The last week of August I got a firm reminder that writers are human. I developed some kind of infection, probably sinus or ear. I ran a fever, I was getting up, feeding my animals, and falling face first (because that hurt the least) back into bed. Foods that I usually enjoy tasted like metal filings. I called my daughter and her husband who came and got me and my dogs. For four days, I did nothing but tend my elderly dog and sleep. It has been a long haul — nearly two weeks — getting back into my usual basic health.
However, this event was like a reset. I unplugged from just about everything, including eating. I lived on fruit, gelatin, and Gatorlyte. The fever went down. My appetite returned. And food was again edible. The weather grew cooler, and on Sunday, August 27, I returned home.
I have seventeen cats. (Yes, I’ll explain that later, but not now.) A relative had kept them fed and watered, but they’d had four days completely unsupervised in my home. Cat owners, I know I don’t have to explain what a disaster this was! Fortunately, I have a lovely new-to-me washing machine, and most of the usual implements of cleaning so I set to work. On Monday, I was doing five minutes of work, followed by 30 minutes of rest. So slow…and I worried that this was my “new normal.”
By Wednesday, I was up to 15 minutes of work followed by 15 minutes of rest — definitely better, and I began to whittle away at my writing backlog. I think I must have been sick longer than I realized, because I am still (September 15) whittling away at my mountain of backed-up work.
And that was when I knew I had to start making some changes. I am seventy-one years old this year. I’m usually fairly spry, and independent. But this was a reminder that I’m pretty much a one-bus accident waiting to happen. I need more planning, and better planning. This will start with more frequent additions to my website and getting the word out that it exists.
A planning book that I read recently stated that to sell your product (whatever it might be) you had to create the object, then you have to tell people about it. So here is me, creating and taking baby steps toward spreading the word.
Daisy Peasblossom Fernchild 