I was reminded this week how feelings and experiences can come back to bite you when you least expect it. Things you thought were over and done – you thought you dealt at the time – suddenly are there again.
I’ve had three back surgeries – the last one eleven years ago and then another this summer. I’ve recovered well, though my daughter says I walk funny. I say, I’m doing the best I can. But it occurred to me that the last surgery took place one year before I was laid off at the base and began a new career late in life. That job also didn’t last because the company left town and I once again had to land another job.
It’s been twenty years since I lost my parents. They were both sick at the same time and I tried my best to look after them until the bitter end. I hope my children don’t go through that, but they might.
In the shower this week, (why there, I have no idea) old feelings came slamming back. I felt I’d been trying to slay dragons once again and I have no idea why. Maybe the back surgery brought it all to the forefront. Maybe it was because my dad had open heart surgery in August. It’s been said there are anniversaries for feelings. There have been several lately when I think about it.
But with a lot of prayer, I feel like I’m going to get better. I am keeping the dragons at bay, or maybe learning to dance with them. Dragons can be a formidable opponent or gracious ally depending upon how you look at them.
Writing about my feelings helps me get them out in the open sometimes so I can examine them. It may bore the reader but helps the writer.
But this writer has been working on two manuscripts this week in spite of the dragons.
What are you reading this week?
I received word this week that my novella, Strawberry Sundae Delights, releases September 2! I’m so excited to continue the saga on Sandhill Island. This novella will be e-published as part of the One Scoop or Two Series for The Wild Rose Press. Check out the other novellas in this series too. 
Many years ago, I fell in love with the lore surrounding the Heavener Runestone and the YA novel Glome’s Valley was born. Since that time, I’ve written a sequel, Return to Glome’s Valley. I loved the characters and the setting, and the saga of Glome and the Heavener Runestone lived on.
Many of my books are published by The Wild Rose Press (TWRP). I also write for other publishers, but one of the things that The Wild Rose Press does is offer out stories to be written. For instance, the Deerbourne Inn Series that I wrote a novella for last year took place in a quaint Vermont Inn and many of their authors wrote stories surrounding the inn. I jumped on that band wagon and wrote Witches’ Cliff. The way this is set up, the publisher creates a setting and then invites their authors to write a story (any genre) around that setting with a word count limit.
Writing stories of experiences or making your own seems to be a natural thing for humans. Many never do it, though they think of it, and many do it without ever sharing what was written.
It’s been three weeks since my spinal surgery and I’m feeling human. I walk and practice my physical therapy exercises and I’ve even had to get back into cooking. I’m doing well.
I’m reading a new book, Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray Love. You might like it. It is about living the creative life and is mostly geared toward writers, but also other artists.
I spent a couple of days this week at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital South. No there is nothing wrong with my heart. But my spine is another story. My neurosurgeon works out of that hospital and he gave me some new scaring, my third back surgery, and I have some new fusion in the L4 L5 area.
IT’S HOT OUTSIDE! And I’m not talking about the political scene. The temperatures in Oklahoma have reached the century mark and the humidity is trying to keep up with it. If you’re going outside, do it early morning or late evening. I’m sure it’s the same wherever you are.
Peggy Chambers "Views from the Hammock" site 