If you’ve been lurking in my Facebook group or reading my blog, you may have noticed I’ve been sick for what feels like forever! My stomach decided to do a revolt in December, and ever since then, we’ve been at war. Most days, my stomach has been winning and I’ve been a pathetic floor dweller, spitting cat hairs (they like to back their butts into my face while I’m dying on the floor) and watching old series I’ve seen a million times before (right now, I’m watching Dawson’s Creek and remembering the crush I had on Pacey when I was young and carefree and not plagued by a stomach who’s slowly trying to kill me!)
I’ve been back and forth to the doctor five billion times in the last 7 months, taken invasive tests, had my blood sucked dry (and I tell you now, doctors are secretly vampires!) and gotten several different diagnosises (err, what’s the plural of diagnosis?) that turned out to be WRONG and taken meds that MADE ME WORSE.
About 7 weeks ago, I got another diagnosis and meds to take for 6 weeks, but after 4 it was clear they only made me worse, so it was back to the docs and new meds to try. Still haven’t found anything that works, but I have a couple more meds to try, and I have an appointment with a gastro/hashimotos specialist the 20th of July, so I’m trying to stay positive.
On the plus side, my anemia is better and I’ve gotten vitamins for all my deficiencies (courtesy of a stomach that refuses to absorb the nutritions it needs—what an idiot, right?) All in all, things have been really rough, but after every wrong medicine and incorrect diagnosis, at least we’ve eliminated stuff and I’m hoping they’ll figure it out soon ( I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed). Sooner or later I’ll either get better or I’ll get a refund on my body and become the world’s very first cyborg lady!
Snail speed; writing update!
So… I’m still working on book 3, but it’s going abnormally slow. It’s a complex edit with a lot of changes and new scenes required (mostly because of all the changes and additions done during edits to book 1 and 2—together, almost 100k words were added to them during edits, so that’s basically a 400 page book added after I wrote the first draft of book 3 that I need to take into consideration). And being sick, intense work like that is hard and takes forever—floor dwelling doesn’t mash well with writing.
Anyways, 5 days a week is my “edit” days. I try work as much as I can during those days, but there are days where my stomach revolts and forces me back into floor-dweller status until I go to bed. I hate hate hate wasted days, and I more than that, I hate that I’m unable to do what I want because my body is just refusing to cooperate. But right now, that’s where I’m at, though I’m really hoping it won’t last much longer (if you’re sensing a bit of quiet despair seeping through the hilarity (I can feel hubs rolling his eyes but I’m funny dammit!) of this post, I apologize! Staying positive has never been one of my strong suits—in fact, my brain likes to jump to worst case scenario and plot my funeral every time I have the sniffles. On the bright side, I’m pretty prepared for the end of the world).
What else does Erica do besides working on book 3 and decomposing on the floor?
Well, 1 day a week is my “off” day. That day I try to do nothing without feeling guilty about it. Although if I’m feeling good that day, I edit instead. And the last day a week, I do either learning or creative work—which is world building, writing on other stuff, creating or talking to characters etc.
This creative day has been really good for me, and I can’t wait until I feel better and can get more out of it—mostly because this day is the day that spawned the first Feral Souls spin off (cue shocked gasp). During one of these days, I wrote a whole outline for it (which is VERY unlike me) and since then, I’ve spent some time drafting scenes or talking to the characters (but only once a week on my creative day).
The spin-off will release at some point after book 3 of the Feral Souls Trilogy (how long after depends just how many of my creative days pass while I’m in floor dweller status) so something to look forward to. And yes, this spin-off will visit Hope and the guys again, so even though the Feral Souls Trilogy will end with book 3, you’ll see more of the characters you’ve (hopefully) grown to love in the spin offs!
TL;DR…?
Anyway. That was a huge wall of text. I would do a TL;DR but as you all know, I’m naturally long-winded and trying to condense this huge wall of text will take energy better spent on book 3 so… OFF I GO!