NaNo Madness and its Cohorts (by sarah)

I am planning on doing NaNoWriMo again this year - this is National Novel Writing Month - the challenge? To write 50, 000 words in a month - what is being termed a novel but I would consider a novella!

I did this last year and finished with more than 60 K words and met some great people who became my friends :) Local and internationally. Unfortunatly I have already missed the launch parties but hope to be able to get along to a few write-ins (meet ups in coffee shops where you appear with laptops and dare each other to write or alternatively just chat!).

I plan to finish/continue the story I started last year which is slightly cheating but as I view this as my writing goal for the month - I think that's ok. You can follow my progress on Purple Monster - were I keep all my notes, reviews of research material, and raw as I write them chapters of the story! I often bung in the odd writing tip or link to an interesting article. There are a few flash fictions that are based in The Punks universe though at a slightly earlier time period, these can be found on Magenta Monster.

I was going to carry on writing the story all the way through last year but even towards the end of November last year I started having issues with simply not knowing enough about the time period half the novel is set in - ie Tudor England. I have spent alot of time reading history books and I got away with taking over our LoveFilm queue for half the year where I got out all the films and documentories based in the time period I could find. (And yes I know the films are not accurate but sometimes they give you something to go and research!).

As I am also using some alternative tech in the story I have been researching this too - namely optronics and what large scale social computing would be like if centralised and not the internet. Half the story is set in the near future and is basically cyber punk so I have been reading my way through the cyber punk novels we have in the house.

I want to beat last years word count :) But being pregnant and stuff means that this may be tricky - I am however still going to try.

The other challenge I am doing is PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) which I also did last year - this makes a nice counter balance to the Nano for me. And as I have had a great reaction from Jean from stories that came out of this and the picture book writing week - I am definatly doing this again! I am keeping track of all this stuff on Orange Monster if anyone is interested!

I am also doing the rewrite of a novel I hope to submit to the Terry Pratchette Prize so all in all that is a lot of work and I am aware I probably will not get it all done especially with my hands acting up the way they are - but I can but try. And at the end of the day anything I get done is a bonus :)

Of C-sections and Crutches (by sarah)

Good news is I am having a C-Section - perhaps a bizar thing to be happy about but after the labor I had with Jean it is a bit of a relief. The bad news is that it will apparently do nothing for the pelvic problems :( the reason for c-section are that I had a level three tear with Jean as well as the apeaseotomy. I had a few problems from this with this with the stitches and blood lose last time along with part of it not having initially been caught which had to be dealt with months after birth :/

I think I was being a bit dim about that though as I hadn't realised it was normal to bleed so much after labor and things. Anyway so that is why I am having a c-section and then of course there is the fact that I have a low laying placentea and I had gestational diabetes last time. So all this means I am having lots of scans to monitor how big the baby is getting and stuff!

Unfortunatly the seperated pelvis is already becoming so painful it is as the dr put in his notes 'debilitating'. I am back on crutches in the hope that I will be able to still walk about abit - I am not using them in the house but am awear my posture is worse without them :/

The consultant assures me the baby can't fall out even though my ligaments have basically all loosened up for labor - hence mobile pelvis. Sounds like a daft question but the pelvis thing was missed with Jean as I was too sick to be allowed out of bed.

And as I've mentioned previously I am starting to have issues with getting myself out of bed and putting trousers on etc.. whilst standing up is hard.

Oh and I get screened for super bugs!

My nose bleeds are normal and so is blood pressure :) Though when stressed it is spiking which sucks and increases the nose bleed :/

Oxford’s International Women’s Festival Poetry Competition (by sarah)

I'm going to be entering this competition - it's one pound a poem and the theme is women and well being. Deadline is the 5th of November so I thought I'd let you all know about it. I'm entering 5 odd poems covering a range of what is termed 'women's' issues but what I think of as far broader than that. I'm even sending in Charcoal which I wrote after reading an article in the National Geographic about women in the Congo. There is no restriction in the sexes where the competition is concerned (otherwise I would not be entering).

Blocked Drains (by sarah)

The windows have been being repainted and bits being repaired which is nice except the rotting frames are just being hardened and repainted again :/ Which is what was done to them two odd years ago and now I can't open my favourite window anymore (the one I broke before as it was so rotten and Barbara insisted only the broken part be replaced - well she is paying). The frame is so rotten now I risk breaking the glass and stuff :/

Anyway apart from not having been told the guy was coming - I am very happy with getting fresh paint on stuff especially as fixed the bent metal window in the front that was letting a whopping breeze into the house (the one that Barbara had decided to jimmy open whilst we where evacuated to London in 2007 so that the cats could roam the house why we weren't here).

But he did manage to get bits and bobs in our drain outside the kitchen window - this is where all the kitchen sink and stuff drains out of a pipe into a grated hole in the floor. Now I tend to clear this drain every few weeks anyway as it has a tendency to end up with plants growing in it and leaf litter from the garden but obviously this is a bit hard for me at the moment.

Looking at it I thought it looked a little blocked so mentioned it to Al in the hope he'd get it cleared later in the day - I then forgot about it and put the washing machine on. I then get an irate Barbara at the door because we've obviously blocked the drain (probably with baby wipes) and it's all coming up through the manhole cover. Alaric comes to look and starts going on about rods and things and I'm like 'no the drain's just got a bit clogged so the water from the washing machine can't drain.'

We go back inside to find stuff to sort it - Alaric is arguing with me about it needing rods whilst I'm collecting gloves and a black sack. I'd told Barbara we would sort it, hobble back outside to find she's got a crow bar and is about to prize the cover off the manhole - which both her and Al were insisting the water was coming up through. I think I shouted at everybody and went and cleared the grill of a broken bit of paint pot and lots of paint flecks plus some leaves. The water instantly starts draining into the drain :/

I then get told that me and Al are irresponsible as we didn't stop the water and now there was soapy water draining onto some plants on the quay. As Barbara brushed excess water back up the gully bit to go down the drain. I then pointed out it was soap nuts anyway so shouldn't be too harmful and she agreed.

I was so hacked off at both of them. Especially as it wasn't even because I haven't been clearing it as regularly as normal. Alaric said he thought the pipes drained in under the ground :/ so what I was saying hadn't made sense.

The main issue for me was that I then ended up shaking with pain and walking and even getting myself out of bed was a no go for the next few days :( I get so sad that I can see what needs doing and not actually do it.

Food and Dyslexia et al (by sarah)

Food would appear to play a large part in how bad things like Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and ADHA get, or how the symptoms show. It has been suggested that diary plays a large part in this and I have to say that I have personally noticed a coralation with this but I due have food intollerances. These may or may not be connected to the problems however excessive diary does seem to act things up as does general none home cooked food to be honest. Obviously there is the issue I have with food colourings, caffine and sugar combinations - I assume these are part of the ADHD but apart from caffine can find no mention of them.

The other one is that Omega-3 (I think) oil seems to play a huge part too - or at least it's absence. This is interesting as it plays straight into the joint issues and for me at least the pain management stuff. Add in collagen difficiences and the like and I came to a conclusion (this is mine there is no research on this - it's just something I have observed with me!). We basically need fish and shelf-fish type nutrition in our diet to remain healthy - this appears to be true of many people anyway but more so with those with Dyspraxia and stuff.

Of course this would be a situation that is getting worse as modern diets are down to a fraction of the amount of sea food it once had in it - on top of that we are killing the seas and they may not be able to provide for us :( I think you can get the oils from things like flax seeds so there are veggi options though they may take more digesting.

I have noticed it is not just me with these conditions and either the chronic pain nor the food intollerences - they crop up in combinations startingly frequently on the forums and help sites I've seen - people asking are their intollerences/allergies part of the condition etc...

This is something I really feel would benieft from some more research done on it :)