As I turn down a new road...

The twists and turns of panic disorder are dizzying. I am never on one path long before I'm forced down a new, unmarked and unlit lane. I am lucky. This time the change in direction is only a slight narrowing of the proverbial road. It has taken me a few months to accept this change but I do now and hope you will understand it as well.

As my writing career is continuing to grow and I begin to tackle new arenas in the literary world, I have had to put everything I have into my daily writing. It is not a matter of time but one of energy that has brought me to this decision. Except for corresponding with my publishers, etc, I can no longer handle email. The reading and answering of messages literally picks apart my energy. I worry over it. Constantly. All the oomph my medication allows me is eaten up with this insane worry, leaving me exhausted and empty. I can't be empty and write.

Coward? Perhaps. Survivor? Definitely.

I am sorry that I'm having to shut down this part of online world. I hope it won't be forever. And I apologize to all who have written me in the last couple of months as I've struggled and hid from this decision.

I do not plan, however, to disappear from your lives. With this new website, with Facebook updates and tweets on Twitter, I hope to keep you all deeply entangled in my strange yet wonderful life. Perhaps I will be able to reach even more people as I open up my daily struggles with the beast Panic in this blog. I can not promise daily updates but I can promise important ones.

It is not an exaggeration. I need each and every one of you. Please, keep hold of my hand as I venture down this narrowed but just as wondrous road.

Sincerely,

Chloe Stowe