Laura Hillenbrand and Me
October 28, 2011 by Karey
Filed under Default, Karey's Blog
I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Laura Hillenbrand, who wrote Unbroken and Seabiscuit; yet, I feel like I know her heart. We both have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and we both wrote our books from bed. I did attempt book signings at Costco the summer of 2010, and I sold out my first self-published printing of 2000. But there was a problem: I was unable to function for three days after each signing. In August, just as the book selling season was on the verge of stepping into the best time of the year to sell books, I chose to do something huge: just take care of me. So that’s what I’ve done from then until now.
I June, my doctor ordered that I take a mandatory three month vacation. She diagnosed me with Stage III Final Phase Adrenal Exhaustion, bordering on Addison’s disease (which President Kennedy had. That’s why you see a doctor nearby in many photos. It’s a life threatening illness.) I wanted to sleep in my own bed. I didn’t feel strong enough to travel anyway. So, to avoid making the jump into Addison’s, I was a very good patient. I did Nothing. Nothing. All summer and into September. I slept under the shade of a tree almost all summer. It was great! I put a sign up on the door: Writer at Work. Except I wasn’t writing. I was getting better.
Oh wait, there was that little Adrenal Crisis when I went to the ER on September 11 because I was slipping in and out of consciousness after sleeping for 16 hours. That was after having convulsions and wretching while lying on the floor. (Too much information?)
Other than that, I’ve enjoyed lots of mini adventures from the bench on my back patio under that shade tree the last several months: Watching a family of quail come at the same time morning and evening. So beautiful. Watching the birds at the feeder. Listening to music, and Unbroken, on my iPhone. Feeling the breeze on my skin and getting the best tan I’ve had since high school! Now, I’m ready to see what can happen with Secret Speakers again. I won’t be doing book signings. Author’s visits to classrooms? Maybe. Depends on the day. And I’ll need to tell the teacher that I’m really unreliable, so have a back up plan. But there’s the internet. I figure if I was on the most-viewed profile page of all time on Goodreads and I have 3,000+ friends there, then I can start creeping back to doing promotion from my keyboard. Pray for me. I wrote on another blog to keep a journal of sorts this summer. I just posted from my phone. If you want a peek it’s called Continuous Awakening.
