May 2018
Blog
While I can see, I must be about finishing my
manuscripts and publishing them. I can no longer look to the future.
The
Darkening: A Haiku
Against
ensuing
Blackness,
I would enjoy what
Light
I am allowed.
Life
Sucks and then you die - and life still sucks - so says George in the series "Dead Like Me" and she knows.
The
time to do my “to do” list has just been shortened considerably.
I’ve
been wondering why everything seems so dark all the time. Then I closed my right eye one day and saw
only clouded images in my left. So I go to the doctor (after a few months). I
have cataracts, right? Yep, in both eyes
actually. But that’s not the real problem. They are not worth operating on.
What
the real problem is, is inoperable. I have Macular Degeneration. Something I
thought only other people got. I didn’t realize it was an insidious, creeping
condition that takes you unaware. The only thing that might halt or slow it
down, seems to be a vitamin/mineral supplement concoction called A REDS-2,
which I started taking on April 11th, the day after my startling
diagnosis. But it’s not a cure-all and I am going blind.
How
soon? Don’t know. Hopefully the retina
specialist I’ve been referred to can tell me,
but he won’t be in town until May 24th. (We have very limited
resources here in the “UFO Capitol of the World”.)
In
the meantime, while I can see (especially to format), I need to publish
everything I can. Guess it’s also time to get those audio-books started. I’m
going to be depending on those soon. My guess is, a lot of others enjoy them for
the same reason.
I
guess “through a glass, darkly,” will have different meaning for me now, as I
assume everything will fade away to darkness.
I
have added an additional task – that of studying Macular Degeneration to see
what I can expect. I may even write about – if only to warn others out there
that it does exist and you must do everything you can to protect yourself.
So
far, I understand that one really does need to wear sunglasses, taking an
A-Reds 2 supplement for the last few years (could) have helped, and the heavy
doses of diuretics I take for my congestive heart failure condition probably
hasn’t done my eyes any good. I need to
learn more.
On
the writing front (after spending some time on self-pity) I have gotten back to
writing. I’ll be finishing my Seasons of Sam Rock sequel soon. I’ve also started formatting my next poetry
chapbook, “Life’s Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku: Volume
Two: The Write Life”. Getting a good start on that should help with
my subsequent releases, as I’ll only have to plug into the template. Sounds
easy, doesn’t it?
My
next novel release will be the sequel to Black Oak. I just have to polish the
manuscript, format and publish as well. Okay, I have to find the files first. I
swear they are here somewhere. Really, I have a hard copy in a file box
somewhere, and I have computer files saved from my old dead computer. Honestly,
all I have to do is track them down. They are somewhere on my new
half-Terrabyte hard drive and one or the other of my one-Terrabyte external
hard drives. My computer guys did so much copying and saving, I may have
multiple copies.
Guess
I really should straighten all that out. My Norton security scans says I have
over 1 million files on each drive. But, it’s really hard for me to stare at
the screen much anymore.
By-the
way, computer people, do you know that those of us with compromised eyesight
can’t see all your fancy color concoctions? Your clever pale blues and pinks
and light greens and (especially) yellow just fade into the white background.
Those fill-in boxes are getting harder and harder to see. And the browser
geniuses don’t seem to offer a display option that would benefit such
impairment.
So,
now, I muddle along, enjoying the visions before me less and less. But, while I
can see, I need (more than ever) to get my last month’s ducks in some kind of
order.
I
also need to teach my husband how to pay the bills. He hasn’t paid a bill in
over 31 years of marriage. He’s definitely going to have to learn to compromise
and juggle, as I have done all the years – managing, somehow, to keep a roof
over our heads and the lights, heat and water on. Oh, joy, won’t that be fun?
In
next month’s blog, I will journal my progress, both on the writing front and
the vision front. As I end this month’s blog, let me share another Haiku – appropriate
to the way I feel right now.
It is
this: Some days it
doesn’t pay to think; other days, it’s just too painful.
Timeout:
A Haiku
I’ll
not be thinking
Today;
my brain is tired,
And
it needs to rest.
Until
next month, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love
to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook
accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:
This
month, I’m including a link to my Amazon’s Author’s page. Feel free to visit me
there also:
All
of my books are available on Amazon.
May’s
featured novel is my Middle Grade sci-fi offering: “The Aurora UFO Incident - A Novel” https://tinyurl.com/yb875xw4
This
month’s featured poetry chapbook is again “Life's Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection
of Haiku: Volume One: One for the Book” http://tinyurl.com/zuayqu8
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