Wherein my health collapses like a poorly built house of cards.
It feels an age since I last posted my writer’s log and that is because it has been over a month.
Just after my last post, as though the universe had heard my note of serenity and decided that couldn’t stand, my health started to take a sharp decline with multiple migraines which sapped my energy. I managed to get to a lunch with an old school friend at the end of August just before the bank holiday only to get caught in a rainstorm. I ended up with a chest infection. My fibromyalgia flared in response and my energy crashed and burned.
Since then it has been a very slow recovery through September. I’ve been bedridden for the most part with only enough energy to do basic self-care, to feed the cat, and to occasionally do some small task to contribute to keeping the house somewhat tidy and clean. Last week, I finally managed to do a whole house clean even if pacing the tasks with my energy levels meant taking four days to complete everything.
Needless to say I’ve done very little on my rolling plan that I waxed lyrical about last time as lovely as it still is. My success has been measured more by if I managed a shower that day, had enough energy to put the bins out on the right day, and to check that I had actually remembered to feed the cat.
So where am I today? Still recovering. I’m having tests done to see why my recovery has been so slow. I might have a vitamin or hormone deficiency complicating my chronic fatigue. But I am better than I was at the start of September. I can do progress tasks even if I need recovery time. My brain fog is better and my brain feels back to being switched on. By physically I still have a lot of ground to recover. I’m still absent from work as I take the time to focus on my nutrition, on sleep, on building some physical strength back up. I need a good foundation before going back to work.
I am also considering my options with work. A full time contract is great for providing an income but it does not leave me with a lot of energy to progress what I really want to do and maybe this latest health challenge is an opportunity to reconsider some of my path forward.
From a writing perspective, there is news.
On the fiction front, I have a book cover – indeed, I have a book cover with a couple of variants which I’m going to be testing here soon. I’m really pleased with it and feel like it is a real step forward. The final edit before I go out for advanced readers is not yet done, and I’m having to assess my energy levels to make a start on that.
My fan fiction was making great progress in August as I managed to get through a large amount of rewrite on Another Dimension, the third instalment to my Harry Potter, A Step to the Right series. However, just as I was about to finish the last couple of chapters, boom, chest infection. Still, I’ve started those last chapters and I am confident I’ll be posting in August. I will be posting my latest Big Moxie offering before the end of September.
Well, this has been a short update but at least there is some good news. Fingers crossed that progress continues and I start to rebuild the house of cards my illness once again blew down.
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