Second Gear... not available

Artwork from the manga One Piece,
written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda

When the fight gets tough, heroes break out their evolved forms. Re-energized they deliver the beat down before they collapse with a grin of victory. 
People love this story because its rings true. You are stronger than you seem. You can break through your limits.

Well, it's true most of the time. As you grow up, you find out some limits are unbreakable. Most of them deal with a physical shortage, “you can't cram 5lbs of poop in a 3lb bag.” Those types of limits can't be powered through. Although Mythbutsers made a hilarious try on the poop one ;)

My D.N.A. coding and enzyme production is an unbreakable limit. There's no luckily phrase or medicine that cures my symptoms. My body has about 60% operating power compared to other adults, along with its host of knockout triggers. I can't supercharge myself like Monkey D. Luffy. Instead I plan everything in advance and make backup plans in case of a two hour migraine.

Take my writing schedule for example. My family knows that everyday from 1-4pm is reserved for writing. However, on an average week, I can only guarantee myself about 3 days. That's 9 hours per week. (Yes, that's a shocking small number.)

Oddly enough, I did not just pull this schedule out of thin air. I have a writing coach, Sarah Freeman, who's trying to teach me the nuts and blots of making a career of storytelling. We can't tack more time to my week. However we can optimize it.

One of the motivation articles Sarah gave me to read was by Jon Morrow. He's a blogger with spinal muscular atrophy, a very visible, very nasty chronic illness. He debunks the 'superhuman' icon of bloggers and explains that knowing when and what things to drop is the key to managing his health and career. You don't do 'more' you change what you spend time on.

I know I needed to 'do more' as a writer/blogger. There's author groups, guest article writing, and hundreds of online networking options. However, it's not something where an attendance grade is enough. You have to interact and use your brain.

With my peak brain energy limited, I had to take a look at how I spend my time. Social media, proofing my drafts, typing, overthinking stuff for my series (how to dragons blow out birthday candles?) it all eats away at that nine hours. What could I drop safely?

Some number crunching later, I found it. If I dropped from bi-monthly to a monthly blog, I could regain nearly 5 hours. That's a day and a half of brain power every month. With that kind of time, I could get more involved with Introvert, my Dear or HSP...

I know this would be a good use of my time. However, I'm as nervous about this as Spider-Man testing this first web line. It's one thing to post on your own site and wait for readers to stumble in. Guest blogging means getting approval from gatekeepers, watching out for what your 'brand' is attached to, and dealing with.... other writers -_-; (There's a good reason Marvel has the 'Let's-you-and-he-fight' cliche.)

I'm not a superhero, or even a particularly adventurous person. My special powers are overthinking and coming up with ways NOT to leave my comfort zone. However, engineering college taught me that motivation follows the laws of thermodynamics. I have to keep cycling 'energy' into my work or friction from life will drag me to a stop.

So this is me, changing from a bi-monthly blog schedule to a monthly. I'm working within my limits and moving forward. When you can't charge up, you've got to swap things around.

Overthinking: Mermaids (...and their male counterparts)

Mermaids are a fantasy staple. The charming, Atlantica princesses who romance sailors and their dark counterparts in Peter Pan who will 'sweetly drown you if you get too close,' they embody beauty and the mystery of the ocean.

Of course, my brain had to ruin the moment, “Why don't the human bits go all pruney from soaking in the water?” 

Much like the centaur question, this thought won't go away. If Tales of Mundus was to have any type of Merfolk, I needed for them to make sense. 

The more I thought about it, the more problems I found. Mundus is a situational comedy. A wandering Disney heroine won't make it three steps through the woods before tripping into a prickle bush or a hidden gofer hole. My merfolk need a proper epidermis to put up with sand, silt, litter and toothy creatures.

Unfortunately, the first scaleless fish I thought of was the catfish. They are smooth; they're also snotty. (Not to be confused with snooty) The attractiveness of a mermaid princess with a protective coat of mucus is well below sea-level.

Shark skin is a bit better. It looks smooth and counts for the exotic factor. Texture wise though, sharks are rougher to the touch than humans.

So I turned to aquatic mammals, dolphins and seals. However, the merfolk mystic still suffers when they're rubbery to the touch or covered in a waterproof fur, respectively. Whales are reported to have a very smooth skin. (Apparently the bumps and barnacles develop like teen acne.)

I can work with shark or whale skinned merfolk. However, my runnaway brain isn't done nitpicking. The next target - hair.  (T_T)

My personal experience from swimming with long, loose hair is that it's a tangle hazard. To make Ariel's flowing locks work, I'd have to design Mundus merfolk with 'hair' that's a semi-responsive collection of micro-tentacles, like jelly fish.

Eye lashes and eyebrows are yet another problem. They're not as effective at protecting an underwater eye. However, a ingratiating membrane, like frogs have, pushes mermaids from exotic to creepy and alien.

I feel like I'm playing Frankenstein. However, just can't make the classic mermaid make sense. It's not a functional for life in Mundus. My merfolk need to hunt and farm, build fish traps, trade with land dwellers for refined metal tools, plus develop arts and written language. Yes, they're just side characters, but this is a functioning civilization! 

…somedays, my brain doesn't just follow the overthinker stereotype. No, it sticks a marshal hat and baton on the stereotype and gleefully plays 'Oom-pah! Oom-pah!” with a full band. (-_-;)