Tag: pain management

Nag, nag, nag

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life, Writing

Two of my three test readers for the Wayfarer series are nagging me to finish the story.  I can’t help that there is more in the last chapter than I would have thought.  I have to tell the whole story and not leave out the good bits. 

This means they have to have patience.  I thought I’d finish it last night but I got distracted by other tasks.  One of these things was a conversation with one of the readers. 

I am hoping the ending will be good.  I have an exciting scene in my head that I want to include but I’ll see if I can make it play out. 

In the meanwhile, I’ve had requests for two hats and a few other crochet things.  I probably should work on my daughter’s afghan which I haven’t worked on in a while. 

My mother is resting comfortably if not patiently.  She wants to get up and go like she did before her stroke but the doctors are telling her to take it easy.  I understand the anxiousness to be back to regular routine but there is also the matter of taking care of yourself. 

This next weekend I’m hoping for some writing time so I can work on marketing and writing.  I need to do both so I’ll have to see how things go.  I have another crochet booklet I want to get out there for production.  I’m hoping it will be a productive weekend. 

This week I’ve been struggling with a lot of pain in my legs, partly due to stress from all the stuff over the weekend, and partly due to the overwork from driving and doing stairs on Saturday.  It slows me down and wears me out but I’ll do what I need to in order to get better.

Hopefully – fingers crossed – Virginia and Stephanie close on their house today.  They are waiting on one form and if that gets delivered they can still close today.  It is exciting for them to buy their very first house!  I’m hoping for a call saying they are owners at some point today!

Goals to Live By

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

The last three weeks have been filled with little sleep, lots of pain, and a lot of writing.  I started a story because I couldn’t sleep.  I worked on the story as the vision came to me of what it should be and where it should go.  The first rough draft is done.  93,181 words.  

The full moon is tomorrow.  I’m hoping that I can bring some balance into my life.  The story is done but the work to bring it forth is not.  I’ve got a rough draft which will need refining and smoothing out.  There are a thousand steps before the story can be grown into a book.  
With the full moon I’m looking for some balance in my home, work, writing and crocheting aspects of my life.  Maybe with the story out of my head I can go back to getting all the other tasks done that are grumbling at me.  
The completion of the story is exciting and a bit sad.  I have to let go of the story and move on to the next project.  Editing has to wait.  I can’t write this week and edit the same story next week.  I don’t have enough objectivity.  It’s a bit sad for me because for three weeks now these characters and their story have been almost all consuming.  I’m almost saying goodbye to some good friends.  Though I think in this case I’ll be revisiting them because I think there is another story to follow.  
Next project – the next poetry book – Moments in Life.  These will be all the poems I’ve written about life – my life. I have the cover done.  I’m happy with how it looks and I think it fits part of how I look at life.  I will be working today on narrowing down the poems and getting them categorized.  After that it is all production time – getting the poems in the order I want, cleaning up the file so they can go out there.  
Once I’m done with the poetry book, I’m going back to editing the second Defenders book.  I’m about halfway through that one and it is progressing.  The problem with the editing process is I sometimes get lost in where I am in the story.  When this happens, I have to go back and really think about what the purpose is of what I’m changing.  
It is a pay week and we are doing easy errands this weekend.  We went to Sorgs first thing this morning and tomorrow Ken will do the shopping.  I’ve had high pain levels all week and am still not at a great place for pain levels.  All I can do is manage at this stage in the game.  Until whatever is irritating works itself out of my system, I just have to keep working to get through every single day.  Some days I manage very well and other days I just want to sit in the dark and hope that I can sleep in order to escape the pain.  There isn’t anything anyone can do.  It is arthritis.  It can’t be cured or fixed.  It just is.  So I just cope.
When I have higher pain levels, it helps me to have goals.  They may be small goals like – I will sort poems or I will eat.  But these goals help me cope.  This is why my to do list is so important.  It gives me easy access to the things I want to get done so I can pick a goal and work on it without having to think about it.  
Pain level today – 8 (kinda sucky) but the goal – sort poems and finalize the cover.  Cover done.  Other goal – go see two movies to escape from life for a few hours.  I’m finally going to get to see How to Train Your Dragon 2!!!!  We are also going to see Guardians of the Galaxy.  This will be my afternoon goal.  Fun and escapism – two things I don’t often indulge in.  Today they are an important goal.