Wow! It’s been almost a year since I added or updated anything to this blog! (Told you I wasn’t a blogger!)
During that gap, I’ve re-read and edited three of my four Christian romance novels, started another one (more intense, like Lynnette Eason, Dee Henderson, and Lynn Blackburn’s, all of whose I’ve read), and done scads of research on how best to capture an agent’s attention.
Misty Mansion: My first novel, written 3o years ago, about saving a historic mansion on the Gulf Coast from the nefarious schemes of a greedy developer.
Trust & Forgive: A child kidnapping with a bizarre twist, lots of good, old-fashioned police legwork, and an unexpected romance.
Pirated Plot: Trying to uncover the mystery of how her novel got published under someone else’s name, with parts of it poorly rewritten, by a publisher she’s never heard of, Bernie falls for the Editor-in-Chief of the guilty publishing company, a seemingly honorable man.
Final Flight: The MedAir chopper pilot and ER nurse find themselves the target of a vengeful family member of some patients they couldn’t save during their military careers.
Hoping to access Living Again, based on the diary I would’ve written were I a diary girl (never was!) when my son was born w/a severe cleft lip/palate 33 years ago. I wrote it as a novel when he was about five. The technology is so old, I’m having trouble retrieving it. (That’s the one that got the “medical journal” critique from an editor! See below)
That along with dealing w/various medical issues. Thanks to my cardiac meds, I’m essentially DEAF now! Hearing aids are of little to no help (especially on the phone!). My Cochlear implant, which worked GREAT the first few months (July 2021), quit working, so they’re replacing it day after tomorrow! The insane dizzyness, vertigo, and imbalance, none of which I had before the Cochlear implant, have dramatically limited my activities.
I’m bionic, for those who are interested:
Titanium hip installed due to arthritis (and kneeling to catch for my kids who were pitchers! Don’t laugh at those coaches sitting on buckets! Smart!) I walk like a drunk crippled penguin! (thanks to vestibular issues mentioned above)
Scoliosis aggravates sciatica. Best exercises: lie flat on floor, feet on chair, do various knee bending exercises to stretch nerve. Great! Only problem: can’t lie flat on floor cuz of scoliosis (pillow required); can’t lie flat on floor cuz of CHF (can’t breathe!); can’t get UP off the floor!!! Solution: do the exercises on the floor w/a pillow, then take a nap there and hope I can breath! (Can I take this show on the road? Comic strip live, here I come!)
Pacemaker (AFIB for 5 years: 13 cardioversions; 4 ablations; no RX helped; they finally gave up and put in a pacemaker “to make it all better”! As I told the cardiologist, “You put a very small bandaid on an arterial bleed!” He didn’t appreciate that. He’s convinced he solved the problem and said I’d live another 20 years! (I’m 63.)
Cochlear implant: magnet in skull; implant computer in “pocket” of skin above right ear. Lotsa cool toys go with it, but none work when the device itself doesn’t work! They’re replacing w/a longer, stronger electrode Friday. Nobody will admit “catastrophic failure,” but what else do you call it when it just QUITS WORKING!!!?
Explanation of the vestibular issues (which none of the exercises to retrain the brain seem to help!). Testing showed that NONE of the brain’s normal balance functions are working! That’s hard to believe, since that would basically render me a JELLYFISH!! My EENT did show me my brain CT: at the base of the cerebellum are two pockets of Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF) that control balance. One of my pockets is EMPTY!!! No wonder I walk like a DRUNK CRIPPLED PENGUIN!!! I’ve asked if they can refill it. Waiting on response, but probly not. No clue when that happened. I’ve never been the most coordinated person on the planet, but the SEVERE IMBALANCE only started w/Cochlear. Wonder if previous CT’s (pre-Cochlear) show the same problem. Hmmmm. Time to investigate! So this explains why I am, officially, an “empty-headed, dizzy blonde”!
I’ve been accused of including too much medical information in my writing, and even advised to write for a medical journal/magazine (laughed hysterically over that one!). When you have 3 kids with craniofacial issues (mostly cleft lip/palate) and their surgeon is world-renowned craniofacial surgeon who separated the Egyptian twins 20 years ago (Dr. Ken Salyer), and you’ve been a Paramedic for 10 years, your world naturally includes lots of medical info! Kinda funny, since the only science I’m NOT certified to teach is Biology!
Starting the New Year with a new Cochlear. Hoping for some SERIOUS IMPROVEMENT! I’ll keep you posted!
Wynne Loveless Writes 