NEED A GREAT COVER ARTIST?

NEED A GREAT COVER ARTIST?
NEED A GREAT COVER ARTIST?

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A Kreative Blogger Award and Why I Filled the Toilet Bowel Up

Yeah. Well, just ignore the second part of my blog title. I’m in a rare mood today. It’s gloomy outside in Florida. I’ve been battling excessive fatigue. Sir Poops’ tummy troubles are back. Yaddi-yadda-yadda…. ***rolling my eyes***

There are several things I wanted to say today. Like ‘THANK YOU’ to Janet Koops, over at Postcard Fiction. She gave me the Kreative Blogger Award, however, I’ve not been able to go and retrieve it. ****shrugs*** The address won’t let me in. Anyway, Janet restarted her blogging again but this time by posting postcards and using them as prompts. She writes poetry, short-short stories, and flash fiction pieces.

And my second thing to talk about is the strange dream I had last night. My editor-for-hire planned my wedding with my character, Lila’s true love, Julio-these two are characters in my novel, Secondhand Shoes. ***scratching my head*** The editor-for-hire boiled plain ole white rice, Jasmine rice, Basmati rice, and brown rice for the wedding. She tied them up in pretty little sachet things. ***scratching me a big bald spot*** Julio and I were bombarded after our nuptials with soggy rice. Weird. I know but I swear the only thing I had before bed was about half a pot of chamomile tea so I could sleep. Wonder what else could have been in those flowers? Hmmm….

And thirdly, fatigue. Yes. I want to talk fatigue. In 2001, I was working on my undergraduate and taking the class for my LSAT-the test that can make or break you getting into law school. Halfway through this adventure, my hair, brows, and lashes started to fall out, then my nails became paper thin. Black floaters appeared in my vision daily. All my lymph nodes swelled. Dementia became a problem, too. There were times I couldn’t remember how to get to work or what things were called. It became a big problem when writing my papers for school. Every six to eight weeks, I ended up in the doctors office with flu-like symptoms. This went on for almost two years before the doctor diagnosed me with mono.

After that diagnosis, more things went wrong. Haishimotos disease-where your body attacks its own thyroid. Bells Palsy. Chronic fatigue. Chronic sinusitis. Chronic ear infections. New allergies surfacing sometimes on a weekly basis-drinking alcohol put me in the ICU for four days. To this day I can’t even walk across my carpet or carry a plastic grocery bag without breaking out into welts. Even my job as a stylist, makes me sick at times. I don’t dare touch hair color nor can I wear latex gloves. Everything has to be special. I also carry an Epi-pen and liquid Benadryl where ever I go for fear I could come in contact with something that could take my life.

Last Tuesday, I felt like the life had been sucked out of me. And that vampire is still sucking at me.

Every few months I get like this. My brain gets foggy leaving me unable to think. Picking up a pen or tapping at the keyboards is a challenge when the fatigue comes for a visit. But it really pisses me off too. Because years ago, I was told by the doctors that I couldn’t both work full time and go to school. I had to choose one over the other. I chose to eat and feed my daughters. I didn’t get to finish one of my goals.

And now, I’m almost to the finish line with Secondhand Shoes. The beta-readers are reading. I’m making my revisions before it goes to the editor-for-hire and my body is fighting me. WTF?!!!! I’m almost there for crying out loud. ****grrrrrr***

Sometimes I wonder about stuff like this, you know some people make it and some don’t. Maybe a lot of people were never quitters. Maybe something they had no control over stopped them in their tracks from fulfilling their dreams, their goals.

No. I’m not throwing in the towel. Not on this. I’ll just have to pace myself better. That’s all. I know I haven’t been on Facebook much and other sites. Sorry guys. It has to do with my energy levels. I’ve even limited how many blogs I visit a day. I try to be fair by logging in at different times during the week so I can visit all one-hundred- forty-nine bloggers I follow but I know I’m not getting to everyone. Sorry again, guys.

Okay. I’m done ranting. How is everyone else fairing toward their finish lines?

Later in the ink all,

Shelly

36 comments:

  1. Hope you get back to feeling yourself soon, Shelly. Nothing more frustrating than being sick and not knowing why.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, E.J. Very frustrating. My duahgter was teasing me last night about her mommy-in-a-bubble. Bubble mommy.

      Delete
  2. Shelly--keep us posted. We all love you and are concerned about you.

    If you follow Joe Konrath and Dean Wesley Smith, you know that spending excessive amounts of time on Facebook and Twitter don't really make any difference anyway. I made most of my sales by being active at Amazon, posting reviews. I'm going back to that!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's good to know. If only I could read faster.

      Delete
  3. I have a feeling you can do anything you set your mind and heart to, no matter what difficulties you are faced with along the road of life.:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh gosh, Shelly...I hope you're feeling better soon. We DO all love you!!!!

    You've gotten through it before, and you will again...stronger this time!!! ((hugs))

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Beth. It just makes me mad, you know. There's so much to do and I want to do. And next week, Tuesday, I take care of the other problem.

      Delete
  5. You'll get there. You've done great with Secondhand Shoes, and it's just a matter of pacing yourself. Health comes first, and all else shall fall into place as you go along.

    And that is a strange dream!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sir Wills. I know health comes first. You're right.

      And yes, that was a really, really strange dream.

      Delete
  6. HOpefully, getting the "other problem" dealt with might simmer down some of these things. But who knows?

    The fight is in you, Shelly. We're all rooting for you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hormones do strange things to us. They're kind of like men. We can't live with them or without them.

      Delete
  7. Stay strong and your spirit will prevail. And try to get some rest as well.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It speaks a lot about you that you aren't giving up. It would be easy to give up and very understandable. I hope you are feeling better soon. I totally understand how much it sucks to be 'special.'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Tonja. I know what you go through as well. The life of a writer isn't always sooo easy.

      Delete
  9. Hang in there Shelly. We're all pulling for you.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hang in there and feel better soon...

    Congratulations on your blog award.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm hanging onto the boogie board with all my life. Hanging ten....hanging ten. Thank you for the congrats.

      Delete
  11. Winter always zaps the life out of me too but I am stubborn and fight back :)Coffee is the magic key that seems to work for me...Congrats on your award.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stubbornness coupled with anger keeps me going. Coffee, I love but can only drink caffiene free. Thank you for the congrats. And the waffles on your blog the other day looked delish.

      Delete
  12. Ah, Shelly. Do you mind if I vent a little to you? I have fibromyalgia and a weird blood disorder that makes it hard to carry babies. That's all well and good. But this winter I've been so sick! I've been violently ill, followed by pink eye: got a cold, followed by pink eye: got something with a 103 degree fever (not the flu, they tested me) followed by pink eye. Then I got bronchitis. Then I got pneumonia. Then I got better. (for a minute) Hurray! Now I have a cold again. And now today I woke up with hives all over my body, great big welts everywhere. What the heck??? Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

    Okay, thanks for letting me vent. This all started the week before Thanksgiving and I just want to be WELL again.

    SO. All that to say, I've only had a few months of this, and you've had years ... my heart goes out to you. Yes, go at your own pace. Become the queen of prioritizing (I'm sure you already are!)

    Thank you for inspiring me with your courage to carry on!

    And congratulations on approaching the finish line of your WIP!

    You visited my blog and asked about Danyelle. YES she is a self-published author!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ali:
      You can vent anytime to me. Your stuff sounds worse than my stuff. Oh my....it's just wierd how you get closer to accomplishing something sometimes and your body starts to fight you. Why?

      Anyway, I'll be back over at your site to gather her book titles so I can add them to my Kindle. They look really good. Her covers are awesome.

      Delete
  13. Shelley, I feel for you. I understand much of what you're going through. Write anytime. I too have both Eppstein Barr (the virus that causes mono and never ever leaves again), CFIDS (Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome), among several others so I battle unusual illnesses and unbelivable fatigue. If you are meant to succeed, you will succeed against all odds.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, Donna!

      So you know what I'm going through. My question to God and the Universe is this, why now? I'm just going to pace myself better then. I have a tendency to go full balls to the wall with things. All or nothing kind of girl.

      Delete
  14. Gosh Shelly, I had no idea of the ailments you've suffered - my heart goes out to you! I hope that you find the "happy medium" amidst all this confusion.
    I'm certain that you'll get up, dust yourself off and get on with it - you strike me as somebody who will not be put down for too long... :)
    Congrats on the award!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm so sorry to hear about your struggles. I hope that you can stake that vamp soon.

    Good luck with your writing. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I'm sorry about what you're going through. You are a fighter, though, and you will reach this current goal, finish this project. It may take you a little while longer than it otherwise might have, but you will get there. Good luck to you.

    Shannon at The Warrior Muse, co-host of the 2012 #atozchallenge! Twitter: @AprilA2Z

    ReplyDelete
  17. @MISH: I've got a talent. I can type while lying on my back. Something I learned to do when Mono struck me full force and I wasn't allowed out of the house but then again I didn't have the strength to sit myself up.

    @Misha: I'll get through it. It just makes me mad. If my brain tells my body to do something then it should. Right?

    @Shannon: Yes. I'm a fighter. I'll get her done and all the other things I've got on my plate to do.

    ReplyDelete
  18. You are tougher than diamonds! I'm sorry about all that you're going through, but I have a feeling you are just going to rise above all these things. Keep on writing!

    Happy weekend!

    Nutschell
    www.thewritingnut.com

    ReplyDelete
  19. Oh I know how ya feel, Shelly! Everytime I try to push myself to get more work done, my body retaliates against me and then I really can't get anything done, so I'm always trying to find a balance. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Shelly,
    I have Hashimotos, too. Look at your food! They are putting soy in everything. Soy causes thyroid meds to not be as effective. When we take our meds, we have no idea how much is absorbed...due to the soy products zapping us like kryptonite. Look, I found soy in my sugar free kool-aid, soup, tuna, crackers, chips...candy.. If you over do any food with it, yikes. It is in candles, clothing and food dye.. I am sorry you went through this! (((Hugs)))

    ReplyDelete

Let me know what you think.