News: *blows off dust*

Whew. It’s been a crazy few weeks.

So, I guess this counts as a personal life update…? I don’t advertise too much on here about that, but I kinda wanted to blog about this, so… Sorry if you came for a review, come back sometime between now and Friday?

For one thing, I’m back in my college town of Norman. I decided I am not a major city person. I’ll travel there for work, sure, but not ideally and I am not living up there again. Nope. So back I went. I’m in a great place, so I think I’ll be staying here until I get enough saved for a real house. I’m a creature of habit, so having my safe place back is nice. (Now just comes the unpacking, lovely…)

On a much more serious note, my health has taken some bad turns the last year. I’ve been diagnosed with PCOS and possible Vitamin D deficiency, which is why my energy levels have been almost non-existent. All of that should be wrapped up this upcoming week or early next, with me on all my lovely new medications and while some will take up to a year for me to see their affects, others should give me an immediate boost. Then things got scary. The doctor has discovered some growths on my thyroid that are large enough to require a biopsy, just to be safe. That’s in a couple weeks, and trust me, I’m scared on multiple levels. It’s more than likely benign and just genetics being…genetics, since my mother has had similar issues recently (and in my brother’s and my words when I told him, I don’t have to do everything Mom does, it just happens!). I’ll try to keep you all updated at least on that score.

I didn’t find out about my PCOS as early as I could have. Really, I could have been diagnosed with this back when I was still in undergrad, and my health wouldn’t have been as badly compromised. (I almost was diagnosed with it back in high school when it first started, but we never followed up on it, soooo….) So I have this public service announcement for my followers.

Girls, find out if you can get a yearly physical via your parents’ health insurance, your own (if you are grown and off on your own), or via a clinic. And actually go. Talk to your doctor about what’s going on with your body, and be honest. Find out what’s considered normal and what’s concerning. This is going to be hard to talk about, especially if you are like me. I get extremely uncomfortable and just want to disappear into the floor, and this is better than it was when I was younger! But even as a teenager, you need to let your voice be heard instead of just letting your parents handle it. It’ll make it that much easier.

Parents, for the love of God, do not jump to bad conclusions about some of these symptoms or pick on them about them, even under the guise of wanting to help. This disease is hard enough, we need support in the form of reassurance that it doesn’t make us ugly or that everyone notices the physical flaws we’ve got. Trust me, I prefer it if the thick hair growth is not commented on if at all possible, even by my mother. I know it’s there, there’s nothing I can do about it, please do not break my mental bubble where I pretend it isn’t that noticeable. Just being there does worlds of good.

There, I’m done. Stepping off the soap box now.

Now, what the goobly gook does this mean for the blog? Well, I have a little alert now on my phone, so if you don’t follow me on twitter, you should. I’m going to start tweeting at least once a day, not sure what about yet… Probably just random thoughts I have on fantasy or scifi genre tropes, writing, RPGs, movies, books, Star Stable…anything I would normally blog about, but is just too small to require a post. Some of these things will no doubt be inspired by Ginny and I both, since we share a brain and rarely go a day without talking for at least an hour or two if not more. I’m still going to aim for a review or post a week, we’ll see what I can pull off until the meds kick in.

As for the book, well, obviously we know why my Act II is being particular difficult. Writing is work and energy, and I’m using up a limited supply too quickly with this deficiency. It doesn’t help that I’ve realized I need to go back and fix the first third or so of it, which makes going forward that much trickier. I thought I’d be able to at least get to my midpoint, but I’m about at the point where I go, “Nope, not working, back track and fix first so the brain will quit stalling.” Finding your own way of writing is always difficult, mine is just being worse because what worked for me as a student isn’t working for me as a professional.

Thanks everyone for being so patient with me through all of this.