Some weeks are easier than others

Hello, again! Another week has gone by in a blink. I am sad to say I had just finished this and while in the process of trying to copy and paste it onto my personal blog, somehow I managed to lose the entire piece. 

Nothing is ever the same the second time you write it. 

And I have to say — it’s been a challenging week as it is for time and energy. I was so grateful to get this done in time, and now I have to try to reconstruct it. 

I’m exhausted. 

Well, I’ll give it my best although I don’t feel like I’m firing on all cylinders now. I want to honour my commitment to have this done at the same time every week. 

When I had my injury and surgery 2+ years ago, I also got nasty little gift called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) and I got Type 2 (of 2). It can happen after fracture, injury, trauma, surgery or nerve damage. 

I had all five.

In about 30% of cases, there is no known cause. And we know that about 30% of patients with CRPS have PTSD. A year before my injury, I was diagnosed with Complex PTSD. 

CRPS is an extremely rare disorder that even a lot of doctors and medical personnel don’t know about. Some call it an autoimmune response to the trauma, surgery etc. It can affect any and all parts of the body and all systems — digestive, urinary tract, reproductive, cardiovascular etc. — and all limbs, joints — if it’s part of your body, it can be a target for CRPS. 

It affects sleep, causes headaches, and messes with concentration, too.

It does weird things, too, like my injured leg was red and purple mottled colours while my other leg was normal. It can make your hair and nails grow crazy fast. I used to cut my toenails about every 6 weeks. In the first 18 months after my injury, I had to cut them twice a week. 

It can also cause nerve pain, and bizarre and uncomfortable tremors (which I get a lot in my leg), allodynia (extreme sensitivity to the slightest touch — even a light touch of a bedsheet can feel like burning sandpaper), and all kinds of other strange symptoms. 

What’s this got to do with my update?

Well, it’s because I struggle with some of these symptoms and there’s no pattern to it, no rhyme or reason. I’m never sure what I’m gonna get. Some days are great and I’m pretty much okay, maybe a few shooting nerve pains or other issues. Other days are…well, less than happy. 

From Friday to Monday, CRPS was having its way with me. It was having way more fun than I was. 

Sundays are usually days off for me, and they are also my “people-free zone” but if I’ve fallen too far behind in productivity, I’ll use them to do some catching up. 

That was the case last weekend as I’d had some bumpy moments the previous week, and then 4 dreadful days over the weekend. But I did still keep chipping away at what I needed to do when I felt up to it. 

I listened to my body, gave it what it needed. Naps, lots of water (normal for me, but I am thirstier when I don’t feel well). Some licorice spice tea or Bengal spice. 

A main focus for this week was to figure out backstories for the relevant supporting cast for this book and the families of the MCs (main characters). When I couldn’t stare at a screen or a notebook, I curled up on my comfy sofa, pulled my super soft blanket over myself, closed my eyes and thought about what I could create for those characters. 

It worked well at times; at least, it helped. 

This Week’s Update

Here’s what I wrote last week about my goals for this week:

• Finish relevant backstories

• Finish revising book to include genre switch (oh, boy. This one is scary. 👹 But I’m gonna do it!). It is a major challenge to try to rework a story that’s already in progress. 🫣

I know that looks like an incredibly puny list — which I also thought when I wrote it. But I was also well aware of what goes into those two tasks. 

Here’s what I accomplished:

• Finished relevant backstories

• Finished revising book to include genre switch (oh, boy. That one was scary. 👹 But I DID IT!). It was a major challenge to try to rework a story that was already in progress. 🫣 Yay, me! 🎉🎈🥳

Next Week’s Mission:

• Current WIP (work in progress) is sitting at 43,952 words. I intend to get to at least 50,000. 😳😱 This one scares me, especially given how I’ve been feeling for much of the past 10 days. But I’m gonna give it my all!

• Create a brand new YouTube channel that will be specifically to do with writing, fiction tips, my journey, and various other things. My other channel is all psychic stuff, Tarot, self-help, inspirational etc. so I need a whole new one for this work. 

• Bonus points (Oh, goodie!! There are points??) if I can also record anything to upload!! Not holding my breath but let’s see, might as well thrown in this extra bit 🤞 If I can at least get the channel up and ready to roll, I’ll be happy.

So that’s my plan for the coming week. Here’s hoping my health holds up. Well, the beauty of creative writing is that apparently, you can do some of it curled up on a comfy sofa, under a soft blankie, with your eyes closed!

Thanks so much for following along on this wild, wonderful journey toward my career as a novelist! If you’d like to be part of the adventure, I’d love to have you join me on Patreon. 

Your support means the world to me, and in return, you’ll get access to exclusive behind-the-scenes content, expanded writing tips, and fun bonus goodies. I’m so grateful for your encouragement and excited to share tools, tips and insights, as well as stories that inspire and support you along the way.