FRACTURED WRIST

It's been 11 weeks 4 days since the incident that left me with a fractured wrist - a Compound Open Fracture of my left wrist... followed by surgery, a metal plate and 6 screws inside my wrist, stitches for 2 weeks, and a plaster cast  for 6 weeks. Plaster cast and stitches now off. But what I never envisaged, is the total inability to use my hand, fingers, or wrist... flex and bend them, or apply the smallest pressure to them. They feel like so delicate, wooden and weak....

Hence the absence of blog posts since May.

May was set to be a busy month anyway, since it was 3 weeks away from celebrating my biggest birthday so far .... Ok, a bit obvious! But it was a significant birthday with an 0 at the end...and a big party celebration planned... 150 guests invited.

Since then, May 16th, life has changed.

Taking either of my hands for granted in future is never going to happen! I am still unable to dress myself completely on my own (bra's can be a challenge!), or eat with a knife and fork. That means, I either pick up my food with fingers, or choose food that can be scooped up with only a fork. Eating out in company can be difficult. I am still wearing elasticated trousers, as I am unable to pull a zip together to do it up. These are 3 of the myriad of things I am unable to do.

How did it happen? You might well ask! I was assaulted by a neighbour ... pushed over flying, ended up flat on my back, cracked my head on the brick drive. Why? Because I told him that his dog had killed one of our chickens. And, it regularly comes in our garden, front and back. He went mad.... ballistic...like a dangerous animal....by the way, both he and his wife are retired police.

...And I thought I lived in a nice neighbourhood! Now I am scared to leave my house and walk on foot anywhere.

I'm not able to drive still, as I cannot grip the steering wheel, change gears, or pull up the handbrake with my left hand. So unless I get taken somewhere, I am housebound. In the countryside, buses are few to non existent, and the walk to the train station is too far.

Anyway, thank goodness it is my left hand, not my right. Yes, I am right handed, so I have been doing Facebook.... but touch typing has not been an option.

Progress is slow, tedious, and very painful, as I have also got damage to the nerves, causing Chronic, Regional Pain Syndrome. Since May 16th, I have taken over 1,000 pain tablets, which causes me some concern. I am very unhappy about the long term effect on my organs.

On the plus side, painful as it still is, with the help of the strong painkillers, I am writing this post...but must stop now, as I am in too much pain.

Although I have been unable to do any new writing, I have been doing the 4th edit on my novel
The Last Year of Childhood, slowly, between eating and sleeping 3 or 4 times a day. Yes, I get tired and sleepy a lot.

I pray for quicker progress, although I am thankful that it wasn't my scull that was fractured, or worse...

See you next time.

Marilyn x

The Last Year of Childhood - Extract 2

Novel set in 1917, Granville Village, Trinidad.

Latchmin is twelve years old, and dying of typhoid. There are crowds around her bed.


Extract 2

Everyone may not have had a chance to say their piece, but Bassandaye stood in front them and put her arms up and out to stop them. She turned to the bed where Latchmin lay still as a chicken with its neck broken. She called out, quiet and courageous, her hands clasped.

'Latchmin, baitee. You hearing me? Come! Come home.' Bassandaye reached out and touched her daughter's bony forehead, and ran the flat of her palm over the child's face and the bulge of her closed eyes.

'She not dead.' A voice spoke from the doorway. Pundit Lall had heard from the gossip in the village. He knew the family well and hurried to the house as fast as he could. Pushing them aside, he made his way to the bedside and stood next to Bassandaye, looking at the thin body wrapped in the white sheet. 'No,' he said slowly. 'She not dead, even though she looking like it.'

There was a sudden abatement of breath. Her pale skin twitched.

'It happens sometimes.' Someone spoke up before the crying became louder,

'No. She not dead,' the pundit repeated. There followed a chorus of sighs and intake of breath all at once.

Editing, Editing, Editing | Writers & Artists

Editing, Editing, Editing | Writers & Artists

Religion

Just a few thoughts on a subject that is very dear to the hearts of some, but for others, it is the worst word in the universe.

Religion = Controversy. Because man wants to control others, what they think, how they live, and punish them according to their own beliefs.

This mentality is forgetting that we were made with free will, and responsible for our own beliefs.

Religion is important to people who recognise that spirituality is part of the pie-chart of their life.

For those who see red when they hear the word religion, it is important to seperate the word religion from the word God. Both do not necesarily go hand in hand.

Religion is what man has created.

Man is what God has created.

God did not inadverteltly create religion though, because if he did, there would be One religion, not hundreds and thousands. He sent one Son for our redemption, not thousands.

God created man. It could have taken a day, or a million years. Argue about it if you must, but you will never know unless you or I, are fortunate enough to meet with him and ask.

Every religion has a link to some kind of god. There must be a reason for that.

Most people have a link to some religion, there must also be a reason for that.

What are your thoughts? Post me comment.

Re-Writing

As part of the editing process of The Last Year of Childhood, I have decided to rewrite. It started with rewriting Chapter 1, then went on to Chapter 2, and 3 .... Now I am up to Chapter 8. Tedious as it sounds, I think that what is happening, is that I am using the main plot points, and making some changes where I have identified that change needs to be done.

I am also sharpening up the language, using more active verbs, and trying to concentrate on my characters, who they are, and that they have a good impact on the reader. I am mostly not referring to the previous draft. So I am really cutting out a lot of the bits that were not adding to the story.

Part of me is disappointed that I chose to rewrite, because it feels like a longer process than I wanted. But I am really hoping that it would be another learning curve for me, and with some luck, the next draft will be closer to something more ready for publication.

Something that happens while doing this, is that the brain does fresh thinking, and some aspects of the story turn a different corner - which is a better one. I choose not to turn some of those corners though, because it is easy to chase wild geese! In this draft, I have to choose carefully to make sure the whole thing does not go off course.

The Last Year of Childhood is the new title. Because it concentrates on two young girls, aged 11, and 14, who both have the same dilemma, of a marriage arranged for them, against their will. The book is set in 1917, Trinidad.

HONEY, ORANGE AND ALMOND CAKE from Weight Watchers 

This is a really delicious, moist, no-fat, no-flour cake, which is a Weight Watcher's recipe, which I have altered slightly, and thought I should share with you.

Ingredients

- half tsp low fat spread for greasing. You could use any butter or margarine if you don't need the low fat.

- 6 eggs, separated in two different bowls

- 100 g brown caster sugar, or soft brown sugar.

- Grated zest of 2 oranges, and juice of half orange.

- 150 g ground almonds

To decorate

Juice of one and a half oranges, or 20mls orange juice

2 tbl sp  clear honey

1 orange, pealed and cut into thin rounds.

Method

- Preheat oven to gas mark 180C or 160C in a fan oven.

- Line a 20 cm springform cake tin with baking paper, and grease with low fat spread.

- In a bowl, beat together egg yolks, sugar, orange zest and juice of half orange, and almonds

- Whisk egg whites in a separate, clean grease-free bowl for about 2 mins, or until it is stiff and forms peaks.

- Using a metal spoon, spoon in one table spoon of egg white into mixture to loosen it.

- Fold in the remaining egg whites into cake mixture.

- Pour mixture into cake tin, and bake for 35 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean.

- Leave to cool in tin for 20 mins.

To make Topping

- Put the orange juice and honey in a small pan and bring to boil. 

- Stir once, and then without stirring, lower the heat, and leave to simmer for about 6-8 mins, or until reduced and syrupy. 

- Remove cake from tin and use a fork to prick the top all over.

- Spoon three quarter of the syrup of the top of the cake.

- Arrange the oranges on cake and spoon over the remaining syrup.

- Let the syrup soak into the cake for a few minutes, then serve in 10 slices. 

Serve on it's own, or with fromage frais, or clotted cream, or double cream. 

A thought about Editing when it gets tedious

Just a Thought .... about the novel I finished last March - 2012

February 2013 - I have returned to editing my book - The Last Year of Childhood, which I would like to get published soon, preferably by traditional means, or self publishing. I realise that it might take some time, as it might need more editing than I thought. But it took longer to write, and I practically did some of that writing in my own blood.

Why did I leave it for so long? 

I got bored.

I got complacent. I'd done the first draft.

It got tedious.

I got defocussed.

I thought I might like to try something else ...

Poetry!

A short story! Yes, I did get shortlisted by Choc Lit Publishing Competition. So that was worth it.

Social Networking - Face Book, Twitter, Linked in, Authonomy

Socialising for real, and concentrating on other parts of my life.

Editing became too hard to return.

And harder ...the longer I left it.

I felt I was stuck with it ... which way to turn?

How to structure?

Did I have a good first chapter?

Did I have all the right ingredients?

Did I have a compelling characters, especially a Main Character, POV,etc, etc.

Was there a good enough hook?

What about the first 3 chapters ... that I would need them spick and span before sending to an agent? Were they good enough?

Oh dear! I can't remember what I wrote in the middle chapters... ?

I bought some publishing and editing books - two of them.

I read them and marked them up.

I had lots of new ideas, and started editing again.

I stopped editing, and reread the whole 120,000 words (400+ pgs) of my novel.

I got a new notebook and wrote notes on each chapter in different colours as I went along. (colours denoting type of changes to make)

Still it was hard to re-start editing again.

Feb 2013 - I have started to edit again - The Last Year of Childhood.

I have realised that my book was not complete last March, nor will it be complete ....

...NOT UNTIL THE FAT EDITING SINGS! 

LITERALLY! 

.....THE WORDS, SENTENCES, PARAGRAPHS, CHARACTERS, STYLE, GRAMMAR, SPELLING, CHAPTERS, PLOT ..... JUST HAS TO SING IN MELODIC HARMONY ....

....LIKE AN ORCHESTRA.

SCARILY, I HAVE TO BE THE CONDUCTOR OF THAT ORCHESTRA !!! 

SO MUST GET ON! 

Bye for now,
Marilyn xx