Where in the world have I been????

Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash, Editing by Matthew Murray

Hello subscribers and readers,

The graphic above shows that I might have been in a number of places. I can say I wasn’t taken by aliens. In answer to the question, I’ve been right here in Florida.

I wanted to explain why you haven’t received a newsletter for a few weeks.

On July 1, I celebrated my birthday. Years are passing by. Life seems to go fast once you get later in life. I had been thinking about this before my birthday and then it hit me like a ton of bricks on that day.

I had been contemplating if I was going to publish a newsletter on that week. I knew I would be working on Independence Day, July 4. I always work on all the holidays. Sure I was going to be busy that week but there is more to the story than just that.

I’ve been thinking continuously about a lot of stuff. There is so much going on in my world.

Basically since I started working again in November 2022, I have been neglecting the fun parts of life. My routine changed majorly once I started to work again. I go to work, come home and either write or do my art and then do it all over again the next day. This has continued every single day. So every day I have been doing either writing or art when I get home from work. And then on my days off, I would be doing the same thing, either writing or doing art.

Doing this over and over again has taken a toll on me. I’ve neglected taking care of myself and being aware of my surroundings. For those that are new subscribers/readers, I’ve got the added burden of taking care of my Mom and ferrying her around to all her doctor appointments.

I took a couple of days off from even going to Subtstack. I can’t believe how better I felt. I got addicted to Substack Notes and I was on there way too much time. I was on the app all the way up until I went to bed every single night. I worry about my health when I’m on my phone so much. It’s not very healthy. Substack Notes seems like social media to me, even though I was never on social media.

I used to enjoy watching television, especially sports. All of that took a backseat to my writing and art.

While working a full-time job, I’m also trying to start a business. I’ve gotten so many enthusiastic comments from you and from others regarding my art. There is a whole lot of things I didn’t realize I needed to start a business. I can’t even sell anything until I have a business license. There are a few other things I need too. So I’m busy trying to figure out what I need. Luckily, the items I need don’t cost a lot of money.

I’ve been trying to build up enough artwork so I have a legitimate chance at starting this business. As you’ll see next week, I completed 7 pieces of art in June. And I will definitely be writing about that.

This artwork business is important to me for many reasons. When I am successful, this will get me out of my current condo situation. And I can get my Mom to safety. She and I suffer while living here because of abhorrent conditions. It’s just one thing after another and it keeps getting worse. Without having this added income, we’ll never make it out of here and that would be a tragedy. I’m constantly worrying about it.

I realize I left you hanging on the fiction story “The Woman on the Train”. I didn’t want to do that. We are coming up on some of the best written words for that story. The story is complete. I changed the ending because otherwise the story would have gone on and on. I just have to cut it into the additional parts. I may end up sending those parts out every few days, once I get time. Then I’ll be done with that story.

I’m just tired of writing right now. It has made me exhausted. The stress got to be so much that I started having anxiety. Going to work, writing, and art every day for weeks on end has taken a toll on me.

I used to have fun doing stuff like fishing, photography, and golf to name a few things. I haven’t done any of that in years. Except the photography, I started doing that with my phone lately.

Conclusion

I think posting twice a month might be better for me at this time. I’ll probably start writing a real-life story and my abstract art posts. Then I’ll throw the fiction story in somewhere to finish that off. So it might be more posts in one of the months to finish off that story.

I get so excited when I see the comments on my art. It keeps me going and that’s what I need these days. My work is very stressful at times and hearing from my readers on my art is the lift I need when the going gets tough. I appreciate it!

And don’t forget, next week I’ll be posting my Abstract Art newsletter with 7 paintings. They are all different sizes.

Thank you for reading.

Until next time, happy reading!

-Matt