Tragic events happen when people (we know who we are) forget to breathe. While working for Phoenix Newspapers I met a really good-looking guy, who was super computer savvy. This handsome and talented man seemed to me to have a steady grip on a happy life. Rumors fly around randomly inside a big corporation and one such piece of gossip said that this guy’s beautiful wife had filed for divorce. I’ll not soon forget the morning I arrived at work to find that this man I thought had the whole world at his feet had committed suicide. Shocking!
A few years later, my 21-year-old niece took a bottle full of anti-depressants while at college! My brother nearly died with grief when she died, and I missed more than a few days of work while trying to face the reality of the tragedy of so young a life cut short.
Since those sobering days, I’ve been very careful to pace myself when I feel like I’m sinking into a well of depression. When life’s stresses start piling up, and I’m pushing too hard or have lost perspective, I STOP TO BREATHE.
Following the release of The Storm Women and the re-release of the other books in the Arrowstar Series, I pushed hard to make myself and the books more visible to the buying public. I set up a Twitter account, started managing an author Facebook page, and many other online venues for selling the series. Buried in “screen-time” sessions, attending book signings, blogging on my own blog page and many others soon overwhelmed me.
When I stopped trying to cover all the bases, I discovered that people continued to follow me on Twitter even though I quit Tweeting on a regular basis. Surprise! I’m sure the books aren’t receiving the visibility they deserve. However, now that I’m rested, I’m once again feeling like communicating, and the landscape no longer looks all uphill. A Train Robber’s Tale has had a very slow start, but each day I’m feeling more and more like tackling it once again.
Recently, I took a driving course to learn to drive our new 40-foot RV. The instructor kept repeating to me, “Slow down. We’re retired. We don’t have to hurry.” Now that’s a mantra I can thoroughly embrace!
Today's Thought:
Truthfully, I'm miserable when I'm not writing.
My husband heard me say that and quipped, "I'm miserable when you're not writing!"
Read On! Write On!
Cheryl
Take a chance, amaze yourself!
We-Tired and Writing - Cheryl Thomas writes fiction about women of the American Southwest.
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