Slow Going

I was hoping to have Killer Stilettos perfected and published by December 2013. But last year as a lot of you know, I had my challenges. 

January 2013 began with the knowledge that my husband needed surgery. And by February we learned he had cancer and had to go through chemo which lasted until around June. 

Two weeks hadn't gone by and daughter number 4's drug problem had resurfaced. By August, DCF got involved, and my grand-baby was living with us again, and I filed for custody. It all got messy. Two separate divisions of DCF didn't agree on the outcome of my grand-baby, and before I could even get a court date, the grand-baby went back. Funny, I finally got a court date around December 17th.

But to date, baby is good. The daughter is following through with her outpatient rehab.

But then 2 weeks before Christmas, hubby's doctor found polyps in his voice box and mine found a lump in my neck. Hubby had surgery and a shot of chemo in his larynx a week before Christmas. I had an ultrasound of the thyroid.

Come to find out, my lump was neither a node, a goiter, or cancer. Thank God! The exam found a very swollen lymph node. So the  doctor concluded a flare up of my chronic Epstein Barr. She even found more swollen lymph nodes throughout my body to conclude what she thought. So now I battle the fatigue that comes with that.

Not to mention, my poor 93 year old grandmother has had a bad fall, a bleeding ulcer, her MerSa came back, went through seven blood transfusions, and survived 2 heart attacks before Christmas.

And through all of these life events, I've managed to keep my Salon job, publish 2 short stories, draft  3 other novels, and rewrite Killer Stilettos 32 times--this is the next book in the Lila's Journey Series.

Yup. You did in fact read 32 times. But I also loose my focus when life throws constant curve balls at me. Because sometimes one has to stop what they're doing to deal with stuff.

But soon and very soon, I shall have it perfected.

So before I go, I'm sharing a favorite line from Killer Stilettos. It's a Gram line. When I was reading through it last night, it made me chuckle. It's so her to say:

“I’m not God. I’m just a ghost trying to help her granddaughter.” She spread her arms out wide, palms up.

Do you have to stop writing for weeks sometimes when life throws a doozy at you?

Hope your Monday is a great one. I'm a The Salon on my iPhone. It's quiet for now.

Hugs and chocolate, 

Shelly