Tag Archives: characters

Feb. 28.

Fatigued

By Liana Gardner | Posted in Musings |
Comments (2)

Yawn! That pretty much sums up this week for me. I’ve been tired every single day. This should have been the week my energy came bouncing back, but instead of bouncing, it hit the floor and played dead. Every day has left me bleary-eyed by 5 PM, and that’s with taking a lunchtime nap during the work day.

I realized a few days ago that I had been so tired I forgot to have my dandelion tea, which is probably why I’m still retaining excess water. I don’t know if it’s the changing weather or just that the chemo is hitting me harder this month … but I do know, I don’t like feeling this tired. I want to crawl into the castle in the picture and sleep for about a month. And at the same time, I want to get things accomplished. Not once in my entire life have I ever accomplished more than dreams and ideas while sleeping. Which by the way, I don’t want to give up the dreams and ideas, they help fuel my writing.

Not to go on and on whining about my tiredness, I have had some bright spots to my week. Even late this afternoon as my energy level was plunging, I figured out a possible solution for something in the day job, so I’ll be ready to tackle it and see whether I can make it a reality on Monday. I’ve been doing some research for my newest story and found out some important information about my main character this week. And, of course, the brightest spot to the week was signing with Italia Gandolfo of Gandolfo Helin Literary Management.

Other than being plum tuckered, I’m doing well. My blood values remain good, and I’m feeling well—except for the fatigue. Yesterday and today have been marginally better energy-wise, but tonight I may just lean back and stare at the ceiling for a while (otherwise known as pre-plotting) 😀 .

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Dec. 13.

Working Through Exhaustion

By Liana Gardner | Posted in Hallelujah |
Comments (2)

My Status: Sweating, but good
Mood: Jubilant

Today was one of those days where the simple act of crawling out of bed was a major triumph. (My apologies in advance for all the bleary-eyed typos that may creep into this post.) I don’t get it. Night before last I had a horrible night of sleep. I was restless, tossed and turned, woke up every half hour to hour, not a good night. You’d expect that I’d be tired, right? Wrong. Yesterday I had energy, got things done for the day job, got a couple things accomplished last night, and when I finally started to yawn, I went to bed. At a reasonable hour. I slept really well last night, but morning came and crawling really is the best description for how I was moving.

You know the feeling… the one where the Mac truck left tire tracks on your back as it drove on through. Not that I was achy, just overwhelmingly tired. If I would have had to drive to work, I don’t think I’d have made it, but when all I have to do is cross the landing, it took me approximately half an hour, but I convinced myself to make the trek.

Day job went the smoothest it has all week, which is not to say smooth, but the past two weeks have been ugly as far as things needing attention. I actually accomplished something new. Not as much as I wanted, but I’ll take accomplishment where I can get it. And the accomplishment is something I’ve been pushing for for several years, so to finally get it implemented was HUGE.

Tim LawrencePhoto: Alptraum

Tim Lawrence
Photo: Alptraum

But when the day job was done, I was drained. Completely wrung out. I was ready for bed at 6 o’clock, but knew better than to give into the urge, and didn’t want to take a nap for the same reason. If I went to bed at 6, I’d be up at 2 or 3 AM staring at the ceiling in the dark. And then my sleep pattern would get all messed up… and it is a delicate little beast, so I don’t like to mess it up more than I can help. There remained the question of what to do with myself for the evening. But then Tim (the guy in the picture is my vision of Katie’s best friend, Tim) showed up and flooded me with a scene. I had to write. I didn’t know whether I’d be putting gibberish on the page or not because I was so bleary-eyed and exhausted I wanted to face-plant on the desk. But I had to trust the instinct driving me.

I am soooooo glad I did. Tim kept talking, I plugged in some Christmas tunes, which were a little at odds with the scene we were going through, but it somehow worked. Funnily enough, the more I wrote, the less tired I became. A little over 1,500 words later, I stopped. The characters were still talking, but I needed to take a moment because one was trying to take the spotlight, and my gut said that was the wrong direction. And I wasn’t ready to work with the next character—who is frankly a pain and I knew I wouldn’t do him justice tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

Poor Tim is having such a rough time, and I’m so proud of him. He usually bottles up his feelings, but this time let me hear them loud and clear. When I realized we had completed a few necessary scenes (and even one unexpected one) I was ready to break into the Hallelujah chorus. This was the most I’ve been able to accomplish word-wise, story-wise since finding out I needed chemo. FINALLY!! I don’t have the words to say how good this feels. I was trying not to despair that I wasn’t writing… but it is probably the most difficult thing for me to battle. I’m missing part of me without the writing.

So tonight, I feel whole. And other than the CLL sweats when it’s 45 degrees, I feel pretty normal, too. And tired, but not the sheer exhaustion that plagued me all day. Good tired. Accomplished tired. Ready for sleep.

Good Night. May your dreams be sweet or if they’re not at least a good plot for a novel.

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Nov. 28.

Being Curly and Blessed

By Liana Gardner | Posted in Good Day |
Comments (7)

My Status: Feeling Good
Mood: Fabulous

BushWomanThis may be a short post (but knowing me, it won’t be 😀 ) A few days ago, I talked about getting my hair chopped off because it has become quite bushy and out of control, and for those who have not yet met me in person, I have a ton of hair. I have been waiting to get it cut because I needed to know whether I was going to add pink to it … and since I won’t be, I decided it could all get cut off and then I’ll grow it out again. This picture doesn’t quite do it justice as far as showing the out-of-controlness that has taken over my head. For once it was behaving, but it does show some of the waves I have in my hair, as well as the fact that I take terrible pictures of myself. Oh, you can also see my puffy eyes—my eyes are small, but they are not that small. Allergies have been trying to take up residence and I am battling them back as best I can. They are NOT welcome here.

 

CurlySueThe picture at the top of this piece speaks to me about the leaves of change. The fall has always been an exciting time of change. And this fall has been no different. The old things fall away to make room for those things new. For me, the cutting of my hair is symbolic of the changes going on. I needed at the very least a trim, but the idea to go short took hold for several reasons. The root of which is that I do like to do different things with my hair, and since it’s not the best idea to color it for awhile, I wanted to do something, and going short gives me a different versatility than when shoulder length or to my waist. And here’s the best thing of all … it’ll grow back if I want it to. My hair is a change I can control (or at least have the illusion of control) when right now so many things in my body are not within my control. AND it was a blast getting it cut. If I can’t have fun with this, then what is the point?

The stylist knew I had a strong wave in my hair, but she was surprised by the amount of curl that came out. She had so much fun playing with it while cutting it. I’ve dealt with it’s stubborn curliness for too many years to be surprised. Wearing it long does help to tame it a bit, so now it’ll have the chance to live life on the wild side. 🙂 And believe it or not, the long hair helped to hide some of the eye puffiness. (I should not be allowed to try taking self-portraits, but I wanted to post the before and after pics)

All in all, it was a good day. I worked this morning and accomplished a few things… always good. Then I had my hair cut and picked up the girls (my dogs, Phoenix and Elsa) from the groomers. Next Denny and I watched REDS 2 and laughed throughout. I have made the sweet potatoes (my contribution to tomorrow’s feast) and my mother arrived safely at her destination despite holiday traffic and suspect weather forecasts.

It is now Thanksgiving … and I have so MUCH to be thankful for, so here goes. I’m Thankful for:

  • My family—I love them so much and they are there for me when I need them. From immediate to extended, I do count on them. And my pups are always there for me (and a part of my family) and when I’m down, they curl up beside me and I feel better.
  • Friends—I have been blessed in the friends I have. I marvel almost every day over the people in my life and how supportive and caring they are. I hope I am as good a friend to them.
  • The writing community—although I count so many of you as friends, I wanted to express my thankfulness for having a community I can reach out to when celebrating the good things, and to help me over the stump when things aren’t going as well. For the most part, I see writers helping writers, and I love that.
  • My Characters—Without them, I wouldn’t be who I am … a little off-center, but they help me tell the stories that will have an impact.
  • My day job—I am thankful to have a workplace and work that fulfills me in addition to allowing me to earn a paycheck. It helps me so much, especially right now, to have a job to focus on when I can’t focus on other things.
  • My doctors—They will see me through this bump in the road and help make me stronger on the other side of it.
  • For Chemotherapy—While it may make me feel sick, I am so thankful science has developed drugs that will help my sick body become better. Several years ago this would not have been possible. In fact, several years ago, I wouldn’t have even known I was sick and we wouldn’t know that something needed to be done. I’d just continue to feel unwell and that something was vaguely wrong.
  • For being alive—I have always been thankful for each and every day I’ve been given. Most days are good ones, and as long as I can say that, I will continue to feel blessed.

There are so many more things I’m thankful for, but I simply cannot list them all. I have been blessed by all I have been given and hope that I pass those blessings along to others. That is my goal in life.

HappyThanksgiving

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Nov. 22.

How We Forget

By Liana Gardner | Posted in Musings |
Comments (13)

My Status: Feeling Good
Mood: Content

Last night I was finishing up some work stuff and trying to figure out what my evening would look like, when I smelled a waxy, unscented, burning candle-like smell coming from downstairs. Denny was downstairs puttering around in the kitchen getting ready for work (he worked graveyard last night). Next thing I know, Elsa (my little blonde pup) is upstairs, plumping both paws on my left leg, giving me the full pick me up treatment and panting hard. I told her no and gently pushed her paws aside. She then ran around to my right leg and repeated her performance. I again told her I wasn’t picking her up and asked what was wrong. Usually, she takes my no and curls up at my feet. Not to be denied, she squeezed past my legs onto the small desk shelf and crawled up my legs into my lap.

She was distraught and shaking, so I cuddled her for a few moments and set her down… she crawled into my lap again after running out to the landing to peer down the stairs. I couldn’t figure out what had her so excited and unnerved that she needed to be held.

Until Denny came up the stairs, rack from the toaster over in hand and said, “You know how you always tell me to put a plate under my food …” and showed me how the plastic plate had melted onto the rack. *sigh* He’s right, I have told him once or twice to make sure he puts a plate under whatever he’s heating up … in the microwave.

Why am I telling this story (other than the fact that it is funny and the house didn’t burn down)? It certainly isn’t to make fun of Denny for making a mistake. Or to point out how on the ball Elsa was in trying to alert me to something be wrong down below. The reason I am sharing this story is it so aptly illustrates how Denny is handling the journey with me through cancer and chemotherapy. As I mentioned before this journey is not mine, and mine alone. My health and well-being affects my family and friends, just as theirs affects me. Truthfully, Denny has been having a tougher time of things than I have. Forgetting things (like my 1st chemo appt.), being more tired, making mistakes he would never otherwise make. Like this one.

It’s not like heating things up in the toaster oven is a foreign activity for him. We use the toaster oven on a daily basis … and I mean we and not me. And yes, I recently had to remind him to put something under the food in the microwave—which he also already knows. So why is he so forgetful? Do I think he’s starting to go into early Alzheimer’s territory?

No. I don’t think dementia is setting in. I truly believe he is suffering from worrying too much about how things are going to go with me, and pushing those feelings down instead of talking about the fears. When you suppress so many feelings, and force yourself to be strong, there are negative side effects. He’s suppressing so much right now, he’s close to suppressing everything, so things that you know and take for granted that you know? Gone. One moment you know you need to take your keys to leave in your car… the next, you’re walking out the door without them. Why are you so forgetful? Because your mind is so occupied with keeping those things from you that you’re afraid to deal with or reveal.

I picture his mind much like the picture above. He will have a clear, almost sunny stretch, where lucid thought is easy, and he has his usual firm grasp on the essentials, but then something will trigger a thought about me, and the clouds come rolling in trying to bury the fears by hiding them in the mist. What are his fears? I can only guess. Fear that I will need more care than he feels capable of. Fear of losing me. Fear of my being in pain. In some ways, it is much easier to be the patient. I’ll deal with the hell when it comes, and I won’t be dealing with it alone. But Denny feels like he is alone in what he has to deal with. How can he possibly burden me with his fears? In some respects, he’s right. At the moment, I’d be able to deal with his fears just fine, but depending on how my journey continues, things may reach a point where I wouldn’t be able to help him deal with his fears. (And I’m hoping that won’t happen, and expect that it won’t—so far anyway.) But he’s not alone. And I hope to help him see that. BEFORE the house burns down. 😀

So how am I? Pretty good. Trying to get the sleep disruption under control. Still. Better night last night, but the night before that was pitiful. I have been taking the time not writing to do a little reading. Something I love and need to make more time for. I almost started writing last night. The characters (Tim and Tom) were willing and I had opened up the WIP (Work In Progress), but then I closed it. After getting better pain-wise, my right hand was hurting quite a bit after the full day’s work. The past few days have been a lot of coding work and I have not been wearing my compression glove because it was causing too much pain after removal. Which means I have to take extra care in not wearing out my hands with typing.

I tried to get a hair appointment for tomorrow to get my hair cut off (yes, I’m going short), but my stylist is getting over a cold, so the shearing will happen on Wednesday. Today is better pain wise, but I will also not work tonight for the same reason. By the end of the work day, my nerves in my hand, wrist, and forearm are tingling. Not only that… the tingles are migrating to the left. With the bloating and water retention and the little white cells running around and giving all the other blood cells the pep talk, it would sincerely be nice if my body would allow me a chance to write a little. I think my characters have settled down, and they are starting to talk to me again. But tonight, I will be good, and read.

Tomorrow—I write.

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Nov. 19.

An Evening of Rest

By Liana Gardner | Posted in Meh |
Comments (2)

My Status: Feeling Good
Mood: Cranky

Yesterday I thought I’d try an evening of rest. I’m back to work, albeit from home, knew I wouldn’t be writing, didn’t really want to do anything, so rest seemed like a good idea. Here’s the thing—I don’t rest well. I never have. Even when putting my feet up, kicking back and relaxing, my mind is usually working on something, in one way or another. Sooooo the rest thing … didn’t go all that well. So I tried going to bed early.

The sleep thing wasn’t happening either. *sigh* I’ll be tired, and as soon as my head hits the pillow … it’s not that my mind won’t turn off—my body won’t. Since having the chemo treatments, every time I hop in bed my stomach turns into a bubble factory. Literally. I am manufacturing so much gas, that if I could take what’s inside me, distill it, and convert it into fuel form, Denny and I would never buy another tank of gas. It’s ridiculous. And on top of that, my legs go into hyper-restless gear. It reaches the point where I want to give up and just stay up … forever.

But last night, after tossing and turning and keeping the dogs awake for two hours (or more), I had a brain wave. I haven’t been nauseous, but what if the same home remedies worked… a piece of toast, a few crackers to soak up whatever is burbling around inside me. And for the restless legs, a hot bath. Things like Gas-X were proving woefully inadequate against my bubble factory, so it was worth a try. What do you know? It worked.

In a very short time, I’m going to try the same thing (without the tossing and turning first) and see whether I was simply so exhausted anything would have worked, or whether this is a viable answer. I’ll let you know. Hopefully rest will come easily tonight… I need it.

Today has been a somewhat cranky day. I don’t have them very often, but today, it jumped me from the very start. What caused the crankiness? *shrugs* It could be the trouble getting to sleep. It could be simply what my body is going through and to be expected from time to time. Or it could be the increasingly unbearable silence in my head. My characters still aren’t speaking to me … not in the way they need to. I’m not writing—and this is bad. I need to write, but in order to do so, I need my characters to tell me what needs to go down on the page. Yes, I have an idea, but without them, it is only words, and has no meaning. No heart.

I did see the doc yesterday and all my blood work came back as being on track, and the doc is pleased with how I’m doing. So those are positive things.

If any of my fellow writers see my characters gallivanting about—tell them they are needed at home. Pronto!!

The picture at the top of the post is symbolic of my bubble factory. 🙂

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Nov. 17.

A Bit of the Hair …

By Liana Gardner | Posted in Musings |
Comments (8)

My Status: Feeling Good
Mood: Feeling accomplished – laundry done, beds made—who could ask for more?

For those of you coming along with me on this journey who do not have an understanding of how weird and twisted a writer’s brain can be, this post may sound weird and twisted. I will preface it by stating that for me as a writer, my characters have to live in my head in order to come out on the page as full-fledged people, so my characters talk to me, we have conversations, we argue, and I have, at times, received the full-on silent treatment. What affects me affects my characters, and what affects them affects me.

I haven’t written a lot since finding out I had to have chemo. First because I had to get things taken care of in a short time frame, and second because I’m not getting a lot of cooperation from my gang. I am currently in the process of trying to finish up the 4th book in the Misfit McCabe series, One Way Ticket Home, so I can move on to my next project. This particular book has taken some unexpected twists and turns and I have to tell you, I love what has happened with it. I can’t wait to give everyone a chance to experience it. I knew the girls were all being a bit stand-offish, and we hadn’t had a chance to fully discuss what would be happening with me and what we could all expect—it’s kind of hard to have that conversation when you really don’t know yourself.

I thought maybe working through a scene with the boys was the way to ease into it, but I needed them to fight … and they wouldn’t. They didn’t want to “gross me out” while I was connected to the tubes. Ultimately, I think I will be able to write during the six hour day, if for no other reason than to escape the fact that I am connected to a drip for six hours. But this round it was not to be so.

The boys at least showed up. The girls refused to even come talk to me until after my first treatment. Then Janie came through. Janie is a character from One Way Ticket Home, and I love this character so much, I can’t wait for you to meet her. Here’s how the conversation went.

Me: Hey, Janie.
Janie: *stops dead, eyes widen, hands cover mouth*
Me: What’s wrong?
Janie: You still have hair!

And that’s how I found out Katie had told all the girls I was going to lose my hair. And they were all weirded out by it. I had to tell each one of them that with my particular treatment, hair loss is not common, so it is unlikely that I will lose my hair, but even if I did, it wouldn’t be a big deal for me. I know that hair loss is a big deal for some people (men and women) during the chemotherapy process, and whatever is a big issue for you, is a big issue. I’m the first to say so. I don’t think being upset by hair loss means you’re vain. It is the mourning of loss and the process you have to go through in search of health. Hair loss for me, simply isn’t one of my issues. If it starts coming out, I’ll shave my head, just to be done with it. And then I’m going to have a blast shopping for some outrageous wigs (and if I can swing it, matching eyebrows), and some killer scarves.

KewpieWildIn fact, one of the questions I started debating in the middle of the night (Denny had to start work at 0300, so we had some awake time during the wee hours) was whether I should get my hair trimmed, or cut short. It needs to be cut or I’ll soon be the wild-haired kewpie doll visiting all your nightmares. The hair has reached the bushy, totally out of control stage and has been there for a few weeks driving me crazy. But I didn’t want to have it done until I knew whether I was getting a cut or a cut and having a bit of color put back in. The color will have to wait, so now the big question is trimmed to the shoulders or a really short style. Warning: If you choose really short, you may have to listen to me whine during the growing back out stage.

I understand why the girls were upset by thinking I would lose my hair—for teenage girls (or near teen as in the case of Angela) and in fact, for most people, hair makes a statement about you as a person. They fear being targeted as different outside of their control. I like my hair, I always have, but maybe I feel a bit differently about it because people have wanted to touch it and play with it my entire life. And it annoys me when it gets in my way, so when working I usually have it up and out of the way. I once cut it all off because I realized it was taking me over half an hour on a daily basis just to tame it.

Or maybe hair loss as something not so big sunk in when I took a modeling course at the age of thirteen, and my instructor had recently grown back her hair, and freely discussed not letting the loss of a few strands of hair slow her down. She was gorgeous, and if she wasn’t bothered by it, then why should I worry? And I really do plan to buy wigs, should I lose my hair—hot pink, bright purple, and rainbow … because I can. Because it will be fun. Because it will give me a chance to talk about it. And because if I do lose the hair, it will grow back … and if it doesn’t? *shrugs* I still say not a big deal. I can live a long time without hair.

So the girls are doing a bit better knowing the hair loss thing is not likely, and even though they are not as comfortable with it as I am, they will be okay if it does happen. But they still haven’t been quite ready to work. No one seems to want to upset me at the moment. *rolls eyes* I’m trying to get across to them, life doesn’t stop for this. Life continues on.

My social media circles are a testament to the circle of life. Right now in my stream I have a grandmother happily posting pictures of her brand-new grand-baby, a friend is preparing for youngest son’s wedding in 5 days, another friend is on her way home because her mother passed away this morning. My stream shares triumphs and despair, sickness and health. This cancer thing is only a part of my life, it is not going to be allowed to consume my life until we get rid of it. There is too much life going on, and if I stopped everything, I’d miss it.

Now all I have to do is convince my characters.

The picture at the top of the post is perfect for talking about my characters—a castle growing out of a cliff and reaching toward the clouds. So very much a part of being a writer. And all this discussion of hair makes me think Hair, so have posted the song below:

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