It was a fun day.

And now, I need to find some energy to get the day job started.

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a writer writing

I’ll admit, I’m struggling a little this week. I have a bit of a head cold and the accompanying fatigue has made it difficult to get stuff done. And there is so much to do!

However, there’s some Death Wish Coffee in my Star Wars “Pew Pew” cup, my throat is less sore and my space heater is making my office a little more cozy.

I’m working on book 4 in the Blood Witch Saga. I’m pretty sure where the plot is going, but this first draft is pretty rough and will take a lot of editing. This is largely due to the disconnected way I’ve been writing. The opening is way too slow and I need to get to the action faster. But, I will continue writing and come back to the edit later.

In this book, Thána and Co., including the ghost of an ancestor, are off to save magic. You can expect more world hopping, necromancy, possession, probably some new races/languages, and some mythological creatures.

You know, the usual.

For now though, I need to finish this cup of coffee and get the day job started. So much to do!

Oh, and don’t forget my giveaway! You can win a hardback copy of the first three books in the Blood Witch Saga.

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trees and lights and holidays

Halloween has always been the holiday I go all out for, but once upon a time, I used to go wild for Christmas too. Back when my mother and I were sharing a home, we strung up hundreds and hundreds of lights on the house, bushes, even the lawn. We did a big tree and a Christmas village that took up an entire table.

Since moving out to live alone, I haven’t had room for a tree or much desire to decorate inside, and for a long time, I lived in places where decorating outside didn’t matter as no one would see it. This year, I fell in love with a tree with fiber-optic lights and decided to co-opt the corner of my living room to put up a tree.

I don’t have anything on it yet, but I have ornaments coming. I need to find a tree topper that won’t topple my wee little tree and maybe some garland.

I also got some lights for outside, I just need to find the oomph to get them up.

I will also need to go help Mom get her tree up sometime in the next week or so. For today though? I’m nursing my back that I seem to have injured by sleeping last night.

Photo by Thalia Ruiz on Unsplash

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signed hardback giveaway!

Just in time for the holidays, I’m opening up a giveaway. Starting at midnight (PST) tonight.

* WHAT: Hard cover copies of the three Blood Witch Saga books, signed and personalize and mailed to you in time for holiday giving.
* WHEN: 12 am on November 23 through November 30 at 11:59pm
* WHERE: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/34be266a3/?
* WHO: Anywhere in the world! Anywhere outside of the US is not guaranteed to get there in time for the holidays.
* WHY: Because I can!

So what kind of entries are there? You can comment on a Threads post with your favorite emoji. Comment on a post here on the blog, or over on my poetry blog. Answer a silly poll or follow me on Threads. Each task will award you points and then raffle copter will choose a winner at the end!

Sound like fun? You should jump in on this once it opens!

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numbers add up

On one hand, this week just disappeared. On the other hand, well it was a week.

When I first started my adult career, I worked in data. I was good at it, but it didn’t really fulfill me. Then I recognized a need for someone to take over writing a number of policies and procedures and I did both for a long time. Eventually, I found my way into a job that was 90% writing and it felt like coming home.

I’ve been a technical writer for over 20 years now, and yet, somehow, data still finds its way into my work day. This week that was NPS scores. Because I own the tool that allows us to pop up NPS scores directly in our platform, it falls to me to do the read out. My VP asked me yesterday to share our current NPS scores and some awesome comments in our “Weekly Wins” call. That lead to being asked to do a deep dive to provide info to our Marketing team and our CTO.

We’ve been running the survey since May of this year, and we currently sit at a solid 50, which is pretty damn good.

But now it’s the weekend and I’m hoping to get some writing done, clean the house, take the dog to the park, grocery shopping with Mom, etc. Right this minute, however, I have some Death Wish Coffee in my cup and a blank page staring at me.

Photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash