Paradise Ills

I know what you are all saying…’What the heck is she talking about?’ Well, things have been going very good for me overall recently. Writings great, family the same. But I should have known the shoe would drop, the crock would break or whatever you all say when things suddenly take a strange turn.

I haven’t been sick in 17 years since I was pregnant with the youngest…not really sick…yeah, I’ve had aches and pains. I’ve had some small bouts with a slight case of the flu, migraines and other what I consider minor ailments. Sometimes I’ve stayed in bed or did nothing as a precaution because rest works wonders for a body and soul. And anyone who has had a migraine understands, functioning just isn’t possible when your head hurts so much you can’t see. But the on the whole, nothing too bad, nothing I couldn't handle. And never do I get something which causes me to vomit. Pregnancy was the only thing which cause that problem. I’d rather die than do that!

Now, with my family it’s been a whole different scenario. My husband gets stomach issues all the time and my youngest seems to pick up everything since he was in 6th grade and got pneumonia twice in one year. And since the youngest has been diabetic, he has been ill once every couple of weeks with something.

This last time, he dehydrated himself with soccer practice and then got the stomach cramps which go along with it. Or so we thought. Since he’s diabetic, we take him to the ER only to find that he has a horrible case of gastroenteritis which is apparently going around.

No, biggie, we can handle this. We make sure with his endocrinologist about what the ER prescribed and a host of other things as well as keeping him hydrated after the IVs. Never once did I think I was on the same road. I figured I was just Mom who could handle it yet again.

That was early AM Saturday and as I sit here Wednesday writing my blog, I wonder what ever made me think I was invincible. For the first time ever, I had to ask the DH to stay at home to take care of both of us. And the only thing that prevented me from going to the hospital was the fact I kept drinking even though the first day it came right back up.

Needless to say, I’m finally on the upswing even though my out bed time is only up to about an hour and a half before I am exhausted. MOF, as soon as I get done writing this, I’m off to bed again.

We think of ourselves that way in writing sometimes. We think we can do it all, be it all. No one person can be everything to everyone. Most authors’ rise to the top is a slow hard fought battle with many obstacles in the way. Some of those obstacles can be that we’re just plain sick of writing. It happens sometimes and its then that one needs to pull back and regroup.

Everyone needs to have a writing plan, something that they can refer back to when the going gets tough. Sometimes all it takes is to look at your plan, sometimes it takes writing in a different genre, taking a small vacation or even doing more volunteer work for your local writers group. Just something that will skid you along the plateau to where you’re going upward again.

In these tough economic times, I feel people giving up on dreams and whatever makes them happy because they aren’t making money or aren’t doing something they feel they should. It’s here that I’d like to steal a quote from the movie Galaxy Quest, ‘Never give up, never surrender.’ One must always look to their dreams and their inner self to draw strength.

Life is what it is. It’s not going to change or get better unless you want it to. Remember it’s all in your hands.

Again, I can see you wondering what this had to do with me being sick. I had a plan in place no matter what happened to me. I had someone to cover me at work, I had my DH answer my emails and delegate to others what I couldn’t get done, and I did what I’m supposed to be doing. Got better. Not 100% yet, but better.

And the whole time, my little brain is working on how I can get this into a story, or how I can convince folks that a good plan, no matter what the problem, is always great to have.

Happy writing! Until next week…

Lynn