When life gets in the way of writing…
Most authors speak to a need to write - they see something in the world that inspires them to want to capture that something with words. I am new to the writing world, and haven't felt pressure to write all my life. I began writing a little less than three years ago and have been goal driven to get books written, edited, and published. The first book - Vials, took a year to publish. My second book - Chocolate Diamonds took nine months and books 3 to 5 have needed four months to be completed. As I was closing in on the end of book 5 - A Taxing Death, I decided to take a break from writing to go back and edit a few of the books and spend some time gaining a deeper understanding of marketing options. Then life interfered with those plans.
Like many people across the world, I have a senior parent that needs my help. My mother wants to stay in her own home and live independently. She has been a lifelong introvert and the social activities of senior housing options completely turn her off. She has increasingly become fragile as one would expect at 85. I've taken over various aspects of her life as she has lost abilities - she stopped driving 8 years ago, needed help with her weekly pill boxes about 5 years ago, then I began helping with banking, investments, taxes and meals about three years ago. Then she needed reminders three times a day to take her medicine in the last year and a walker on occasion for balance. Up to three weeks ago, she was able to live alone with frequent visits from me or my brother during the day. Then like many seniors, she took that one bad fall and fractured her 12th thoracic vertebrae. As there are all kinds of nerves in this area of the body, this injury is very painful. Unlike broken bones elsewhere, you can't put the back in a cast. The person has to go on moving with pain. The injury will heal in 6-12 weeks, but you can't put someone on bedrest for that period of time. There are subtle hints that the bone is healing - burping, sneezing, and coughing have become more tolerable.
During this injury period for mom, I have spent hours at mom's bedside first in a local hospital and then in a rehab center before bring her home with live-in help now. Hospitals are terrible environments for seniors - they are confusing places with dumb rules. Mom was admitted with high blood pressure due to the pain, once the pain calmed a bit, her blood pressure returned to normal, but she was left with a low salt diet. I feel that if salt hasn't killed you by 85, then it is not going to. Regardless she is continuing to make very slow progress each day, most of all she is happy to be back on her schedule rather than anyone else's.
During this time period I had a few deadlines on books that I handled while she was asleep. I didn't explore marketing opportunities as planned and I wrote the first 500 words of book 6. Unlike books 1 through 5, I don't have a title yet for this book. It's very strange to save the file as book 6 rather than Death by Convention, or A Dallas Death, or some other title that I have been mulling over in my mind. I've even lost the sticky note I had written on potential book titles. As I have flown by the seat of my pants these past 3 weeks, book 6 is lining up to be my best pantser effort yet as I have no title, no cover, and no outline even as I work on Chapter One.
When life gets in the way of writing, I know how to do the bare minimum to keep my author enterprise afloat while saving my time and energy to handle the lemons thrown in my mother's or my way.
Cheers,
Alec PecheAlec Peche
Like many people across the world, I have a senior parent that needs my help. My mother wants to stay in her own home and live independently. She has been a lifelong introvert and the social activities of senior housing options completely turn her off. She has increasingly become fragile as one would expect at 85. I've taken over various aspects of her life as she has lost abilities - she stopped driving 8 years ago, needed help with her weekly pill boxes about 5 years ago, then I began helping with banking, investments, taxes and meals about three years ago. Then she needed reminders three times a day to take her medicine in the last year and a walker on occasion for balance. Up to three weeks ago, she was able to live alone with frequent visits from me or my brother during the day. Then like many seniors, she took that one bad fall and fractured her 12th thoracic vertebrae. As there are all kinds of nerves in this area of the body, this injury is very painful. Unlike broken bones elsewhere, you can't put the back in a cast. The person has to go on moving with pain. The injury will heal in 6-12 weeks, but you can't put someone on bedrest for that period of time. There are subtle hints that the bone is healing - burping, sneezing, and coughing have become more tolerable.
During this injury period for mom, I have spent hours at mom's bedside first in a local hospital and then in a rehab center before bring her home with live-in help now. Hospitals are terrible environments for seniors - they are confusing places with dumb rules. Mom was admitted with high blood pressure due to the pain, once the pain calmed a bit, her blood pressure returned to normal, but she was left with a low salt diet. I feel that if salt hasn't killed you by 85, then it is not going to. Regardless she is continuing to make very slow progress each day, most of all she is happy to be back on her schedule rather than anyone else's.
During this time period I had a few deadlines on books that I handled while she was asleep. I didn't explore marketing opportunities as planned and I wrote the first 500 words of book 6. Unlike books 1 through 5, I don't have a title yet for this book. It's very strange to save the file as book 6 rather than Death by Convention, or A Dallas Death, or some other title that I have been mulling over in my mind. I've even lost the sticky note I had written on potential book titles. As I have flown by the seat of my pants these past 3 weeks, book 6 is lining up to be my best pantser effort yet as I have no title, no cover, and no outline even as I work on Chapter One.
When life gets in the way of writing, I know how to do the bare minimum to keep my author enterprise afloat while saving my time and energy to handle the lemons thrown in my mother's or my way.
Cheers,
Alec PecheAlec Peche
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