Writing In a Time of Covid

 Hi Guys,

Another long pause between posts - and between books. The good news is that Modesty is out. And that another book - The Traveller - is now through its first draft and has had two complete revisions and edits. It's a steam punk fantasy book with a main protagonist who can travel between worlds - other fantasy worlds - on a steam powered motor bike of course!

The reasons for the delay are many and varied. But lets just say that 2021 has been a shocker of a year for me. I suppose we're all due one now and again. 

It began with my sister coming to stay with me after becoming unemployed. And while that's no bad thing, it is a shock to the system for someone who's been living alone for so long to suddenly have to share a house with someone - and three cats!

And not long after that the plague arrived! Yeah, maybe it was technically a cold. But I have never had a cold that lasted a month before. Or one that left me coughing so much and so powerfully that it was literally agony to breathe. Or one that wiped all the energy from my system for another month and a half after that.

It wasn't covid, at least I don't think so. But man - it really made me think. If I did catch that damn bug, I definitely wouldn't survive it! Luckily I've now had my first shot and am looking forwards to the second and immunity. Yeah!!!

After that of course 2021 took another unexpected and terrible turn just as I had got back into writing. My mother who was elderly and living in a retirement facility, became ill. And literally the day after I published Modesty I was driving down to Wellington to be by her bedside. She died a couple of days later. And the only thing I can say about that is that even though I knew it was coming, I wasn't prepared for it. I'd guess that nobody ever really is.

Anyway, since then I've been trying to get back to work. It's difficult to concentrate unfortunately, my thoughts keep wandering, but I will return to things in time. And The Traveller will probably be out in a few weeks.

In the meantime, I wish you all the best and hope you're having a better year than I am. Oh, and I cannot stress this enough - get yourselves vaccinated!

Cheers, Greg.

Happy New Year and Je Suis Charlie.

Hi Guys,



 

Bit of a gap between posts this time, and as you will notice no nice graphic at the top either. The reason I believe is called technical difficulties. A polite way of saying I'm a computer moron. For some reason I can't seem to upload anything to my blog anymore - I just get error messages. Something about server connections failing and a resumable file which I can't open. So if anyone knows what any of that's about, kindly drop me a note.

 

However this blog will be short and sweet.
 

At the start of the year you'll remember I usually like to set out some resolutions, and also to see how I did on the previous year's ones, and this year I did the same thing. I find that this is one way to cut out the BS and just get a benchmark for how I'm going as a writer.

Last year I decided that my goal would be to put out six books - which was a goal I had achieved previously. I felt that was an ambitious target, but not an unachievable one - and goals should always be achievable. Sadly I didn't achieve it, putting out only five books, but in my defence one of those books - The Godlost Land - is a 250K monster. So I think I'll give myself a B on that - with the proviso that I should really get off my arse more often and write!

Over to 2015. This year my new goal is to do the same (five books not six since I've included a second goal which will slow things down.) And my second goal is that one of those books will be a genuine sequel to one of the other books I've already written. This as I'm daily discovering, is a tough goal, since most of the books I'm looking at sequels for I closed years ago. I've forgotten so much about them, that it makes continuity a major problem. However, I am pushing on and Mage, (The sequel to Maverick) is now over 100k.

This year however, one other thing impacted on my writing as I'm sure it did on the lives of many other writers. Terrorists, murdered a dozen innocent cartoonists in Paris.

That monstrous act left a disquieting feeling in my writing guts, as I'm sure it did in the guts of many others. It brought home the reality that there are people out there who truly believe that they are the only ones who should be allowed to decide what people can write and say. And ultimately I assume, what they can even think. And it reminded me that if I write the wrong thing I could become a target for them.

That of course was the terrorists intention. To scare people like me.

It failed.

That was the other new years resolution I came up with. I will not be bullied into writing only what other people want to allow me the right to do so. Granted I don't write a lot about Islam, but if the subject comes up it will be written about and in a way that suits my creative purposes, not the desires of these thugs.

Because in the end people have said that this was an attack on the freedom of speech - which of course it was. But it's something more fundamental than that. This was tyranny in action. These people believe that they have the right to determine how others should live, act and think. They aren't just opposed to democracy, they are opposed to freedom - yours and mine.

And the bitter irony is that they claim that they do this in the name of God. They don't. What seems to have escaped their notice is that every person they bully, intimidate, harm and kill is a child of God. These people were created with free will and out of love. And they were not created with the intention that anyone should harm them.

So to any out there believing that these modern day savages are in the right, think again. And if you support them you support their acts. You are as guilty as they.

Lastly in conclusion: Happy New Year and Je Suis Charlie.

 

Hi Guys,

Just a short note to let you know how things are progressing. I just realised that it's been over a month since my last post and I've been somewhat remiss in my duties to this blog.

Days of Light and Shadow is continuing to be written, but every day that I write it seems to get longer and longer. The pains of being a free form writer as opposed to someone who writes to a plan.

Currently its over two hundred k and though I think I've got the back of it broken, there are still another ten chapters at least to write before it goes through its first edit and proofing. At some stage I have the very real fear it may have to become two books simply because of its size.

Other than that life goes on. The back of winter has finally been put behind us, something my toes are infinitely grateful for. There have been far too many frosts this year, and my power bill will be unthinkably high. But of course with the advent of spring comes the storms, and we've had a few of those already. One of them tore my gardens apart pretty thoroughly.

One of my cats, Brutus decided to develop a psychosomatic injury. Maybe he's playing the sympathy card. All I know is that he started limping very badly, a couple of weeks back. And as always it was on a weekend. Naturally being the sap that I am I took him to the vet on a Sunday - why is it always on the weekends? An x-ray and two hundred and some dollars later he was sent home as having a sprain. Four days later, having recovered not at all, and having had my neighbours at my door worrying about him, I took him to my own vet. Another x-ray, another two hundred and some dollars, and this time some pills, anti-inflammatories, and he was sent home with 'just a sprain'.

This time however, when I parked the car in the garage, he decided to do a little running away, he's not a natural driver. And as I watched him sprinting away I suddenly realised that he didn't have the slightest trace of a limp! Since then it's been on again off again. He limps when he wants to as far as I can tell, usually when he's after food, playing on my sympathy. I'm thinking he's been taking acting classes behind my back!

So that's been my life of late. And sorry, I now don't have a date for when Days of Light and Shadow will be ready.

Cheers, Greg.

Bell's Palsy and Me - Not a Love Story.

Hi Guys,

Once again no time travel post this time, as once more life has intruded. This time it took the form of Bell’s Palsy, a rather frightening looking condition that causes paralysis of the face, just one side usually thank goodness. But still waking up one morning three weeks ago to find that the right side of my face had started sagging set my pulse racing and made my palms sweat more than a little.

Naturally being of middling years and advancing waistline, my first thought was that I’d had a stroke, and I raced down to the emergency department where I spent an exciting few hours being asked all sorts of embarrasing questions and being poked and prodded. Eventually though they kicked me out with a scrip a mile long and the comforting words that it would probably come right in a few weeks or months. It was the ‘probably’ that didn’t impress most.

Still some valuable life lessons were learned and I’m trying to lose weight and do a little bit (sadly a very little bit) of exercise.

By the way if any of you should wake up one morning with half your face paralysed as mine was, my advice is to scoot down to the emergency department as fast as you can. It may be this, and by gosh you should hope and pray it is, but it could also be a stroke and that is a medical emergency.

Now for the fun stuff. What’s life like with Bell’s Palsy? And believe me it has been an experience.

First, it looks bad. Actually it looks worse than that. I personally don’t spend a lot of time looking in mirrors, - most of them aren’t wide enough to properly reflect my full beauty, but I did after this happened. Mostly out of horror. You see the facial muscles aren’t just paralysed, they sag, especially around the mouth, and you end up with a shocking droop. This looks worse when you try to speak since only one side of your mouth works, making the problem even more obvious.

In my case I slurred my words for a few weeks, a little like a drunk, but regrettably without the alcoholic high to make it all seem so much better.

The good news is that it doesn’t hurt, at least at the start. However for me as my seventh nerve has slowly started working again, I’ve been experiencing pins and needles around that side of my face. My right eye also hurt, though that was due to the eye drying out as I couldn’t close it properly. They gave me eye drops and cream for that, and a patch that I refused to wear. My pirate days are behind me! It was easier to tape my eye shut at night and keep using the drops during the day.

Taste was and still is compromised as half of my tongue had also stopped working. This is a difficult thing to explain, but the best way I can describe it is to say it was like having a small sheet of cling film over my tongue. It felt distinctly odd. However, a lack of taste also helps with the diet, which is a good thing in my case.

Eating and drinking were embarrasing. With half my mouth including my lips not working, I tended to chew like a cat and occasionally food would fall out of my mouth. Drinking was worse as I dribbled like a baby. Now, three weeks on, this is much improved, but I still wouldn’t go out to eat in a restaurant. By the way, the pain nerves aren’t affected by the condition so when I bit my tongue or my lips as I often did, it still hurt.

Hearing is the other thing that went weird. My right ear became hypersensitive, but not in a useful bionic ear sort of way. I can’t hear people whispering about top secret conspiracies a mile away. Rather every time I coughed or sneezed it was as though someone had fired a cannon on that side of my face. And regrettably this hasn’t changed. Yawning is also fun as it sounds like a thunder storm coming.

It’s the social side of things that bothered me most though. People stare, they can’t help it I suppose, and friends ask stupid questions. The one thing I have learnt out of this is that I am just as self conscious as anyone else. So much so that I took the traditional male route to try and hide it. I started wearing sunglasses and growing a beard. In short I started to look like Cousin It. Usually I don’t do either, as sunglasses irritate the bridge of my nose and beards itch abominably.

However, now that my mouth is almost straight again, I’ve shaved off my facial hair – my Mach Three nearly died in the process. It was a balancing act between trying not to look like a freak and trying not to scratch my face off and I’ve finally reached the stage where I can stop scratching.

Anyway, that’s been the story of my last three weeks, and I hope that if any of you come down with this truly strange condition or have friends or family who do, you’ll be a little better prepared to handle what comes.

The good news is that the stats are good. Not great but good. Eighty percent of people who develop Bell’s Palsy will make a complete or good recovery within a matter of weeks or months. The bad news is of course that some won’t, and also that something like seven to fifteen percent of people will get it again at an average interval of ten years. Still that's another decade away!

The great news though, is that it’s not a stroke.

Cheers, Greg.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Burger Joint.

Hi Guys,

No time travel this time. Travel of a differnt type but equally unsuccessful.

Yes I had a car crash about two weeks ago (and no that isn't my car or caravan - it's a brilliant photo I found on the Photo Morgue). Thirty years of driving without a crash and then a drunk woman smashes into my rear end. Go figure!

So here's the juicy details. No one killed, though my back which was already damaged from a ruptured disc and slowly recovering, has taken a serious knock. I've been unable to sit down for any length of time until now. My car which is sadly old and not worth a lot of money, teetering on the edge between repair and write off. My nerves somewhat shattered. Burger and fries for Thursday forgotten about. Burger king out by maybe ten bucks.

As for the crasher. A young woman, mother of two, drinking on a Thursday evening at seven pm. Driving with no licence, in a car she didn't own, and that wasn't insured. Driving with no lights on, distracted by the mobile phone, failed to stop at the red light at which I was idly twiddling my thumbs waiting for the green. Honestly if there was another mistake that she could have made that evening I don't know what it was.

And what have I learned? I'm reliably informed that whenever something bad happens you should always try and learn from it. So here goes.

1) Follow Brady's Law at all times. You know Murphy's Law of course - anything that can go wrong will go wrong and usually at the worst possible moment. Brady's Law is that Murphy was an optimist! So be prepared.

2) Carry your mobile phone with you at all times. I can't tell you how much I missed having the cell with me on the side of the road as a hysterical woman driver kept apologising and calling everyone to say that she'd had a crash save the police, no matter how many times I asked her to.

3) Be insured. I may have to pay an excess, don't know yet, but at least other then that three or four hundred bucks or what have you, I shouldn't be too much out of pocket. And if the worst happens and the car's written off, at least I have a little cash in my pocket to go shopping with.

4) Takeaway foods are bad for you!

Cheers, Greg.

A Plea For My Friend - Helen.

Hi Guys,

A bit of a change of theme in this post. No time travel, but in a very real way this post does concern time - the time we have available to us.

A few weeks ago an old and dear friend passed away after a year and a half long battle with cancer. It was a long and a difficult fight that she waged with her disease, and it took a terrible toll on her even before it finally killed her.

But this post isn't about the battle. And it isn't even about Helen. I could write a book about her and still never find the right words to praise her for the intelligent, warm and witty woman that she was. It isn't even about the prevention of cancer and the terrible waste of lives caused by smoking and bad diet etc. Helen's cancer wasn't one of those cancers associated with lifestyle choices. This is purely about taking care of yourself medically and seeing the doctor when you're ill.

Helen had ovarian cancer. Its a type of cancer that's often referred to as a silent killer - silent because you don't know that you have it until it's advanced. It is symptomless, or so they say. In fact the first symptom my friend took seriously enough to visit the doctor for, was shortness of breath. This was caused by a secondary tumour growing so large that it was actually pressing on her lung. By then of course, it was too late.

But there were other symptoms. Ovarian cancer isn't truly silent. It's just that its early symptoms are vague and often mistaken for other things. Things that people often don't feel the need to visit the doctor for.

Symptoms, and this is taken directly from the American Cancer Society website, are seen in the early stages of the disease, even before the cancer has spread. They include:

Bloating,
Pelvic and abdominal pain,
Trouble eating or feeling full quickly,
Urinary symptoms such as urgency or needing to go often.

And the advice that they give is that when the occurance of these symptoms is unusual, when they are present almost daily, and when they last more than a couple of weeks, that should be a warning sign to women to visit their doctor and get checked out.

It's highly likely that these symptoms will be due to other more minor ailments, but for those unfortunate few who do have early stage ovarian cancer, an early diagnosis is everything. The sooner you catch it, the better the odds of beating it.

So that's my plea on behalf of my friend. Don't ignore minor symptoms. Don't simply assume they're signs of a tummy bug or what have you. If they're unusual for you, if they aren't going away, if they're happening daily, please go and see your doctor.

Remember the old mantra - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Cheers, Greg.