Sunday Stroke Survival ~ The Stages of Grief

Wait a minute Jo! I'm not dead, but survived a stroke. I hear you, but a devastating, life altering event such as a stroke has a grief or loss process similar to a death of a loved one. Once again this is an Amy inspired blog. She just blogs so prolifically that's hard not to reference back to her.

I've actually mentioned the stages of grief in various blogs but I don't think I've ever broken it down like this before. I do know that I charged $100 for grief counseling sessions that lasted twelve weeks in my ministry profession. This is a gimme course that is free so take advantage of it.

So over the next five weeks I'm going to explain to you the stages as it pertains to your stroke recovery. I will give real world examples of what I've gone through, coping skills, and exercises for you to do to gain a level of acceptance in conquering each step. After all, knowledge is power and control. It is something we as stroke survivors rarely feel until we work through the process. Understanding is the key. Think you've mastered it all? You've been a survivor for multiple years and this doesn't pertain to you, think again. I've met dozen of survivors still grappling with these after ten or twenty years post stroke. Am I through it all? Yes and no. I'm still bouncing around the steps taking victories where I can.

If it seems like I'm donning my ministerial hat, I am in a way. I'll be paraphrasing this to my pastor's blog as well because it is a whole spirit concept. I've spent years in grief counseling both as a grief stricken person and as a counselor. So needless to say, I recognized it in my own stroke recovery as well.

The Stages

And if you want to carry it farther into seven steps, you can.

Both apply in a case like a stroke. I usually combine Shock and Denial, and Bargaining and Guilt, the Upturn, Reconstruction with Acceptance. So my version is five steps while taking the seven into consideration. Now with death this process takes roughly a year to complete or maybe a little longer. With stroke recovery it may takes years! You may bounce between levels or be on multiple levels at the same time and you may gain acceptance in certain areas faster than others.

Why should stroke survivors care about this? The ultimate of ultimates of recovery is to be...

•  the best you can be given the circumstances
• a more proactive survivor
• aware that this is going on and it's normal. Isn't it nice to be considered normal. <g>
• forewarned is forearmed

Knowledge is power. Foresight is awesome. Being prepared is everything. Tune in next week for the first installment...Shock and Denial.

Nothing is impossible with determination.

Wednesday Writerly Way ~ Knowledge and Research

This is the last day for my take on the topic of knowledge and the writer. So let's jump on board...

It its often stated to write what you know or write what you love. It's true. If you love something you know it. If you read mostly historical romances or are a history buff, you are better suited to write historical romance than say a hard hitting, detective, murder mystery like Mickey Spillane type novel.

So as a reader what do you know and love? For me it's suspense. I've always been an action junkie. I like the twist and turns of roller coaster since infancy. It was my favorite ride ride at the boardwalk at the beach ask my father. "One more time, Daddy." Later as a young adult, I was at Disney World for the opening weekend of Space Mountain. Is it any wonder that I often compare my life to a roller coaster or write suspense with a soul? Not in my mind. I've lived a very high stress, excitement filled life compared to many others so I don't lack for material or emotions to pull from.

So what happens when there are some elements you are not sure of? You are writing what you do not know? I fell into that gray area when penning, Zombie Apocalypse: Redemption.

I knew some things about the CDC and the research studies they do. I knew the medical side because of my background in emergency nursing. I knew about missile conversions and sites for sale because my husband and I had seriously considered buying one. I knew about sustainability from my lifestyle as a prepper and survivalist. Haven't I planned to live off the grid in the near future, yep. What I had meager knowledge of was zombies which were an integral part of my story.

I had to broaden my knowledge base to include zombies. So I did what good writers in the past had done before me...I researched it. You don't have to be a know-it-all to be a writer, but the information has to be accuracy based. Nothing is worse than a reader calling you out on inaccuracies.

One such point in my book is it taking up to three days for the reanimation to take place. There are varying thoughts of

when reanimation into zombie form take place time wise and I stretched it considerably. Some readers took me to task on that point. It was done intentionally. I knew about the commonly held time frame and chose to ignore it. The novel offers a zombie point of view and a slow digression into mindlessness, or brain dead state unlike many other authors' conjecture that reanimation into the undead was brain dead with no consciousness. It was a creative tool rather than a unknown point.

Some readers and movie goers have no other purpose in life than to catch bloopers and typos. While I don't make it a lifelong profession, I do catch quite a few. So get your facts straight before you choose to creatively twist them.

So to recap...

• Write what you know
• Write what you like
• Broaden your knowledge base
• Know before you twist

Do you know or research before you write?
Keep writing and loving the Lord.

Tuesday Tumbling Term ~ Knowledge

As an indie author, you need to know a lot. This leads me to the tumbling term for the indie author...Knowledge.

knowl·edge
noun
1. acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation; general erudition: knowledge of many things.
2. familiarity or conversance, as with a particular subject or branch of learning: A knowledge of accounting was necessary for the job.
3. acquaintance or familiarity gained by sight, experience, or report: a knowledge of human nature.
4. the fact or state of knowing; the perception of fact or truth; clear and certain mental apprehension.
5. awareness, as of a fact or circumstance: He had knowledge of her good fortune. 

A broad and general knowledge base is essential. I often talk about the hats I wear as an indie author, but the truth is, now traditionally published authors are facing the same thing. The online presence being a major change in the publishing industry. I can remember being an author and doing a few interviews, public speaking events, and some book signings but the rest of the time I could just write. That isn't the case anymore. Now both have got to do it all. It's a mad scramble for positioning with more and more indie authors thrown into the mix.


As an author, you have to know...

• how to write effectively
• how to reach and who your audience is
• how to breathe life into your characters
• weave a good story
• grammar and how to edit
• how to attract an audience (little fish in an ever growing pond)
• how to run a business
• basic accounting techniques
• how to write back cover blurbs
• how to maintain an online presence 
• computer literacy
• and the list goes on and on

But then again, you have to learn a bunch of stuff for any job, right. Even a grocery bagger has to learn what goes in the bottom of the bag and what goes on top, right? Maybe I should clarify that...to be a good grocery bagger.

Learning the steps and gaining the knowledge is half the battle.

So what is your knowledge base?

Keep writing and loving the Lord.

Monday Mailbox ~

Today is Monday, and I'm shuffling through all my emails and letters trying to pick which to answer here for a topic for this week. So many good ones to choose from. Decisions, decisions...Ah, here's a good one...

 I've often heard that writers write what they know and what they love or have an interest in, but you write everything from espionage to zombies to nonfiction about being a survivalist. Nobody can have that much that much knowledge. An Avid Fan

My response...
Dear Avid Fan,

Actually I do. I was born with an inquisitive mind and have degrees in a wide variety of subject matters. I love researching, finding out new things, and doing new stuff. That's just the way my mind clicks.

I pull from my own personal, real life experiences to write my novels. It gives my characters a depth that comes from fully understanding the character having walked in their shoes in real life. When I first started writing, I wrote strictly nonfiction because of this knowledge base. But actually when reading for pleasure, it was fiction I chose.

About ten years into my writing career, I thought I'd try my hand at writing fiction...a space opera. It sucked like terribly sour lemons. May that book, all 500 pages, stay hidden in a box under my bed forever. But that didn't deter me. I kept writing fiction as well as nonfiction. Writing fiction was a whole different animal than technical manuals, how tos, and nonfiction. I had to learn a whole 'nother craft. It took me another five years before I attempted another novel. That's an equivalent to a Bachelors degree and then some time wise.

I often say that death is the absence of learning. For me, it's true. I will always consider myself a student but never a master at anything. As far as a variety of topics for my novels go, I could pull from real life material to write a hundred novels or more. I write what I know. If I don't know it, I'll research it. One thing for sure, I will always write suspense to make you keep turning the page to see what happens next.

Keep those cards, letters, and emails coming. Who knows...maybe I'll pick yours to be spotlighted on this blog one day.

I love 'em and always will answer you back.

Keep writing and loving the Lord.