Haven’t been very active on LJ recently. Sitting at the computer is just too exhausting. I am so tired of being sick. I thought I was over the worst of it, but then I get hammered by another bout of the sickies. Dammit. My fever keeps cresting and dropping. I feel like I’m on a roller coaster of hot-cold-hot-cold. My head feels like little men with hammers are trying to break free from the inside, and my muscles feel like I’ve run two marathons and then been hit by a wrecking ball. It hurts to lie down and I’m too tired to sit up. Stupid immune system. It needs a firm kick in the shins.
But I got another prescription from my rheumatologist. Prednisone. Whee. More steroids. Hopefully, these meds’ll do the trick.
On the writing front, I’ve hit a snag in the novel progress. I’m just having a hard time getting the words to come out. So, I took a little break from it and penned a short folktale. Two thousand words came rattling out sweet as I could want in exactly two days, start to finish. Not too shabby. Tossed it up on Critters. Not in any hurry as the main market I’d want to send it to (Cricket) is still looking over the re-write of my kitsune story and I don’t like having more than one thing under consideration at the same market. Seems like a bad idea to compete against myself.
We’ve still got a lot of Christmas shopping to do. This whole me being sick thing continues to set us back. But Matthew has been making every effort to make the holidays cheery even with me twitching feverishly on the couch most of the time. This has mostly translated into festive dinners. Tuesday he made portabello mushroom ravioli with fresh garlic bread. And if that wasn’t enough, he baked a Dutch apple pie for dessert! Yummy! And yesterday he made a mushroom rice casserole with the same mushroom ‘n onion gravy from Thanksgiving with faux sausage on the side. Mmmm. My hubby is quite the kitchen santa.
Um, but I’ve resolved not to get on the scale until next year. It’s just safer that way.
Haven’t seen Two Towers yet. Hope to this weekend. I’ve been trying to avoid any and all spoilers . . . not that I don’t know the story, but still.
Hope you feel better soon. I’m continually impressed with your writing output!
Thank you . . . and thank you!
Actually, I’m feeling much better today.
Still sick?! Who told you that was acceptible? I demand you feel better now!!
Seriously, not good. I hope the roller coaster is over soon and you can get back to being a happier, healthier Eugie.
I know! I am heartily tired of being ill. But I think the pred is doing the trick. I feel so much better now than I did a couple days ago. It’s terribly depressing when feeling healthy becomes the exception rather than the rule.
“It’s terribly depressing when feeling healthy becomes the exception rather than the rule.”
Oh, how well I know. The IBS isn’t nearly as bad these days (knock on dead plant matter), but there was a time–for several years straight–where it wasn’t even a question of “Am I going to feel bad today?” but “How much of today am I going to be in pain?” And as often as not, the answer was “Most of it.”
I hate that one of my friends has to deal with something like this, but I’m glad you’re starting to feel better.
It sounds like you’ve caught that nasty gastric flu that’s doing the rounds; even now a couple of weeks on, I keep getting spells of weakness and hot-and-cold flushes that suggest it still hasn’t finished with me yet. :-/
Actually, I wanted to ask you a favour…it’s been a long time since I wrote creatively, and I was wondering if you could give me some constructive criticism of my entires in. I’m thinking about going back to writing and maybe submitting one or two pieces to magazines; I had a vampire story published in an American zine about 10 years back, but that was the last time I wrote seriously.
I don’t think it’s a flu (thankfully). I’ve got lupus (whee) and it’s pretty solidly a flare-up that won’t go away. Usually, my flare-ups hit me hard for a week and then drift off. This time, my immune system appears to be stuck in freak-out mode. Argh.
“Actually, I wanted to ask you a favour…it’s been a long time since I wrote creatively, and I was wondering if you could give me some constructive criticism of my entires in crap_novel.“
I tried hunting for your entries and read the last few, but since I wasn’t reading the other ones (“Sandra Higginbottom’s pendulous mammaries”?? Erg.), I ended up with a pastiche impression from my viewing. From what I saw, I can say that I really do like your style. It’s nicely vivid and evocative. You definitely should continue writing. Write write write write write! But I honestly don’t feel comfortable doing a crit from bits and pieces of an unorganized group effort.
If you’ve got a complete story you’d like me to give an opinion on, I’d be more than happy to give my humble impressions and thoughts. Or, even better, I highly recommend that you join Critters.org the online writers group that I’m a member of. I run all of my first drafts through there before I send them out to market. It’s big and well run, and has a worldwide membership including (at least according to the ratio of Brit crits I get) a healthy UK contingency. I average about twenty crits per story, and of course I’d look for anything of yours in the queue.
I hope you feel better! Let me know when the folktale comes up in Critters, and I can give you the snotty folklorist opinion of whether it jives with oral tradition. 😉
Thanks. I am beginning to feel better. Finally.
According to Andrew’s “What’s in the queue” page, I’m up the week of the 8th. But that clump looks over-sized and I’m at the bottom, so I’m betting Andrew will lop off a bit and I’ll end up going up the week of the 15th.
I would love having a snotty folklorist opinion!
I don’t get seriously sick often but when I do, I really do, I feel like a dog in a pound. I hope you feel better on Christmas day, make sure to drink lots of water. *hugs*
Thanks, sweetie. I think the pred’s doing the trick. I actually feel pretty decent right now.
Here’s hoping that the new drugs work wonders!
Thanks! So far, it’s getting my vote! I actually feel *gasp* okay, today. Here’s hoping I can cling to that elusive sensation of health. Sigh.
I read this thing in Scientific American about using porphyrins (what make people with porphyria get sick) and light to combat autoimmune disorders…basically, the porphyrins collect in rapidly proliferating cells, then when they get lit up, they explode the cells. It’s got some promise for rheumatoid arthritis, but I don’t know how much it would help your lupus, because I’m not sure where the immune cells are attacking. But hey. It’s still an experimental therapy, so who knows.
At this point in the progress of my lupus, I suffer from very few joint issues. Mostly it’s fever, headache, and deep, pervasive, and stunningly unpleasant muscle aches. But, I suspect joint swelling will happen at some point in the future as lupus is typically progressive. Great.
Thanks for the suggestion, though. I’ll bring it up with my Rheumatologist next time I see him.