Hi Neglected Blog!  I'm Back!  ^_^

So much has happened over the last few years that it's hard to imagine life will ever stop spinning.  Out of so many life changing events, it's hard to define the "best" one.  However, I can start with the most exciting - well, to me, that is, of course!  I PUBLISHED MY MANUSCRIPT AT LONG LAST!

"The Arrival" - go here or here and buy one!  Go, now!  I'll wait!

(Hums elevator music for 5 minutes.)

Thank you!

Whether you are new to my neglected blog or blue in the face from waiting for the next post, you can easily tell that I am weird.  That's an undeniable fact.  If you search the blog, I have talked and talked incessantly about my book and characters, and the strange turns writing can take.  I've also used this as a platform to talk about my health.  And sometimes, my cat Neko (rest in peace) would take over my keyboard and rant about Jonny Fang Face.  It's really too sad that we can't enjoy Neko's rants any more.  But, I have 6 others and they are quite opinionated.  So maybe we'll all be in for a treat yet.  ^_-

I am not known for writing short posts, be it here or on Facebook.  However, I shall offer a condensed version of happenings:

I was diagnosed (dx'd) with Multiple Sclerosis in 2008 following an ER visit on Friday the 13th.  That seems appropriate.  Many happenings followed.  I had to leave my awesome job in 2014.  I am disabled (and every time I say that, I think of The I.T. Crowd's Roy when he used the disabled toilet...love).  Sometimes my brain just doesn't want to work or communicate with my body.  Some people like to say they walk like a drunk, and that makes me think of Johnny Depp's pirate stagger - but I am nowhere near as elegant and graceful as that.  LOL

2015 was eventful!  I was dx'd with breast cancer and I became a grandmother!  I subsequently beat breast cancer after three surgeries, the last being almost a year ago, and am pushing myself back into the routine of life.  I strive to succeed at least one day a week, but the effect of those surgeries and pain on my MS has made for a slow recovery.  But it is a recovery, and that's important.  My granddaughter turns two soon and is fiercely intelligent, super adorable, and scarily fearless.  This child will be jumping out of planes by the time she is five.  I wish my daughter the best of luck with that.

Time comprehension is difficult for me and I have memory issues, so my health acts as a way point for determining when happenings happened.  Since the last surgery in October 2016, my soul sister passed away unexpectedly, I got really sick and landed my butt in bed for a month, and now I'm here, celebrating my debut novel.  It's not all doom and gloom.  We just tend to focus more on the negative, which I handle the best I can with humor.  So, good things happened - I mean, obviously - I did beat cancer!  And I published my book.  And the sequel is written and has been through extensive edits, so it won't be long to follow.

In addition to finding a semblance of routine in my life through fatigue and the gazillion specialists I see, (you can only LOL - I mean literally, it's the only thing that helps), I shall endeavor to neglect this blog LESS.  I want to share my excitement, my weirdness, my insight into my book and the process, and I want to let my cats rant.  They have to live with me.  I think they've earned it.  But for now, I will close and say thank you for reading this far, and you get, like, . . . 3,000 bonus points if you actually bought my book while I hummed elevator music, because that's just awesome! 

Oh Blog, you are dreadfully neglected.  I never intended to bring your nickname to fruition.  But alas... It has been done.

Neglected Blog.

As I said almost two years ago - in my last post - what goes up...

Goes most dreadfully down, down, down.  (Sigh)

MS is a bitch.  This we know, for it has shown me so.  But I did not see it's hidden dancer and I got hit, diagnosed with cancer.  So things have been tougher than rough.  I've been through quite a lot of stuff.  But I defeated that monster Big C and hoping life's on an upward tick, finally!

I gave my manuscript it's first real dose of attention in more than a year today.  It's been in the hands of a professional editor (an agent who edits on the side) and I researched copy edits and went through to tighten it.  For the longest time, I thought I'd have to give up.  But when I read it and when others read it, it reminds me that it's meant to be told, read, shared.  I read it and can't believe I wrote it.  If not for the fact that I've continued writing - sometimes in the sequels and sometimes new little flash fiction diddies or poems - I'd say I was a different person when I wrote that first story.  But I'm not.  My life has changed but I'm still me.  And that gives me hope that as long as I push forward, I won't give up on finding the one agent who matters most.  The one who says, "yes."

Hmm...

For real??  My last post was almost a YEAR ago?  Wow.  This truly is a neglected blog.

Well it was a rough year, as I'm sure you can guess give my last MRI update.  I was doing well for about a month, and then...well...what goes up...