Brain Injury: the often-hidden, silent impairment no one understands. The struggles which confront a survivor, or victim, are ongoing. I say ‘victim,’ but not really. Usually, this sub-group appreciates life differently than a normal person. I know ‘normal’ may be a relative term, but it is much different than abnormal. No longer having a brain – the body’s control-center – that functions as it should. Granted, everyone has challenges and obstacles to be overcome in life; but for them, their challenges are unique. Generally, they can be overcome, should life not have dealt them too severe a blow. Some brain-impaired, or should I say, a select few, can thrive in their new lot in life. With the help of loved ones, the gracious hand of God, and the utilization of IEP’s, many can return to school. They can thrive in their new body and altered personality. Quite often, they may have some sense, or memory, of what life was like prior to the accident, or injury. Sometimes it hurts when they recall being normal. Not many, save close family members, can know what they were like prior to the impairment.

I have a good idea where my next book is going as I begin to put it together. Though, I would pose a question at this point in my research. Are there specific topics, or questions, my audience would like to be discussed? Just wondering. I’m only a few months in and anticipating this taking five to ten years, at least, to put together. That’s all for now.

Well, time just does not slow down. As I’ve said, I have several writing projects going on at once:

1. I have come a long way working on a mitochondrial disease memoir. Involuntarily, it has been put on the back burner. I’ve probably gotten the most done and researched to this point, or written, on that one. For one reason or another, perhaps busyness, the mother of the victim and I have not been able to connect lately. I hope her son is doing okay.

2. The one that I’ve gotten the next most completed on is an exercise devotional. It originally began an edit job, but I have had to rewrite major portions, make chapter and section divisions, and so forth. I am still waiting to bounce my ideas and the manuscript off the lady I’m working for. Its development and research would put it in third place, but until lately, it engrossed most of my time.

3. The “sequel” of sorts to “Till Death Do Us Part,” which is keeping me very busy now, is a narrative along the same lines as my first book. It’s like a sequel, but different content along the same lines:  TBI, shattered memory, and the pitfalls of forgiveness. Playing with multiple title ideas, so we’ll see what happens, unless I forget.  lol  Planning to write in the third-person. If not said before, I have a deal already with someone, and it looks like I may be able to publish with my company and logo, LettuceWrite, too.

4. Until the idea of this latest book was developed, I had begun a project on a very unique city in North Carolina. We vacationed there this summer and found a cozy spot to do some writing.

So what next? I’ll proceed diligently with the ‘sequel’ project, which is not an actual sequel, and work on the mitochondrial and exercise books when I can.

To close with an FYI: “Till Death Do Us Part” took nearly four years, and that was with a ton of nights working until 2 and 3 a.m. (before getting up again at 6 or 7) as my deadlines approached. The limited sleep was not a blessing. It’s too bad that authors tend to do their best thinking late at night. So it’s anybody’s guess when my next book(s) will hit the shelves. I also regret not being able to sub-divide my time more to work on these projects at the same time.

One more FYI: the first one is available as an ebook, Barnes&Noble.com, Westbow Press, Amazon.com, kobo, librarything, reddit, etc., and I have plenty of copies available myself, too. On Amazon, there is a see-inside the book feature. If you would happen to read it, please review it for me on Amazon. Feel free to watch the book trailer video: http://youtu.be/LF1yAVKb1UE, or http://ilettucewritebooks.wordpress.com/the-video.

Beginning work on yet another, fourth, writing project. Besides the exercise devotional I’m heavily editing, this storyline may have the most potential. Seems the first project halfway done on Mitochondrial Disease has fizzled out. Hope things are going okay. This new idea would be almost a sequel, or similar idea, to my first book. I’ve been in contact with my publisher and have all but inked out a deal with him.

If My Life Was But a Single Day

“I had this crazy thought. See if you can follow me on this. I’m 53 years old. If I live to be 86 years old (a very real possibility given my genes) then I have 33 years left. At first this sounds like a lot of time, and it is, unless the perspective is changed to but one single day. Like the Mayfly, which lives from maybe a few minutes to only a day or two, and then is gone. What if my life was, but a single day?

Here are my assumptions. Live until 86 years old. If my useable day is 16 hours (24 hours less 8 hours of sleep) and I divide the 86-year life span by 16 useable hours per day then I get a factor of 5.375. That means that each hour of my useable day is equal to 5.375 years of my life. Humm…one hour equals 5.375 years of my life. Wow!

Then, if I take my current age of 53 and divide it by 5.375 it equals 9.86 hours. So if my waking useable hours start at 7:00 am and end at 11 pm (for a 16 hour useable day) then it is 4:52 pm in the afternoon for me, if my life was but a single day. Now I know what the Mayfly must feel. Which means I have 6 hours and 8 minutes left in my day, or in this case…my life.

Apparently in the Old Testament King David had a similar thought.

‘Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before You. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure’ (Psalms 39:4,5 NLT)

This kind of makes one feel very small, especially in the face of eternity. Unless the real lesson here, besides the fact that we all will die (or rather our bodies will), is to decide how we spend the ret of our day. If in reality it was 4:52 pm in the afternoon, how would I spend the last remaining 6 hours and 8 minutes of my life? Would I act like it was any given day? Or would I live it like the last day of my life?

Or, maybe my ‘perfect day?’

If you were designing a day that you would live over and over again for the rest of your life: meaning each day would be exactly the same, what would it look like? Something like the movie Groundhog Day? Each and every day would be the same…your perfect day.

When would you wake up? What would you do when your feet hit the floor? What would you eat for breakfast? Where would you go that day? What would you do? Would you workout? Would you go to work? Would you see friends or family? What would you do after lunch? Take a nap maybe or create some art? Where would you eat dinner? And who with? What time would you go to bed?

The only rule is…this is your perfect day and you would have to live it the same way each and every day for the rest of your life. Would you decide not to design it and just live with whatever comes? I know living every day the same way seems…well boring and pointless. But, what if it wasn’t? What if, it was exciting? You might be thinking, ‘How in the world could I design a day that is the same every day for the rest of my life? How could it be anything other than boring after a year or even the first few months?

The difference between boring and exciting is only one word: perspective. And the deciding perspective is: ‘who have you designed your perfect day for?’ Your own needs, desires, and wants; or the aid, benefit, and wellbeing of others? This one slight adjustment can make all the difference.

If your perfect day is designed to do the exact same thing every day, to help and improve the lives of others ever so slightly, then how could that possibly be boring?

Here is my hallucination: you really do not want to live a boring day in your life, much less a life of boring days. So get out a sheet of paper and start at 7:00 am in the morning. Design a day that you could live for the rest of your life. A day that when bed time comes at night, you can say to yourself, ‘That was perfect.’

Then with everything with in you…go live it. Oh, yeah!. . . .If you actually do this you will be in the top 3 percent of the world. . . .and one of the most happy and fulfilled people on the planet.”

Alex Anderson

“Health and Wellness Magazine” (August 2014)

Wonderful vacation.  Brought a lot of advertising opportunities for my book, Till Death Do Us Part.  Thankful for all the places we could visit and the terrific people we met and the assortment of activities we were involved in.  The church we attended, Bethel, helped encourage and strengthen us.  Great messages from the pulpit and terrific people.  My family had a wonderful time.  Besides the two books I’ve already begun, the one on Mitochondrial Disease and an exercise devotional, I started another writing project.  Excited about that.  God is so good.

Crazy busy…still working on the social media package (probably not up till fall), book promo, my other two writing projects- besides everything else, that is.

You never know how other people will react to you in different situations. Tonight I had the great pleasure of talking to a lady at a local grocery store. Until probing deeper, we simply spoke casually. I could not believe how congenial “Miss Nancy” was. We happened to briefly exchange stories, synopses, of what was occurring in our worlds. She has lupus. Her sister was thrown from a horse, and is now dealing with a tbi. And, with my head injury, we obviously concluded how appreciative we should be…of everything: our health, our small abilities, the simple things in life. To summarize with my familiar refrain, ‘You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.’ Be thankful for life and life abundantly. Live each day in gratitude.

Wonder how well my book’s doing in Ohio….the few boxes I sent my friend, Ralph Patterson, to sell for me. He let Bluffton University have a few and was going to talk to some bookstores. Still waiting to hear from another friend about an online radio show and a few other gigs. Glad it was well-received at our local Way FM. Cobi Knight talked like he had some show where they could do a segment regarding the book. I’m to talk to my contact today who may get me linked up with the local newspaper. A friend at McDonald’s yesterday gave me some novel ideas. Excited.

April 5, 1-2 p.m., Barnes & Noble, S. Tamiami, Fort Myers

Between glitches in my fb page and resolving three or four other glitches, I tried to wrap up some problems before my press release can be finalized. Seems like it’ll be good. Hopeful for greater exposure, but many have said it takes time.