Writing through the Pain…While on Deadline

As you know, here on the blog and generally as I navigate life, I love to speak positivity. It’s my happy place.

The reality is, though, life isn’t always fair, kind or happy.

Sometimes, there are ways we can juggle bad things or tiptoe around them. Sometimes, there’s no other way but to just plow right through the situation.

As I shared in my Facebook Readers’ Group yesterday, I’m in such a season.

Writing during crises and tough events is hard. Writing as a deadline looms is even harder. As a contracted author, I have a book to finish and obligations to meet. I also have an elderly father who has continued to decline rapidly over the last several years.

If this sounds familiar, you may remember Daddy suffered a GI bleed last January—within a few weeks of my debut novel’s release. During the most critical time of my marketing phase. And yes, during that most crucial period when authors must network and maintain visibility to ensure their book’s success.

I blogged, shared, and tweeted. I gathered my support team. I called on my village (because it does take one to raise an author). (Click-to-Tweet)

I made it over the hump…and still, there were events and celebrations I postponed because I was needed elsewhere.

Fast-forward six months. 

About a week ago, Daddy suffered a fall (one of many over the past ten years), and this time, he broke his fibula.

Back to the ER in an ambulance he went.

More X-rays, tests, and time.

More doctors, diagnoses, and varying opinions.

More options to consider and another season to navigate.

And ohh…the mourning.

The mourning.

For what’s changed…and what won’t.

For who Daddy was…and who he is now.

For all the wonderful little things that make Daddy “Daddy.”

You see, Daddy’s health situation is compromised by Alzheimer’s and dementia. Recovery will be long and arduous, if at all.

And so…a new season begins…again.

This very wise, very educated, sharp-minded man is different now.

His world is smaller. His memory, dim.

One of my favorite memories of my father will always be when he held my book—Her Hope Discovered—in his hands for the very first time. I’ll never forget that grin—one of pure delight and great pride.  I captured the moment on video and posted it to my Instagram over the winter.

My biggest cheerleader along this writing path saw my dream, and his, come to fruition.

Still, I am bereft.

Add to that—today is my parents’ 60th wedding anniversary. Let that sink in.

It’s the first time ever that they’ll be apart. Daddy in an interim care facility, and Mama at home, processing an impending life change.

I alternate between my deep well of grief and various other emotions. Because of my former profession, I’m well aware of the five stages of grief and coping mechanisms…however, it’s so true—when a situation or event affects you or your family, your professional training is skewed.

I know all the right things, but knowing and doing are two different animals. When the crisis involves you or your loved ones, emotion clouds rationale and decision-making. (Click-to-Tweet)

For those who’ve experienced something similar, then you understand. We wobble between hope and pain. Healing and heartache. Praying for answers, yet recognizing none may come.

For this see-the-glass-half-full kind of gal, I must admit, I’m battle-worn.

Stretched. Grieved. Broken and in need of repair.

I had a moment yesterday.

Somehow—maybe, because God is God, He knew I needed a word. Something that could speak to me. A fresh perspective from an unlikely source.

As I sat down to grab a quick lunch, I thumbed through a stack of magazines I hadn’t read yet. I selected the latest issue of Romance Writer’s Report, the Romance Writers of America monthly magazine.

I flipped through a few pages, my eyes landing on an article that seemed meant for me— “Dealing with Grief as a Working Author” (pgs. 16-18 of the June 2019 RWR issue) by best-selling, inspirational romance author Belle Calhoune.

Oh, the irony.

I’d had the magazine about ten days, but hadn’t had the opportunity to even open it yet.

For me to land on that specific article at that very moment during my mini-meltdown—what were the chances?

See, that’s the thing.

I don’t believe in happenstance. Since I’m a person of faith, I think God orchestrated the timing of Belle’s article, right down to the exact day I’d need her words of encouragement. (Click-to-Tweet)

In this article, she nails so many important points and offers great tips for authors battling grief. In fact, I even grabbed my orange highlighter and marked favorite passages. Thank you, Belle.

To recap what I shared in my FB reader’s group…

Today, and in the coming weeks, would you please pray peace and clarity of mind over me? Would you also pray that God move in a supernatural way regarding my deadline—that words and thoughts would flow and that my work-in-progress be unbound by events that would hinder it?

Please pray, too, for my daddy and for God to provide answers—whether that be healing or release. Would you pray for my mama as she navigates this season, and for my sister, too, as we attempt to make informed decisions?

Thank you, dear friends.

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SHARING IS CARING

 

Sometimes, there’s no way around it, except to plow right through it. Writing to deadline during life’s tough seasons.

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Crises, writing, and responsibilities. Perseverance and new seasons. How to cope?

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Original Image Credit: ulleo/Pixabay

 

Purchase HERE

 

Have you faced a season of hardship and what-ifs? What did you learn? Any tips or insights you’d care to share?

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Newsletters will be slow to arrive this month, as that’s low on my priority list at this time, but please know I’m thinking of you and praying good things and God-things for each of you.

Much Love and Many Blessings,