File this one under “Posts I Never Wanted to Write.”
It’s about how the best laid plans can and often do go awry. About the anticipation and excitement of something being blown out of the water by circumstances beyond our control.
It’s about how life just sucks sometimes.
I generally don’t share anything online having to do with health issues. One good reason is that I have been extraordinarily fortunate, health-wise, thus far in my life. Plus, everybody’s got enough to worry about in their own circle of family and friends in the era of COVID. So, without boring you with the details, I am currently battling an autoimmune disorder. While not life-threatening, it has proven to be life-altering.
I’ll be getting the 2021 version of one of these…just not when/how I had anticipated.
Aside from the health effects, it has forced me to cancel my registration for the New England Crime Bake event in Boston, a writer’s conference I had been especially looking forward to because this is my debut year as a novelist. Being recognized in a roomful of your peers is a bit of a milestone for a debut author and one I’ve looked forward to for years. Although disappointing, I realize that, in the grand scheme of things, this is not an earth-shattering event. Still, I can’t help but feel a little cheated. On the bright side, the committee has already applied my registration fees to next year’s live event and registered me for the virtual version of this year’s Crime Bake. And my Debut Author medal will still make its way to me, and I’ll be recognized at the live event as such…I just won’t be there to enjoy the moment in person.
More upsetting, however, is that it’s increasingly looking like I won’t make my previously announced December 2021 deadline for releasing the second book in the Riley Russell Mystery Series. Part and parcel of the issue I’m having is brain fog due to pain. It’s been difficult to concentrate on most days, impossible on others. My production is probably half of what I consider normal for me. On a positive note: I have been in touch with a lot of fellow writers who’ve released their books “in time for holiday giving” (as I had planned to do) and learned that it doesn’t always pan out. A good number of them have recommended January as a better alternative. They point out that in January people have gift cards to spend, and many folks are looking for good books with which to pass the long winter months. I’ll take that as wise counsel and keep plugging along, hoping that a January 2022 release is something I can achieve.
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