Tuesday, March 16, 2010

The winter of our discontent...

Man, did it all hit the fan these past couple of months. The two youngest kids were sick forever and finally started getting better after 4 trips to the doc and strong antibiotics. After they sufficiently covered me in their mucus, I came down with a cold that became a sinus infection. A really crappy one.


The same day I came down with that, I learned my dad was rushed to the hospital in his county, and the next day he was rushed to University of Louisville hospital. I luckily got in to see the doc the same day and got some antibiotics going before my husband and I rushed up there. That led to an emergency surgery where they removed his entire colon. It had died apparently, and for whatever reason, his family doctor completely missed it or didn't bother to listen to him complaining of intense pain for a long time. Consequently, he will not be returning to her, but I digress.

I remained there for two weeks with him and am finally home awaiting his arrival here to a rehab facility. This winter has been hard. Stressful, disappointing, an emotional roller coaster.

But I'm still writing. Some days I want to throw in the towel, but I won't. I've managed to keep up with my 10 week writing course by keeping my laptop with me at all times. The great thing about this class is that it has allowed me to start work on a tiny novel idea I had, and it has now grown into a real project. I've tailored each week's assignments to formulating various scenes and my instructor seems to think I've got real potential to get it published.

Also loving reading all my classmates' projects as well--such a varied group of talented people. I hope I can keep up some relationships there. Writers need other writer friends to share their ideas and projects with. The online critique group I participate in has been very helpful too, though I had some terrible reviews of one of my fantasy romances. Some of those "critiquers" can be harsh as a Brillo pad. I take the "honest but nice" approach. Eh, but everyone's different. Good for me to learn that now.

I'll keep you updated hopefully a little more frequently. I'm hoping spring will be a time for things to smooth out a bit. Keep us in your prayers!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

To have been through so much, you guys are blessing me, you look great, you have fire in you. Keep moving forward. The winter happens. I recently went through about three years of photos. It was funny...I remember the emotional climate involved with each month, yet when I see "the highlights", I realize a lot of valuable things were going on in "my process", or in spite of it. Love you much.