Week 827

What’s this? I’m blogging about my work on a weekly basis – a simple way to track and archive whatever it is I spend my time on.

Things started out rather quietly last week. I visited the Dutch Foundation of Literature on Monday; they’d turned down my grant application to help write my long-planned novel Sexy Sadie. I’d complained about this formally and now I got the chance to explain myself. It was my intention not to sound bitter or angry, as I imagine some writers do when they reach this stage. I hoped I could give the committee some interesting ideas, even if I don’t get the money after all (big chance). We’ll see what comes from it.

On Tuesday, I edited two recent NRC articles to take my editors’ feedback into account. One was about the ambulance control room I visited a while ago, the other about the Finnish games industry. The latter should finally be done now. I also finished my short profile on game designer Michael Brough for nrc.next. On Wednesday, they published Harry Hol’s aerospace game overview, and on Friday, a slightly shortened version of my Assassin’s Creed Unity review.

On Wednesday, I published the final Hybrid Writer’s Podcast for now, the one with Martijn Knol. I fully intend to continue with these audio interviews next year. I was also invited to write a short blog post about the podcast on Passionate Platform: Podcasts: romanschrijvers in het digitale tijdschrift.

On Thursday, I visited my doctor after I’d connected the dots between a couple of physical nuisances: side pains, extreme thirstiness, smelly urine, loose pants (I mean, weightloss). I thought something could be up with my kidneys. As it turned out though, my glucose level was extremely high and I had to go to the hospital post-haste, where I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I got instructions on the whole insulin injection thing and was sent home with a shopper bag full of medicine and paraphernalia. It’s all rather drastic but I’m glad I now know what’s up.

To turn the week into a full-fledged rollercoaster, a little birdie told me on Friday that my other grant proposal, the Hybrid Writer’s Toolkit one, came through. Not the full amount I’d asked for, but great news still. I know what I’ll be doing in 2015: injecting insulin and creating awesome experimental stuff!