So, I haven\u2019t really been posting much. Part of it is because I managed to lock myself out of my WordPress account for a week or so, and I couldn\u2019t grab enough time to reset it. (That has been sorted out, and I even managed to update to the latest edition without issue! I\u2019m convinced WordPress is softening me up for something, but hey, I\u2019ll take it.) Another part of it, though, is health issues.
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\nI don\u2019t know if writers are just more sickly than most folks, or if we\u2019re just more open about it. What I know is that since March, I\u2019ve been dealing with hideous migraines that have managed to knock me flat, and since then, my writing has pretty much been hung out to dry. I\u2019ve finished a few things that were in progress, but nothing really huge. All my energy has been funneled into getting through life and trying to figure out what the heck is going wrong with my body.
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\nI\u2019m finally, finally thinking that we might have a handle on what it is. I\u2019m still working through some things with my doctors, specifically my PC, my allergist and my nutritionist, but it looks like what I might be allergic to is food additives. Lovely, huh? Our bodies are genetically very similar to what our ancient ancestors\u2019 were, and mine apparently wants to return back to that simpler time. So, while we wait to see if my insurance company will cover the test that we think will uncover a lot of these intolerances (not allergies, per se, but foods\/substances that my body just can\u2019t handle exposure to), I have gone back to a whole food diet. As in, if I can\u2019t pronounce the ingredients in the list (for a lot of them, if there IS a list), I don\u2019t eat it. No more fast food (I\u2019ve been clean on that since Friday last week, and I can already fit easily into a smaller pair of jeans), and no more artificially-sweetened\/flavored drinks (the same). It\u2019s been a bit of a change, but I\u2019m hopeful that this is going to finally get me into a healthier weight and just a healthier LIFE. And my hubby is enjoying all the real food. I\u2019m also looking forward to an end to the cravings that come sweeping through sometimes \u2013 apparently once you stop eating the foods that your body is intolerant to, the cravings end.
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\nAll I can say is, it\u2019s about damn time. I\u2019m tired. I\u2019m tired of being tired. Of being sick, and yet having NOTHING WRONG. Of having my head pounding and my mouth full of cotton wool, and yet having nothing show up on any tests. I mean, they put straight histamine on my arm as part of my allergy testing, and I didn\u2019t even react. But I know something\u2019s wrong.
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\nDuring the summer, this is easy. There\u2019s so much fresh, local produce that I can glory in it, and I don\u2019t miss it. Now that I know there are issues with preservatives, my canning just became a much larger priority, because anything I can, I know I can eat. So I\u2019ll be getting that cranked up, so I have options this winter. I\u2019m also freezing a bunch of stuff. (Making pesto this weekend, with the tons of garlic scapes I have. NUMMY!) I\u2019ve borrowed a dehydrator from my dad too, and I\u2019ll be drying fruit and things like that as well. The peaches are coming. Winter, well, I have a local co-op and I\u2019ll hopefully have a freezer full of stuff. I need to get filling it.
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\nIt also means that I\u2019m expanding my cooking horizons again. It\u2019s shocking to realize how many sauces\/spice blends\/side dishes that I took for granted have preservatives in them. Even the organic ones. They\u2019re all verboten right now for me.
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\nOn the upside, now that my head is starting to clear, I\u2019m also starting to write again. And edit. I went through a brief funk in which I was reading Elizabeth Bear and despairing of ever, ever being a real writer who could write like that. However, I now realize that I won\u2019t ever write like her. I\u2019m not her. I can admire her stuff, but write it? No. That\u2019s not my style.
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\nSo, writing. I took the first splat draft of the beginning to Advent Murders to my writing group and they cheerfully ripped it apart, which it desperately needed. They pointed out the logical flaws and issues, and I\u2019ve got some good directions to go in. In addition to cleaning my house this weekend, I\u2019ll also be cleaning up everything on Spells and Swashbucklers, and sending that out to the folks who need to finish some things for it before it goes to bed in August. And I\u2019m still noodling on a novella for my Dreams universe.
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\nSo that\u2019s what\u2019s been happening in this corner of the world. I\u2019ve also been gearing up for Pennsic, where I\u2019ll be in August. If you\u2019re going to be at the greatest war on earth, drop me a comment and let me know \u2013 I\u2019m thinking we need a writer\u2019s meet-up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So, I haven\u2019t really been posting much. Part of it is because I managed to lock myself out of my WordPress account for a week or so, and I couldn\u2019t grab enough time to reset it. (That has been sorted out, and I even managed to update to the latest edition without issue! I\u2019m convinced …<\/p>\n