My Blog Stop for Today 4/27/07

....is in Big Sky Country -- Montana. I am visiting with Barbara Williamson-Wood, about my book, Once a Brat, the story of my world-wide travels with my army officer father immediately after WWII.

Babs is a member of our online yahoo writers group, The Writer's Life, and she is a prolific contributor to our group and a published writer, herself.

After you read her post about my book at http://360.yahoo.com/lakotahwriter/
read the rest of her blogs and follow the links to her book, Inner Trappings.

And when I'm finished visiting with Babs, don't even try to drag me out of Montana!

My Blog Stop for Today 4/26/07

....is at Linda Rucker's blog, http://www.readingrucker.blogspot.com/
where she will be interviewing me about my book, Once a Brat. This is the story of my world-wide travels with my Army officer father from my birth in 1938 to his retirement in 1958. Makes me real old, doesn't it?

But despite the differences in our ages, Linda and I share an affinity for badly-written sci-fi movies, and when we get our heads above water, we want to write a Really Bad Sci-Fi Movie for the Ages, and make a bunch of money parodying those we've already seen.

And Linda can really get us started on a plot, as she has sent me several pages of works in progress, and this gal is GOOD. She has a book out, Dark Ridge, which you can see her links to buy it on her blog, after you've finished reading our chat.

I Have No Business Posting Today

I have a headache. It's supposed to storm with high winds, tornadoes and maybe some hail, and here I am, at the computer, tempting fate. One good lightning strike and my computer could be toast. Yet I press on.
Somebody might need to read my message of encouragement. I saw through my usual Google Alert this morning that others have posted on their blogs about lupus, and I wanted to let them know it's not an automatic death sentence, with proper care and medication, they can live an almost normal life, but I was frustrated no end when I had written a long comment and then encountered a snooty, "You must be a member of this site to post your comments."
Well, hell. How does a blog site expect to draw any kind of traffic with that ugly discrimination? So from now on, I suppose I'll have to check out the bottom line ( do I have to join in order to comment?) before I post.
You can post a comment, here. Anybody is welcome. I enjoy a dialogue, even when people don't agree with me on many subjects.
So now I need to unplug the computer. Lightning is getting too close. Cat has taken refuge under the bed. That's a good clue.....

My Blog Stop for Today 4/23/07

I'm at Jamieson Wolf's blog where he is interviewing me for my book, Once a Brat. But Jamieson has a book coming out very soon, himself, titled The Ghost Mirror, published by eTreasures.

Jamieson is a never ending source of information and encouragement to those of us on The Writer's Life yahoo group. I don't see how he does it all. But go check out my interview for his insightful questions: http://www.jamioesonwolf.blogspot.com/
and after you've read that, and his other postings, go on over to his blog for his book at: www.theghostmirror.blogspot.com/ for a taste of his new book.

Enjoy!
Marilyn

Lupus Support Group

I'm really in a quandry here, folks. I'm co-facilitator of our local (Fort Worth) support group, North Texas Chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America.

And I went to the meeting yesterday, and NOBODY showed up. Despite the fact that during last week, I got two rather frantic calls from relatives of persons who had found out a daughter or sister had just been diagnosed with lupus and they had a whole lot of fear in their voices.

So I explained what little I knew; that is, they have a right to be anxious, but lupus is not the death sentence it used to be, and once a diagnosis has been made, and treatment started, they will get better. I reminded them of the lupus support group meeting on Saturday and they swore on a stack of Bibles they would be there, so yesterday I dragged my sorry ass down to the hospital meeting room, where I waited. And waited. And waited. Meetings start at 11:00 AM and run until about 12:30. So at 11:45, I said, Screw it, and turned out the lights and shut the door.

This is getting to be a habit, folks. We had pretty good attendance for a number of years, but recently, only one or two people have shown up, and now None. We put a reminder on the community calendar in the local newspaper, an email goes out to those members to remind them, and yet.....

I have spoken to the Powers That Be in our Dallas Chapter, and their take is, "Don't worry about it." But I do. I've even thought of changing our meeting place to a cafeteria or some such public place, because parking is a problem at the hospital, and the meeting room is underground, with no windows, so it's kind of gloomy even with lots of fluorescent lights (which we're supposed to avoid, by the way.) I have toyed with the idea of having a speaker, but what would happen if I scheduled some busy doctor for that day and NOBODY showed up?

I realize this is not all my problem to solve, and I need to get some input from our membership. I'll check in with my cofacilitator, who has been sick as a dog recently, so I don't know how much she can help with this. And we need a FREE meeting space, where we can keep our literature under lock and key (due to the damn Privacy Laws, ya know-- how terrible it would be if Somebody Found Out You Attend a Lupus Support Group, for heaven's sake! And I also need to order updated brochures from our Dallas chapter.

Maybe it's time to give up this post to somebody younger, who has more energy to devote to this group than I do. Yesterday I turned 69, and I feel every day of that age right now. I've been battling this damn disease since way before I was diagnosed in 1988, and am currently in remission, thank you God, but I also have diabetes (insulin dependent) CHF and fibromyalgia. And just last week, I had such muscle spasms in my back for at least a week with no pain relief no matter what I did, that I went to my primary care doctor in tears, literally. She prescribed Valium, of all things, and it zonked me for 10 days. But it worked.

So now I'm back to paying attention to this community service, and need some more direction than what I'm getting. Keep in mind this is an all volunteer organization, except for our National headquarters. And I know sometimes some of our members are just too damn sick to attend. But newcomers? Those who begged for information and swore they would be there?

Maybe I reassured them too much. You think?

Anybody who has any ideas, please feel free to comment or email me at rmebrat38@sbcglobal.net and I will sure appreciate anything you have to say.

Today's Virtual Blog stop 4/19/07

I'll be visiting today with Sandy Lender, a phenomenal writer of fantasy, which I could never in a million years, produce anything halfway decent. She will be interviewing me about my book, Once a Brat, and when you've finished reading that blog posting, go read her other postings and be royally entertained.

Sandy is a member of our yahoo writers group, The Writers Life, list mom is Dorothy Thompson. Dorothy has recently set up shop as a publicist, so if you are a struggling writer looking for ways to promote your works, she's the gal for you. Go see her blog at http://www.pumpupyouronlinebookpromotion.blogspot.com/
and sign up with her.
This is not a paid endorsement.

Today's Virtual Blog stop 4/18/07

Okay, no lupus postings today, as I am busy being interviewed on Mike Witherspoon's blog site: http://interviewingauthors.blogspot.com/

He will be quizzing me about my book, Once a Brat, which describes my life as an Army Brat traveling all over the world with my Army officer father right after WWII.

So, go to the blog and read not only his interview with me, but the other postings as well.

My Blog Stop for Today is in Germany!

Woo-hoo! I told you so, that someday my writing would encompass the world, and here I am today in Germany, being interviewed by a fellow Army Brat. We are having coffee and strudel, and sometimes lapsing into German-speak, although she, of course, is much better at it than I am, since it's been 50 years since Frau Platzer drilled us in German grammar.

So if you want to eavesdrop on a couple of Army Brats go to: http://martinamr.blogspot.com/index.html

And when you get ready to leave, please don't try to take me with you. I love the States, but I want to visit a little longer - maybe 10 years?

Guten Tag! (Good Day!)

Virtual Blog Tour Stop for Today 4/16/07

Today, I'm at Dorothy Thompson's publicist blog: http://www.pumpupyouronlinebookpromotion.blogspot.com/
where she interviews me about online book promotion. Like many writers, I'd rather write than get out and beat the bushes trying to advertise my works. It was a hit or miss proposition, to say the least, until I saw that Dorothy, list mom for our yahoo writers group, The Writer's Life, decided to go into the business of promoting books online.

Since that time ( a couple of weeks, actually) she has spiffied up my blogs, my website and arranged a virtual blog tour for my book, Once a Brat. My Google hits have already doubled, and I am being interviewed by other writers who have noticed the "buzz" about my book.

Believe me, this is soooo much easier than dressing up, going to a television studio where the lighting makes you look twenty years older than you are, or doing a booksigning where there is very little profit made, or going to book fairs which also feature guns and knives and the customers' eyes glaze over when they see you are selling books. They're hunters, and they're hunting for guns and ammo.

With Internet publicity handled by Dorothy (my publicist-- how I love saying that!) I can sit in my pajamas at home and reach out to the whole world about my book(s).

As soon as we finish promoting Once a Brat, Dorothy already has plans in place to promote my next novel, The Women of Camp Sobingo, which will be released by Mardi Gras Publications on June 9, 2007. I can hardly wait to see what we'll be doing with this book's promotion!

This is not a paid endorsement, btw. I'm just happy to recommend her to all you writers out there who would love the concentrate more on writing, and leave the publicizing in the hands of a competent publicist: Dorothy Thompson.

Enjoy!

My Aching Back!

I'm floating around today on Valium. Not for any of my lupus symptoms, but because I've had the grandmother of all muscle spasms in my lower back. Don't know what caused it, except maybe two weeks ago, as I was driving in a funeral procession, headlights on, in line with many other cars, some idiot failed to see that we were a funeral procession, and since she had the green light, she shot on out of the intersection. I missed her by mere inches.
That must have been what set me up for the muscle spasms that started about a week later. I finally went to the doctor and told her "Childbirth didn't hurt any worse than this." She asked me to lay down on the exam table and turn toward her. I bawled and squalled, and she handed me a prescription for -- of all things -- Valium.
It will make you sleepy, she said. And she was so right. I do sleep better now, and I can get up and do things in the morning without feeling too dopey, but in the late afternoon, I'm not worth shooting. Wanna sleep, I whine. So I do. My cat doesn't care. In fact, she sleeps with me. Or on me. On the couch with the tv on, something I really wanted to watch, and an hour later I realize I've missed it.
Oh, well. The thing I'm grateful for is that it's not lupus related. You know, after living with this disease for a number of years, you kind of wonder about every little thing being caused by lupus. But you can get a cold, or a stomach ache, or even develop muscle spasms without it being connected to lupus. Or anything else for that matter.
So that's my story for the day. Two more days to go on the Valium and then maybe I'll be coherent. Coherent or not, I'd also like to be rid of the back spasms.

Virtual Blog Tour Stop for Today 4/12/07

Today I will be visiting with Kathy Holmes, author of a recently released book, Real Women Wear Red. She has graciously offered to interview me about my book, Once a Brat, which details my life as an army brat from 1938 to 1958 and how it affected my life.

Kathy's blog will be a joy to read, as it is professionally done and easy to read, so hop on over to http://www.kathyholmes.net/ and enjoy. Leave a comment or two, if you wish. We live for comments!

Today's Virtual Blog stop 4/6/07

Today, I will be visiting Karen McGill, another Canadian in our Writers Life yahoo group. She is at http://www. pdawgsbabe.bravejournal.com/
She will be interviewing me regarding my book, Once a Brat, with some great questions I hadn't been asked before.

So go read her pithy comments; she goes straight to the point and her posts are always informative as well as entertaining.

Thanks, Karen.

Another Post for Today....Vertigo!

I know, two posts in one day! But I just had to blog about this -- this "thing" that is invading my body.

I woke this morning with vertigo -- fortunately, I sat on the edge of the bed before getting up, so the room wouldn't spin and throw me to the ground. Last November, I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and went "splat" right against the wall on the side of my bed....not my intentional route.

I then bounced back to where I grabbed the footboard of my brass bed frame and felt the room spinning around. Geeze, I have to make it to the bathroom, I thought, so I lurched toward the bathroom door -- and collided with a chair, which, unfortunately, was a swivel chair, and it threw me away from the door and onto the floor. All the pictures, various and sundry articles of makeup, clattered to the floor with me. I then crawled to the bathroom and did nature's bidding, at last.
But this alarmed me so much that I next called my brother to please come and check me out to see if I needed to go to the ER. Maybe I'm having a stroke, I added. He came, checked me out as best as he could determine and we agreed that, with my medical history, I probably should go to the ER. He wanted to take me, but I said I would get better care from the paramedics here at home before they carted me away.
So the 911 call was made and soon the paramedics were there, checking my meds, checking me over, and then it was decided to be safe rather than sorry, so they transported me to the ER.

Funny thing....I get car sick easily, and here I am riding in an ambulance, backwards, with vertigo to boot. I avoided throwing up, as I certainly had embarrassed myself enough already by even calling the medics.

And sure enough, once I arrived at the ER at my favorite hospital (I joke that I'm a frequent flyer) the doctor checked me over, looked in my ears and pronounced inner ear fluid.

Boy, did I feel like a dummy. But better to be safe than sorry. I was prescribed medication and my brother took me home.

Everything was fine after that, until this morning. It's BAAAACK.

I have entirely too much on my plate today to have this inconvenience. So I staggered into the kitchen, took my meds and waited for the spinning sensation to leave. Then I went outside to get the morning paper, and hooray! I could bend over and not FALL over!

As I write this, I'm experiencing a bit of vertigo, but ignoring it. We who have lupus are pretty adept at learning to live with these inconveniences. I know the signs of a flare, now, so I am able to beat it down before it gets too bad.
I'm just irritated that now I have this extra "infirmity" laid upon me, and one of the problems I have with this is, what is "normal" for a person my age? Even without lupus?

Is it normal to experience vertigo when you have an allergy ? Dunno. I guess it's normal for me. Some of my friends have had it, too, so they can only give me their experiences with it.

It's bad enough to experience lupus, but when it collides with "normal" old age, I get a little testy. Let it be one or the other, I think, but not both at the same time, please.

Man plans, God laughs.

It could be a lot worse. I'm fortunate to even achieve "old age" status with this damn disease, in the first place. So I shrug it off.

Besides, I have plans for this evening. A friend of mine is here from out of town with her new fiance, and I sure want to meet them for dinner.

And if I have another vertigo attack, at least I'll have people around who can pick me up off the floor......

Virtual Blog Tour Stop for Today

Today, I will be interviewed on Sigrid McDonald's blog:

http://visitdamourroad.blogspot.com/

about my book, Once a Brat.

Sigrid lives and blogs in Canada, so I am calling myself "internationally famous" --

Read, enjoy and leave comments, please!

Today's Virtual Blog stop

Today I am visiting with Marc Curtis on his blog, http://www.militarybrat.com/bratblog.cfm. about our mutual heritage and my book about being an army brat from my birth in 1938 to my father's retirement in 1958.

Yes, I'm old. But that's something unique to myself.....that at the tender age of 8, I received my very own orders from The War Department to join my father in Seoul, Korea, right after WWII. Therein began my years as a global nomad. Something I wouldn't trade for anything.....at least, not now. At the time, I'm sure I felt some sense of alienation when I arrived at a new school, but I didn't know any other way to live. It was only after I was "retired" that I realized other people lived in the same town, in the same house, had relatives around them all their lives....and I hadn't.

But to read more about this lifestyle, go to Marc's blog and read all about it. I am so grateful to Marc for establishing a registry for military brats to find each other -- to reconnect with lost classmates from all over the world.

So, brats, go register! You might not be looking for anybody specifically,but somebody may be looking for you!

Virtual Blog Tour Second Stop and lupus news

I was featured last night on Phil Harris' radio program, All Things that Matter, about my book, Diagnosis: Lupus: The Intimate Journal of a Lupus Patient, which is now archived for your listening enjoyment at: http://www.internetvoicesradio.com

Please leave a comment on my blog or send me an email at rmebrat38@sbcglobal.net -- constructive criticism is encouraged.

With regard to the Virtual Blog Tour Second Stop:

I will be featured today at Nikki Leigh's blog: http://www.inspiredauthor.com/blog_v2/blogs/index.php/home
regarding my book, Once a Brat.

Nikki is a member of the yahoo writers group, thewriterslife, run by Dorothy Thompson.

Enjoy!

Virtual Blog Tour First Stop

I'm pleased to announce that today I will be visiting with Dorothy Thompson on her blog, The Writer's Life for my book, Once a Brat. As one of the first military dependents to be deployed overseas after WWII, I recount my life as an army brat from my birth in 1938 to my father's retirement in 1958.

Stop by her blog at http://www.thewriterslife.blogspot.com/

If you are a writer and need help in promoting your works, Dorothy is the person to go to for your publicity needs.