In the writing world, I decided to send my full western novel, RENEGADE, to Carina Press.  What can I say, they called for historical manuscripts on their blog, and one of their editors wanted to find that one author who could “single-handedly bring back the western”.  Naturally, I had to submit. 

Since I’m obsessed with reading and writing westerns these days, I figured it would be stupid of me to ignore that call.  Being one of the premier western authors for Carina would kick ass.  Of course, if they don’t like the book, I’ll send it to Samhain.  I’m thinking even if they reject it, Samhain is an excellent publisher I would be proud to publish this book.

I still haven’t heard back on either of my submissions.  I’m still waiting for word on THE FALL OF JERICHO from Carina and RIDE THE LIGHTNING from Samhain.

On a personal note, I’m feeling a bit down in the tooth lately.  My wrist problems are really worrying me, mostly because this stupid injury keeps getting worse it seems.  I feel like I can’t see that darned hand surgeon soon enough.  What really pisses me off is the fact I didn’t do anything to facilitate it.  I didn’t fall, wasn’t playing sports, didn’t torque anything heavy.  I’m beginning to think I actually tore my TFCC 22 years ago when I broke my wrist as a kid, and all these years later, some random “straw” broke the camel’s proverbial “back”.  For the life of me, I can’t remember my pain levels in the days after I got my cast off as a kid.  I DO remember the hellish pain of tweaking my wrist so they could take the necessary x-rays.  I remember the pain of having to stretch my thumb so it sat a special way in the cast.  I remember the bastard doctor forcing my wrist to bend 90 degrees up and down mere minutes after my cast came off.

I’m freaking out a bit, because I know I’ll need some kind of surgery to solve this problem.  Regardless if I need something minor or major, the fact remains something needs to be done.  I can’t just live like this.  Not with the evolving pain.

Good news is, my elbow is much better, and just feels like a pulled muscle in my upper and lower arm now.  I can fully extend it without a problem.  Wrist though, is still stiff and sore.  Probably because I’m still mostly wearing the brace.  I take it off many times a day to flex a bit, just to get my range of motion back somewhat, but I can’t be without it for long.

What does this mean for my writing?

Good question.  Well, I obviously cannot write for long stretches like I used to.  I can write in short bursts.  Maybe I’ll concentrate on some short stories.  Or perhaps I’ll just take a tad longer to write a full one.  I do know I can edit, add, delete stuff to existing stories without a problem.

Maybe Someone Upstairs knew this injury was coming and that’s why I was inspired to write eight stories last year.

This sucks.  If I can get well within a few months, I’ve still got the rest of the year, right?  RIGHT?!?

SIGH.

~~Becka