In 1945, Ray Milland won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Lost Weekend. It was about a guy who loses an entire weekend to booze. I can relate because I definitely lost the summer of 2011. I didn’t lose it to alcohol (though heaven knows I did try), I lost it to pain. Lots and lots of pain.
To briefly recap, I’ve been suffering from a pinched sciatic nerve due to a bulging L5/S1 disc pretty much since the first of the year. (L5/S1 is located in the lower back.) The pain turned acute on Father’s Day weekend. Since then, on the pain scale of 0-10, I’ve consistently ranked 7-9 with spikes to 12. No lie. I’ve had two epidurals; the first one did absolutely no good and the second was considerably more successful. However, my activity level is still greatly diminished with me currently operating at twenty-five percent capacity, if I’m lucky. Thus, after meeting with the neurosurgeon, my first piece of exciting news is that I’ll be having back surgery at the end of the month. How is that exciting? Because I canNOT wait to be pain free and have my life back. My husband, Pat, wholeheartedly agrees with this decision. Maybe that’s because he’s tired of waiting on me hand and foot. *pause* Nah.
The procedure is called mircodiscectomy. The surgeon, a soft-spoken, very balanced guy with a faint, but still yummy Aussie accent, says 90% of the people who have this procedure have no leg pain for up to five years. After five years it’s 70%. The reoccurrence rate of having to have a second surgery is around 15%. It’s totally on me and my stupidity level (what? me stupid?) as to whether or not I’ll fall into that 15%. Please do me the favor of circling September 28th on your calendar and be ready to send positive waves my way.
The second bit of exciting news is that I now belong to a tantalizing new blog called shortstoryseductions.com. We’re a group of erotic romance authors and every month three or four of us will be collectively writing an erotic short. Each writer will be responsible for 250-1,000 words. The fun part will be is seeing how the stories unfold given the varying viewpoints. And the best part is, for our October launch, I get to kick things off with a Halloween-themed story! So please look for future notices and be sure to check us out!
My last piece of exciting news is….drum roll, please….I’ve accepted a contract with Sybarite Seductions to publish several of my erotic short stories. The first story, Fulfilled, will be released on September 27th – the day before my surgery. That’s got to be a good omen, right? For both a successful surgery and a successful launch!
Sybarite Seductions is an up and coming e-press that’s currently specializing in erotic short stories. (20,000 words or less.) Another author in the house is Emma Lai, who’s also pubbed through The Wild Rose Press. The stories will be available through all the usual digital outlets: Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, Smashwords, etc. I’m simply over-the-moon to be a part of the Sybarite family. Though small, the editorial staff is easy to work with and extremely professional. So, if you’ve got a decadent little ditty, but never felt like there was a publishing home for it, check out www.sybariteseductions.com.
That’s all I got for now. Hope y’all have a stellar autumn season. I’ll plan to be back blogging on a regular basis once my surgery is done. Until then, drop me a line. lynda@lyndabailey.net.
L.
