Updatery

1. First off, who doesn't like goofy cats? We have four now. God forbid I should want another. Adding Jack was just chance of right place/right time of falling in love with a very rare cat. It's hard to believe he was a barn cat until two months ago. He's such a little attention whore! He'll cry with louder, more irritating yowls until he finally gets held the way he likes, and it usually means the human must stand, not sit, although when I'm at the computer, he makes an exception. Go figure.

We love talkative cats, but Jack goes beyond the capacity of even a Siamese.

2. I'm finally getting my body healed to where I can feel good most of the time. Yippee! Today I feel fantastic. The last couple of days that wasn't the case. I have good and bad days.

However, I've realized that certain supplements actually seem to work against me. I'm not sure why I feel tired when I take any amount of B-complex (methylated!) or D3. That's a mystery. On the plus side, I feel great when I take a milk thistle complex, so I have to wonder.

The other lingering problem is still hormonal imbalances, including insulin and cortisol. I tend to have periods of hypoglycemia on occasion. Also, I have nights where I am alert and up all night and sleep all day. Not good. I have been pushing myself to perk up during the day and using the Adrenal Reset diet to reset my adrenals, but sometimes I fail; it can take months after years of messed up living. I'm having more frequent nights of sleep when I do eat at specific times and load my carbs in the evening, but then I have setbacks if I don't stick to it. It's very disappointing when that happens.

3. My diet has played a big part in the healing. I pushed my tolerance of high-histamine foods for lunch today and feel okay--body aches and some faintness but otherwise not as bad as I used to, especially considering how many histamine-rich foods I had in my lunch. After enjoying my tea first (which I usually put off until midafternoon because, apparently, the tannins in tea can block the absorption of iron, which I need), I ate a late lunch.

I love having a salad at midday and getting my greens but can't use salad dressing. After my mother mentioned taco salad once, I decided that since I can't tolerate tomatoes and peppers (both nightshades), that I can make simply "meat" salads. Instead of taco-seasoned meat on lettuce with all the toppings, I simply fry up some meat with onions and garlic, and sometimes mushrooms, add some olive oil and maybe coconut oil and some seasonings and sea salt. Throw that on some greens, including the spinach I've been adding in, and I have a hearty salad. Today, I added a dash of ACV to the meat mixture. Apple Cider Vinegar is high in histamines (due to fermentation), which is a risk for me, but I have to keep testing my tolerances to see where I am, then step back for a while.

Since changing my diet, I've also noticed a new appreciation for foods I used to dislike. I now enjoy sweet potatoes, which made me gag as a kid, but only if fried crispy. I still don't like the texture, but they taste good. Also, I've discovered that I now like pineapple. I used to hate the flavor. Now, I can't get enough, but since it's high in manganese, I do limit myself. We can get too much of a good thing, even in nutrients. And in eating a whole foods diet, all those deficiencies that led to overeating junk disappear quickly, which is a factor in satiety.

4. Now on to the writing news. After finishing The Lereni Trade (now available), I didn't go right back to Nemesis. Instead, I had a spark of inspiration for a fantasy romance novella. It's an interesting take on the old beauty and the beast themes. In this, it's actually hard to see who is the true beast--is it the beast on the outside or the beast inside? Illusions of Truth will be out sometime this winter. It's a novella and will be exclusive to Amazon for at least the first 90 days, free in Kindle Unlimited and $2.99 otherwise.

5. I'll soon be jumping back into Nemesis. After a rewrite in one section right before the point where I left off, I will pick up finishing it. I'm not sure it'll be ready for the planned release date on February 4, 2016. I'm expecting that I'll need to push that back until May or June. Those who have preordered will still receive it when it becomes available, but I won't push to put it out before it's ready. I know fans have been waiting, but my life is different now and I have to work with what I have.

6. With my body out of whack, the creativity fluctuates too much to rely upon it being there when I have the time to sit down and write. This is frustrating for me, but I've learned to just go with the flow, and no longer stress about writing. I have finally succeeded in relinquishing the monetary motives to write faster. I've told myself that for the last few years, but it took getting sick to finally accept that living means being open to change and taking it moment by moment. I miss a lot of living when I hide away with a story. I just wish I didn't have to suffer to realize that.

Tomorrow isn't guaranteed.

7. There's something that's been missing in my life for nearly a year and the time has finally come to bring in what will be another time sink but one that has brought me great pleasure since I was young. A part of my soul has been missing, but I feel that the friend I put to rest last year has been an angel lurking over my shoulder, nudging me to get back to it. If it's meant to be, things will work out. I will be disappointed if it doesn't, but at the same time, I know I have new limitations that I didn't have before. In a few days, I'll know.

8. One last item of no big consequence...I updated my headers here and FB and Twitter. You'll notice that I now display all the book covers I have. I forgot one novella, When Angels Cry, but will get that updated in the next couple of days. I stare in awe of all that I've written, which doesn't include my early attempts before self-publishing gave me my dreams, which include becoming a member of SFWA. I knew they added up but seeing them all together like this is inspiring to me. If something happened to me tomorrow, I will have left quite a legacy. (Not counting the Dark Angel Chronicles, which is actually an omnibus of the first 5 Starfire Angels books below it, there are 15 novels, 2 novelettes, and 5 novellas to date. Illusions of Truth will be the 23rd book / 6th novella.)

I wish you all the best, and happy reading!