Hello, everybody!
It has been such a long time
since I was last able to add to my blog,
so as I am not feeling too bad today,
I felt I must at least let you know how I am and what has been
happening.
I shan't trouble you with all the
ins and outs of it; suffice it to say that things went a bit haywire health wise
and I have been, and still am, to a large extent, pretty poorly.
I have hardly been anywhere for ages
and am still pretty much stuck within these four walls, so there have been no
talks or book signings, unfortunately. I haven’t even been able to get any
further with the half-completed sequel
to ‘Someday, Maybe’ because it hasn't been
possible to sit staring at a computer screen for more than a very few minutes without the back of my head and
my neck going into spasm. I find myself having a great deal of empathy
with Mary, Queen of Scots, because my
head feels permanently as if I have a sharp, but heavy, iron axe sticking into the back of it!
(And in case you might think of
suggesting it, neither can I write freehand for more than a very short spellI
only have one arm that works properly and my right hand is so badly damaged
that it also goes into spasm like my head if it feels overused, the fingers can't hang onto anything properly
and, of course, I keep dropping my pen.)
So with continual pain, that
permanent headache, lack of sleep and a
great deal of medication which muddles and clouds the old brain, trying to hold
onto my ‘freds’ in order to do anything much is just that bit beyond me, at
present anyway.
There is some light, though. I was
given an iPad for Christmas and have discovered Siri so I am hoping to be able
to do rather more. He does seem to have some difficulty in understanding my dictation
and produces the most awful and irrelevant garbage a lot of the time, which, of
course, all requires painful correction, but still…!
Maybe it is because, as my husband tells me, I
don't speak loudly enough (my chest is also affected) although what I say is,
he is deaf!
Because the complicated work
involved in working on a novel is too much for me at present, my plan for Siri
is to help me to keep at least some creative juices flowing by taking down a
children’s story which will be comparatively straightforward and which I plan
to write in brief paragraphs and in short episodes, so that I can do a little
whenever I feel up to it. I hope it will strike an amusing chord with those children who are one of two
sisters or with parents who have two daughters to whom to read aloud and who
have been rather surprised to find out how very different those two children
are!
Hopefully, more on that anon.
In the meantime, if you have read
‘Someday, Maybe’ or ‘Moving On’, I hope that you enjoyed them and please do a
review for me if you can. if you haven’t read them yet, please do! They are
available from Amazon and many other booksellers.
