For my few readers who come by to see what I may have posted lately, I’m sorry to have been disappointingly absent. I have reasons for what divided my time. Some was busyness. Some was being overwhelmed by my task list. Some was just laziness.

But, I do have one big excuse that I think is valid. On February 14 I was in an auto accident. This was my first accident since April 1969 (when I was a junior in high school) and my first as a driver. I don’t count a few fender-benders here and there. A man pulled out in front of me, while a large truck was blocking his view of our lane and my view of him pulling out. My right front hit his left front, with a slight angle.

I wasn’t hurt. My passenger wasn’t hurt—or so it seemed. Burn marks showed up on my right arm and left thumb, and on her stomach. Those were just superficial. Later, I found pain in my shoulder, and went back to the doctor about it. I had injured my shoulder in a fall on the ice five days before. But, it was healing from that. The prior injury was aggravated by the accident.

Simple things were suddenly made hard, such as: closing the car door from inside; rubbing my hands together to wash them; reaching for things; lifting even light things; threading a belt into my pants while wearing them. I could go on.

Typing on a keyboard was, surprisingly, not very much affected. I do need to keep my arms closer to my torso as I type, but I can do that. Holding a book to read hasn’t been a problem. Driving is okay, except for turning the steering wheel. I have to do more of it with my right arm now, and baby my left arm.

When I went back to the doctor, she said the pain I described in my arm is typically caused by neck damage, not shoulder damage. They took x-rays, confirmed nothing was broken, but that my neck has damage. I went on steroids and muscle relaxer. They may have helped some, but not completely. For several nights I couldn’t sleep. I would wake at 2:00 a.m. in bad pain, and have to go out and sleep in my reading chair for a couple of hours. The change from horizontal to vertical back to horizontal seemed to work. Still, I wouldn’t say I was getting good sleep. The last couple of nights have been better.

This has all taken much time. Dealing with doctors and workman’s comp (since we were on company time going on company business). Dealing with insurance companies, which isn’t over yet. Missing work time for accident issues, resulting in things backing up.

But, during this time, I was able to finish the first draft of The Gutter Chronicles – Volume 2. I wrote “the end” on Sunday afternoon. And, I’ve now completed a round of edits and sent the thing off to my beta reader today. I started the editing process before I finished the writing. So, on Sunday and Monday I only had a few more chapters to edit, and was able to get them done and typed. This feels good. Publication is probably a month off.

One other thing that’s big for me: I have learned to use my laptop with the laptop keyboard. For over a year, this laptop has been my main computer, but I use it with a regular keyboard. Of late, however, I’ve been disconnecting the laptop from its docking station and using it as a real laptop. I typed a couple of chapters on it. I’m typing this blog on it. Before this, I would have great difficulty with a laptop keyboard. Now, I’m finding it easier.

So, although I haven’t been faithful in making posts here, my time has, I think, been well-spent.