Jaye Marie's Blog, page 5

That moment… when you think you’re on the wrong train…

These past months, I have been concentrating really hard on what I thought was the job in hand—getting stronger and finding myself again.

Just lately, though, less positive thoughts have been creeping into my head. I do my level best to dismiss these thoughts, considering them detrimental to my recovery.

All things considered, I am pleased with my progress. I can do so many things now that I thought were gone for good.

But… I seem to have hit the proverbial plateau.

No matter how much I exercise, I cannot extend the distance I can walk, stand, or even think about going upstairs. I can do all of these things in my mind, but my body is quick to let me know what will happen if I try too hard. I was lucky I didn’t get a brain injury the last time I thought I could do something.

I had a long chat with my doctor the other day, and she is going to arrange a follow-up appointment at the hospital to discuss why I haven’t made a better recovery.  The pain in my spine is still there, and the weakness in my legs is returning. So, my journey is nowhere near finished yet.

Back to those negative thoughts I mentioned earlier. Supposing this is as good as I can get at my age?

I don’t feel old, even now when I can’t stand or walk more than a few steps. And it’s beginning to look like I should be pruning my other ambitions too…

Best wishes… Jaye

Could this be the day I get to go outside?

After days of struggling, trying to establish a subscriber form, and writing the long-awaited newsletter, there has been a small chink in my self-imposed workload.

A hosepipe ban has just been issued for our neighbourhood, which means my bonsai babies are at risk of drying out. I have been relying on the family to keep them watered, but now I feel I must try to help.

A small opportunity has arisen to do something I have been waiting long enough to be fit enough to consider doing. I thought I was fit enough a while back, but then I fell again while practising on the stairs, causing my sister’s barriers to stay in place.

Her theory: falling indoors on carpet is bad enough, but falling outside on concrete would be stupid even to consider.

This theory is still in place, but I must push my luck. The hot weather is having a few days off, so this could be the perfect day I manage to see my babies…

Fingers crossed!

A New Week…

A new week has begun. Still too warm for me, but I’m paddling my life canoe like a crazy woman anyway. Things to do, even if I do have to do them all sitting down!

Just as I thought I was making progress, somebody gifted me the flu, which has set me back further than I wanted to go. I hope it is just the flu and not the unmentionable. Hopefully, I can get rid of it soon and get back into recovery mode.

Along with exploring new possibilities with the new book, something I am loving, and really getting to grips with, I am determined to create our newsletter again this week. Along with so many other things, I seem to forgotten how to do this, so hoping for another miracle!

I can’t help thinking about the good old days when I could multi task and cope with several things at a time. Will I ever see those wonderful days again?

My Magic Moment remembered…

I was looking for something to trigger an interesting post today, when the image at the top of this post caught my eye. As I stared at it, I lost myself in old memories. I remembered the first time I went to our local beach.

This is the post I wrote at the time…

After what has seemed like a very long time, I have found my perfect moment.

I finally managed to get to the sea, and the sun was shining. A strong breeze from the water created some medium-sized but beautiful waves.

We had visited this beach the week before, but the weather was atrocious that day, and we nearly froze. The weather report was more favourable yesterday, so we made the journey again.

I have been trying to snatch a few precious moments to get my sea fix, and it was beginning to look like it might never happen.

The sea is my soul mate and very special to me. I need to commune with the spirits of the deep regularly.

Seeing how my health seems to be slowly deteriorating, I need to keep my soul happy, or I may give up. So yesterday was invaluable for several reasons.

Once on the seafront, the family were busy fussing about coffee or something to eat, but the sea called me, and I wandered slowly down the shingle beach and headed for the water. Almost immediately, the deafening sound of the waves beaching, and the sweeter sound of the water filtering through the shingle lifted me out of this world. A world where I was entirely at home.

I wanted to sit down, stay awhile, and enjoy the moment, but the shingle was wet, so I perched on a breakwater, mesmerised by the crashing waves.

I managed to film my perfect long-awaited moment on my phone, so I could share the moment with you…

Not quite better than nothing, but it was good to hear those waves again…

I hope you are all managing to stay cool, calm and collected in this weather…

As it was in the Beginning… #Fiction #Mystery

Although I used to dream about writing when I was younger, life came along and made sure I forgot to remember this, always finding new ways to keep my mind from straying.

Even when my sister, Anita started to write and needed help with transcribing and editing her own stories, my own dreams stayed dormant, while life continued to throw some major curve balls at both of us.

I learned to love working on Anita’s stories, mainly to keep from drowning under such a lot of misery and frustration. Her characters and stories somehow gave me hope that everything would one day be better.

I needed a lot of patience at that time, and editing is an exceptionally good way of teaching you this!

I’m not sure where the first idea came from, but I began to think about writing a story about a woman called Kate Devereau. Someone remarkably like me, as it happens.

I refused to admit it would be a memoir or in any way autobiographical. She just happened to have similar life experiences, that’s all.

After all, they do tell us to write what we know, and I knew Kate very well.

Looking back, I think Nine Lives had to be written so I could find a way to move on to a better life. One with more hope in it than I ever thought possible.

Although I have moved on a lot since then, Kate has followed me and has remained a haunting heroine in my first three detective stories, Nine Lives, Out of Time, and CrossFire. My favourite detective, DI David Snow fell in love with her and she haunts him too.

But will Kate Devereau and David Snow ever have a happy ending?

Book Description

Death has been stalking Kate all her life, convincing her that she has nine lives, like a cat.
With nothing to live for, no family to speak of, just a brother she hates, she waits for death to take her away when her lives run out.
People around her are dying at the hands of a serial killer, so has Kate run out of lives?
Will she find a reason to live before it is too late?

“If you like the thriller genre that keeps up the momentum then Nine Lives would be a good read for you. The pace never falters, building up the plot and characters with timely intervention. The author cleverly keeps the story centred around the main character, with the other players coming into the story and yet there are no plot holes or false timings.” Amazon Reviewer

“The story is very mysterious and suspenseful, and I was left wondering if Kate would escape the murderer. The mysterious voice plays a big part in the story and the ending does a wonderful job of explaining the voice and it’s purpose in Kate’s life.” Amazon Reviewer

River Walking…

Thoughts of my new book woke me up this morning, which is a great way to start the day.

Those thoughts must have been triggered by memories of the rivers I have ever walked along, or maybe I dreamed of one? As I lay there, cocooned in my duvet (it was a bit chilly last night), I rewrote at least one chapter and changed the course of my story, all river-related.

And I am loving the extra new storyline! It also gives a new angle for the ending, which I am thrilled about.

I was supposed to be working on a newsletter (long overdue!) today, but not now…

Bubbles…

I’m forever ….. …..

Thoughts on Sunday…

In Your Hands… #Acrostic Poem

Anita’s poetry magic is back!

Fire in the Night