T.M. Shannon

I’d like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land I’m on, the Cabrogal people of the Darug nation, and all Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders, and I pay my respects to Elders past, present, and emerging.

Australia is a land with tens of thousands of years of history, and I support all efforts for reconciliation and correcting the wrongs of colonisation.

Hi everyone,

Guess who dragged themselves to the phone and then the computer to put out their monthly post? Probably countless others, but in this case, definitely me.

Okay, sure, I pecked out this part on October 19th (and finally finished this morning), and you can thank the ADHD side needing time, patience, and the occasional cattle-prod to generate a post without sacrificing spoons, but here’s to November!

It’s a big month in Church, kicking off with All Saints and All Souls yesterday and today, and it’s a Marian month so I might get to some devotion of St Mares in (love ya, spiritual mum), plus it’s almost Advent and Chrissy.

It’s also my birthday month, but that’s not something I’m keen to celebrate. It’s a long story with many turns, and I’ll delve into it below, but I have a maudlin view I shouldn’t celebrate getting spat out into a traumatic life.

Yet before you worry, I’m alive, still trudging along, still happy and productive at work (Saturday excepted), and still pecking at the WIP. Life might not be perfect, but it’s bearable with joy.

Anyway, best not ramble on, so here’s the words I came up with.

A Dose of Re-Plotting to the End

I thought I was staring down the back half of Three Ways, 29 to 31 chapters to overhaul, 7 to cut, and 18k words disappear. It would be 60 chapters with 123k words, with no idea how to shrink it down to 100k. So, I broke out the calendar, delved into the chapters to scheme, and…

Guess who’s staring down the last 3rd of Three Ways, 20 chapters to go, an estimated 405 pages length, and give or take 100k words? Yep, this smug author right here.

I was gobsmacked to figure that out, especially as in one part I can coalesce 4 chapters into one with half a page each out of three, and another where I can coalesce 3. Moreover, my February 2026 “finish” date might just hold.

A bevy of material to work with, you say? Nope, bad author doing bad author things, a lot of time wasted, so the overhaul comes with a thick shred of hand smacks and, “Dear me, I wrote this crap?”

Then imposter syndrome and dread hit when I refreshed myself with a redone chapter and it didn’t feel so good to me. But as much as it sucks, this draft is going to betas and an editor to catch where I’ve been slipping.

But I will say, it three goes to get the start of chapter 30 as right as I could get it, where I’d burnt some time when I needed to get to the emotive support faster. After all, I’d done that much damage to my MC, he sorely needed that.

Here’s to pecking away at it for a week, hopefully can get through chapter 31 on the 4th.

A Dose of Ticker Trouble and Psychoneuro-Atypical Life

As I mentioned, this non-practicing Saggitarius-cusp Scorpio is staring down 44 this month, and it comes with some adverse health news that started when the cardiologist merely glanced at my ECG and said, “That’s too thin.”

I’m taking it, well, I really don’t know how to feel or think about my heart being in terrible condition. Besides the lack of exercise and the vaping and doomscrolling, any one or most of my meds could be contributing, and I gotta ring around the family to find if there’s anything congenital.

It did prompt me to throw the vapes out 20th October, though deepest soz, I only made it a week before caving back in, but the darling partner agrees that vapes are a lot harder to quit than cigarettes.

Ciggies stink, make you stink, and here in Oz packs are frightfully expensive, but when I quit in earnest just post the birth of that 99% well-behaved son of mine, I smoked one and threw one, then threw two and up to five to reiterate wasting money, and see ya later.

Vapes? They’re very tasty, and being off them, I get a weird mouthfeel as the tastebuds cry out for more. Worse, you can’t drain some fluid to reiterate your waste. The killer? They’re so much cheaper than ciggies and last about 6 days.

It’s not all doom and gloom on this front, grabbed some oral spray stuff from the chemist I’ve got a heading-it-off plan for that’s good for 50 days a thing if I stick to three squirts a day, and yeah, it’s time to put the vapes to rest again.

But it does strike me at a moment with a life that has done a number on me and requires some serious medication, that classic Hamletian notion, “To die, to sleep; to sleep, perchance to dream,” felt rather cozy before the That’s Not Good news.

Total side note, as maudlin as this is, I’m okay, I’m sticking to my meds, there’s a psych session coming up, and I do have things to look forward to.

But if it’s worse for you, please jump online and find the support numbers in your country to talk to someone who will listen to you, and if you can, seek GP, counselling, and psych treatment. Because guaranteed, like me, you have quite a story to tell.

It’s been a hard journey that on one side led to an insidious addiction I’ve stumbled around sobriety on for far too long. Now here’s the side-quest to break another habit. And here’s the added woe of a serious health condition that I think is everything wrapped into one.

I know what you’re saying, “That boy needs therapy,” and it is on the cards to throw EMDR at a lot of photographic memories that I feel are imprinted as traumas (even those that aren’t).

It’s a soon and not a now, there are things outside my control that need to fit into place, but there’s a lot that I’ve done now, can do tomorrow, and can work at unpicking all of these knots.

A Dose of Engagement

You noticed that snippet courtesy of Bear Scribe in the Chosen Men link above, right? Well, you can find his full review in the comments under the story, and let me just say how chuffed I am for getting queer dating app pitfalls and the courtship dance right.

It may just be a starting-out milestone and sure isn’t going viral, but it’s not the only engagement I’ve been picking up.

Besides the #vss365, #Whistpr, and now #InkMine posts getting their likes and reposts (I have a dedicated reposter of my #vss365 tales, it’s so cool), the Author Updates and even my reposts are getting likes, and there’s low but regular traffic here on the .com.

Plus, I have someone interacting rather than just hearting.

Happy days? Not yet, but it’s an underlying positive, and in any case, I’m in the audience building phase right now. But with some 3k followers from my void shouting, I’m doing much better in 9 months on Bluesky than years on FB.

But I’m thinking of growing presence and doing videos again. No, I won’t be going on TikTok (at least, not yet), the Bipolar/ADHD wouldn’t handle it well, but my YouTube channel and microphone are gathering dust, so I’m thinking of recorded posts and updates.

There is one thing, I don’t believe in monetisation. No disrespect to those who have and seek paid subscribers, but it doesn’t feel like my thing, especially when I’m gearing up to sell books. One product is enough for me.

So, we’ll see what happens from these humble beginnings, and I hope to carry that humility throughout my writing career.

And a Dose of Au Revoir

Well, would you look at that? I found a high point to end on, lucky me. And with that, it’s goodbye from nearly November 5th (yeah, I lost a few days to vendor training, Diablo II Resurrected and the good old ADHD side).

Whoever, wherever, and whatever you are, I hope you have a good month, and don’t forget if you need help, seek it – besides some people will listen, you’re worth that shot.

Take care,
T. M.