No one told me this would happen...

I didn't want to say anything about this until I had an answer. Getting older and all that goes with it is more than I expected, but I do deal with extra issues to complicate life. And stress can bring about a nasty crash.

This past month, life piled on one thing after another until I crashed. Not fun! It took me two weeks of daily massive, almost debilitating fatigue, migraines with vision issues, dizzy spells, and brain fog before I started supplements that made a difference. I'm still recovering, but the body can't take stress like it did even five years ago. I'm over fifty and I feel it. It slowed my progress on Book 22, but I did finish it to my satisfaction. It turned out great, despite the setbacks!

Since I've been recovering from the crash and feeling better again, I am finishing up a read-through of Book 22 and, this weekend, will start the first editing round on Book 20. FINALLY! Better late than never, but I do have legitimate reasons for the delay. Fortunately, the struggles I deal with often work to the benefit of the story. While I would appreciate good days all the time, the bad days force delays that seem to give my mind time to reconsider ideas that need less editing, instead of excitedly rushing through the first idea that comes to mind and needing major rewrites.

So, to be honest with readers, I have my struggles, but in the scattered periods I've felt clear-headed and had time and energy while recovering from the crash, I was able to get work done on the Forgotten Worlds series. It is progressing. I refuse to quit! I want to know how this ends and will not throw in the towel (like some big name authors who shall not be named). (I know how this ends, but the specific details aren't known to me until I write the actual scenes, so there are still surprises for me and I want the pleasure of discovering those.) It might take me a bit longer than I want to get there, but I am a fighter and determined to finish this series, no matter what it takes.

Spoon theory is a metaphor describing the amount of
physical or mental energy that a person has available
for daily activities and tasks, and how it can become
limited. The term was coined in a 2003 essay by
American writer Christine Miserandino.

And I'm still going through with my other plans, especially since I've come to a new understanding of my limitations; and, no, it's not in my head--I have chronic illnesses (over ten years) but have to occasionally learn new ways to manage them through life changes so I can continue to enjoy doing what I love. (For reference, look up spoon theory.) It also helps to have a great day job boss who is understanding and flexible.

The new project is something that will only demand periodic spurts of my time once it's set up and running, so perfect for me to manage. I wish I could announce it now, but it's in the very early stages. I just can't keep it to myself completely. When it's ready, I'll make a big announcement here. For now, stay tuned!

Offer it up to God: These issues I've lived with for many years were the best thing to happen to me, and I can imagine the look on your face while you read that because I've seen it when I tell people in person. The health issues transformed my life. They gave me a new perspective on appreciating the life God gave me and forced me to rely on God, where I, in my ignorant hubris, used to think I had control. It was a process, but I now have a much closer relationship to Jesus by aligning my suffering to His. I've learned to more fully trust in God, who has power over everything. I can only work with what He allows me to have.

 

As a Catholic, I've come to see these as mortifications that He chose for me. I don't have to go looking for them. These health issues are my penance, my offerings for my sins and the sins of others. The best part is knowing that God will transform the offerings of my suffering to pour graces on others, just as Christ's Passion and Crucifixion gave us the grace of redemption. Whether people who receive those graces accept them or not is another matter. All we can do is align our sufferings to that of Our Lord, even the littlest thing. The tiniest inconvenience or suffering is all it takes. It doesn't have to be big health issues.

 

Whenever something comes up, pray something like "I offer this [suffering] to you, Lord, for [whatever grace you want someone specific or a population in general to receive]." It doesn't have to be a long prayer, although I like to use the Fatima Sacrifice Prayer. If you're unsure about the last part, cut it short: "O My Jesus, I offer this for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for sins." The point is to offer one's sufferings and prayers to God and he will transform those into beautiful graces for others as Christ did for all sinners from the beginning to the end of time. It gives one's suffering purpose, accepts God's will over one's life, and is a way to "pay it forward" spiritually.

Thanks for reading, and God bless you and keep you!

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Added 7/26/25 to backup my statement above:

New cat... and other updates

The new cat, Bilbo, has been taking up some of my attention, but he's settling in nicely now that he's feeling a bit better and getting used to our household. Tomorrow marks one week since his vet visit and having his tomhood taken away. He has never growled, hissed, bitten, or scratched at us or the resident cats. He uses the litterboxes and has never sprayed, despite being neutered as an adult. He's only ever clawed on the cat towers with sisal rope. It's like he's been an indoor much-loved cat most of his life, except for one barncat behavior I recognized--he rubbed on the youngest cat, who has been the most accepting of him (no hissing or growling), probably because he was a barncat in a barn full of other cats when we adopted him as a kitten.

We have worked out a way to adapt him to the household. Only one cat, the oldest, is strongly objecting (growling and hissing) to Bilbo's presence yet after we had him out for a couple of days. Since putting Bilbo in the bedroom of our oldest kid, she let Jack (youngest of our three resident cats) in with him, since Jack usually likes her room. I think the fact that Jack is so laid back with other cats has helped Bilbo, although the normal house noises still spook him at times.

We're allowing supervised daytime house outings only and keeping Bilbo in daughter's room at night yet to avoid any unsupervised trouble. It could get really dicey since he prefers to be in our bed, where the oldest two kitties who least accept him usually sleep. How long this process takes until Bilbo fully acclimates to the household and is accepted by all the resident cats is anyone's guess, but I'd bet by Christmas that he'll have the run of the house 24/7; I'm not going to push him, however. He's pretty laid back and adapting well but does get overwhelmed by all the commotion and newness of it, then he retreats to our bathroom/walk-in closet or under our bed to decompress. I don't want him in our room so much until the other cats all accept him.

Bilbo is also starting to play with toys. He was shy about that just a couple of days ago. He's a lazy boy, though, like Jack. I'm sure he could hunt in the wild, or maybe that's the problem--toys move and make sounds but aren't as satisfying as catching a meal. But he gets fed regularly and good food that's really shining up his coat and helping him fill out and gain some weight. He wasn't underweight, but I like a little bit more bulge when looking down my cats than his flat-sidedness.

As for myself, I hadn't been able to write for the last week. I got stuck worse and worse and had anxiety attacks complicated by bringing in a stray cat. I put the symptoms pieces together, however, especially since they eased up as I tapered off the Synthroid... and was right. I went into the walk-in clinic to check into what was going on--my thyroid had become normal or even hyper. (update: I heard back from my regular clinic on this and was told that illness can cause the thyroid to do some things like this. I also just learned that I had been possibly exposed to salmonella from cucumbers at the grocery store; the fever and gut symptoms I'd been having matched that. I suppose that would explain the thyroid issue and the anxiety caused from it. A Hashimoto's flare indeed.)

My creativity and focus have come back now that I've figured things out and am getting over the illness. That was quite a rough ordeal, though. As we say in this part of the country... uff da! I can sympathize with what people with Graves disease must suffer. After a whole day without thyroid meds, I was having major hypo symptoms, however. It's good to not be hyper, but being constantly cold and tired isn't fun either. One more lesson learned.

Now to get past that scene that was blocking me in Book 21. It's finally getting somewhere again. 🥳

Back to writing.

Thanks for reading!

Back into the swing of things

Two viruses in a row, back-to-back is an awful way to be sick. Just as I was recovering from one, including my sleep, I had the second to contend with. Now, that's passing by, at last. On a good note, I'll have immunity for those illnesses at least through the winter. I'm glad to get those out of the way now, because winter is always very busy for me.

Writing

And this winter, I expect to publish Book 18 and write Book 21 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds, so I want to be able to get that done. I have just a few hundred words left of Book 20 to finish a scene, although I could add another if I want, but I'm not sure if that's needed. It will end up right around 41,000 words, at least in the first draft.

I also have the reading project of my previous books in this series.

Gardening

And now that fall is here, we're coming to the end of the growing season. Since I've been feeling better, it's been time to catch up on a few items. One of those was the rhubarb. It was getting out of control again. It's been 4-5 weeks since I last harvested. The stalks were pretty thick, but there were still a lot of them. I left a good 1/4-1/3 on the plants to keep them viable through winter. We're not expecting a hard freeze this week, but the lows are getting close to that first freeze or frost of the season. Below is the final harvest of rhubarb cleaned and drying on the kitchen counter. This is about the amount I end up harvesting each time from the two plants. It should fill 4 or 5 gallon freezer bags (left as stalks) about 2/3-3/4 full each. That's about the right amount for a good rhubarb crisp. Since I'm the only one in my house who likes rhubarb, some of this will go to friends.

I don't have pics of the peppers and cucumbers. Those have been pretty steady for the last month and plenty of them. Hubby's been putting them away, at least the bell peppers. He's kept some of the chilis but he has so many serranos that we're giving those to friends too. And there's lots more to come before they freeze off for the season. To extend that, we have some plant blankets, so on the cold nights, we'll cover those and the tomato plant.

I also had one final little handful of strawberries from my growing strawberry patch. The garden spider has moved off, thankfully. (I almost ended up with him on my arm a few weeks ago before I noticed him there.) The strawberry patch has been growing and producing all summer. I just have to keep the birds away with a fence. It's going to be bigger next year as they spread out even more; and I haven't seen any bugs eating on the plants, although I found a caterpillar on them this afternoon. I've provided plenty of room for expansion so I can get a good strawberry patch in that section of the garden. And they're super sweet. 😋 Once I start getting enough, I'll be able to make strawberry-rhubarb deserts. There's a method to this madness. 😉

Last of all, the grapes are done. The birds took some of those, but we had a good amount of grapes this year from the one plant and were able to enjoy our fair share. Since the newer plant grew eight feet this year, I expect it to produce plenty next year, so double the grapes. Both plants reached the top of the trellis and I look forward to them reaching over it next year; the newer plant already is somewhat. With all the leaves, they're a pretty decoration even without fruit.

Back to the rest of life

Soon, I'll get back to my horse. It's been a month, because I've been too sick to get out. Today was a gardening day, however. There's only so much one can get done in a day. And it's a warm day with lots of boxelder bugs and wasps around buildings, so not sure I want to contend with that at the barn.

At least I could get back to church this morning. That was much-needed. And I wasn't the only one recovering from being sick. A few Saturday mass-goers were clearing throats and coughing once in a while like me. I was worried about standing out, but I fit right in.

This crud is making its way through the local community. When my daughter said all her friends were sick and she probably got it from them, I had thought she meant the cough that hubby and I started out with, not the crud she actually gave to the rest of us (with a fever, fatigue, and sinus congestion) after we were recovering from the cough. At least that's all done now.

Anyway, it's good to get back my health and into the swing of things again. I get cabin fever too easily and don't like TV anymore. There's only so much I can tolerate.

Now, time to get back to work on the stories. I have been writing, but now that I'm finishing Book 20 this weekend, it'll be time for editing.

Thanks for reading!

Happy Birthday, Bilbo and Frodo!

Lord of the Rings day

It's September 22nd, the birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. I didn't realize it until after I put on Lord of the Rings this morning. I'm too sick to go to church and I'm tired of bingeing Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis, or sort of bingeing. I slept through most of those yesterday while dealing with a 104 F fever at its peak (no Tylenol). Needless to say, I didn't get any writing done, or maybe a sentence worth, yesterday.

Today, I'm feeling better--lots of Tylenol and liquids later. Yesterday I lost my sense of taste, so that kind of confirmed what this nasty crud is, at least this second go-round. I was just getting over whatever I had last weekend and Friday night flared up in misery that is letting up somewhat today. I still have a fever, but it's been coming down (102 between Tylenol doses this morning). My sense of taste is improved too.

I was going to put LOTR on yesterday but figured it was easier to put on Pluto TV and let Stargate just play through while I rested and wasn't paying much attention anyway. So, today, Lord of the Rings day, I ended up putting the first movie on without thinking about what day it was until after the opening text showed the date of the start, Bilbo's birthday party... today.

Since I'm feeling better today, I'll try to get back to writing, when I'm not resting. Book 20 of Forgotten Worlds is currently just under 36K words. It's very close to being done. I expect to finish by the end of this month. I also expect that it will be the shortest or second shortest of the books in the series.

Stay healthy!

Thanks for reading!