[GC Insider] – A Rollercoaster Month
Where I share the good, the bad and the ugly of my own creative process
It was lovely to be back in my writing saddle and actually produce an article this month. It’s been a long time (3 months actually).
Whilst it’s great to be back – I’ve hardly done any writing during April.
I deliberately took it easy, either side of Easter, as I gave talks to a couple of Women’s Institute groups about my novel. With my fatigue, it’s all about pacing. I’m very happy standing in front of a crowd and speaking but I haven’t done anything like this since getting ill last summer. Thankfully, I had enough juice in the tank and both talks went well.
The talk was titled – Talking Handbags, Fake Aristocratic Titles and How To Write A Book. It was a romp through the period I laughingly call my mis-spent early 30s where I talked about the actual handbags in my book, Tales of the Countess, and why I started calling myself The Countess of Kennington. (And if you’re curious about any of that, you can read about it here!)
Then I segued into writing tips. It was a lot of fun to do the talks and I have another one lined up in May. And I sold some books, which is always good.
But mainly this month, different aspects of my health blew up. I started taking HRT (hormone therapy) a few months ago, but despite feeling benefits from it, there were also some issues. I ended up having an emergency ultrasound and consultation at the local hospital. Thankfully all was well but there were some scary moments for a while.
I decided to stop taking HRT which then has put me through what feels like a menopause re-enactment. Several years of peri-menopause/menopause symptoms all packed into a few weeks! Things are settling now but it has felt like a rollercoaster.
Finally, my eyes started playing up – every time I put my glasses on to read anything, or sit at the computer, I felt sick. This led to a couple of migraines, which took me out for a few days. I had my eyes tested and the prescription has changed quite dramatically – which was probably the source of the headaches and nausea.
I now have new glasses and last Thursday I was able to tiptoe back to the computer and write about Beethoven composing his greatest work when he was deaf.
It is such a relief to be able to read and write again. After a three month break from Substack, it felt very joyful to be back in the Dashboard and post an article. There have been quite a lot of new features added in that time. I haven’t played with the new Notes feature yet. If you’ve found a great way to use it, do let me know either by leaving a comment or hitting reply to this email.
In this coming week I will resume work on my novel. I only intended to pause it for a few days and a whole month has flown by.
While my health has been challenging, it’s not all bad news. I have started on a series of therapy sessions which calm and re-programme the autonomous nervous system. Apparently, this can get dis-regulated by covid-19 and if you were already pre-disposed to anxiety as I was, this is when the long covid symptoms can set in.
I’ve completed the first part of the process in learning how to calm myself down when I have energy panics and I do daily yoga nidras which have affirmations and other good stuff built into them. I definitely feel a new sense of calm in my body which I haven’t really noticed before. I think I spent many years amped up in fight/flight mode which led to burnout a couple of years ago.
Always feel free to ping me a reply and tell me how you’re getting on with your writing projects. Or leave a comment. And if you have a particular writing challenge or question, do tell me about that too as it might be something I can write an article about.
Plodding gently
Cali x
[GC Insider] – A Rollercoaster Month
Great to hear about your creative path!
That's a lot! As a person who has been through the post-menopause now I'm at the ER with scary symptoms and then had a hysterectomy (all was also well in the end), I can relate to how incredibly stressful that might have been. But ugh, going through an intense rollercoaster again is not fun. And then they eyes!
I hope the therapy is helpful! I've been working with a somatic therapist since November and it is helping! Also qi gong is helping me a lot (5 months now) and my therapist sort of guided me to look into supplements that have helped immensely. I hope your therapist can help you just as much. Lots of love!