Sharing my private thoughts about my new, published book
Today, is an incredibly fine day for me. What’s happened today seems to me like a bit of a miracle. You see, the road to publication for my second novel, The Lady of the Pier-The Ebb, has been a particularly rough one.
Last March I was diagnosed with frozen shoulder and since then, my life has become hell to say the least. I used medicinal creams and took pills by the loads but nothing seemed to numb the excruciating pains as the shoulder started to freeze all the more. I underwent physio for 3 months which provided very little relief and all this time, my writing and promotion work went out the window. I tried all I could to keep to my schedules but on most days it was a feat to manage to type even a short email as I could only use one hand. On other days, I got severe neck pain at the same time too, which meant I had to take breaks in order to relieve my discomfort by lying down every other hour. Last, the sleepless nights that have been the norm for me since February meant that even on better days when I could type more comfortably as to make headway, my mind was so muddled from the exhaustion that it was hard to edit a book, let alone write anything new.
And so, I stand today, feeling quite amazed as I think back at what I’ve been through. As awful as it’s been, somehow I kept returning to my desk every day, seven days a week. It’s now been five months since the first signs of discomfort which means I can now hope to reach the ‘thawing’ stage soon. And indeed, I’ve recently found adequate relief from a series of exercises I now do daily at home and I’m finally able to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks to my amazing beta readers and the generous formatting assistance I’ve also received from fellow author and friend, Nicholas Rossis, it seems to me I managed today the seemingly impossible. Despite all the bumps and dips along the way, I’ve just hit ‘publish’ on Amazon for The Ebb! There were times that I’d feared it would still be in my drawer till Xmas so you can imagine my enthusiasm for releasing it this summer as was my initial plan.
This whole experience reminds me of the signficance of PERSEVERANCE for anyone wishing to succeed in anything in life. Believe it or not, despite the hairy experience I’ve had, I now see clearly that it’s been a beneficial lesson as well as a trial. if I could go through all this and still come out an author on the other end, there has to be nothing that life can ever throw at me to thwart my determination as I pursue my writing dream.
They say that God tests us. Others may want to replace the word ‘God’ with ‘Life’ or ‘The Universe’ and all of these would be equally correct. The fact remains that there are only rewards to be had by anyone who jumps blindly into the fire and comes out unscathed.There’s actually a great quote about this that I particularly love and it goes like this:
“Miracles happen by hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it’s a feather bed.”
Please forgive my endless chatter. I don’t often do this, but I’m certain that had you been through this turmoil too, you’d be standing here just as amazed as I am about the outcome. It is such an impossibly overwhelming feeling that being an author, I just felt compelled to write about it. I hope you won’t take it as arrogance or conceit on my part. I’m not patting my self in the back here; I’m merely saying that life is amazing and that a steel determination will get you far, far more than you could ever imagine. The lesson has been great and humbling to me, and I believe it’s just changed me forever.
So thank you God, thank you Life, thank you Universe for showing me the abysmal depths of strength that I have inside me. Thank you for showing me that nothing can stop someone who has decided to carry on to the end of the road, regardless of any hardship or shortcoming.
The Lady of the Pier-The Ebb is now live on Amazon. As a special offer to anyone wishing to secure a copy before its formal launch date this coming Monday, it is now available at a special price till then, only $2.99.
Enjoy my new book and thank you for sharing my enthusiasm and amazement today! God bless!
