Are we having fun yet? Absolutely.
Featured Author: Margaret Coel
Margaret is another excellent Colorado mystery author. Her series is set on and around the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. The key characters are Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden and Father John O’Malley. I’m a couple of books behind in reading these novels, but the most recent release is Killing Custer. Night of the White Buffalo is due out in September and is available for pre-order.
From Margaret’s website: She writes in a small study in her home on a hillside in Boulder. The window frames a view of the Rocky Mountains and the almost-always blue sky. A herd of deer are usually grazing just outside, and one summer a couple of years ago, a mountain lion made its home close by. “Every day,”she says, “I drink in the West.”
Featured Book: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
I first read Catch-22 in college, not long after it was published (I’ll make it easy for you–it was 1961 and I was 19). I didn’t get it. Too young and too inexperienced in reading great novels, I think. Unable to grasp the irony behind the bureaucratic rule that was Catch-22 and the cruelty of war.
About ten years ago I gave it another try. And I’m thinking about reading it again soon.
What’s the rule, you ask? Quoting from the book’s blurb on amazon.com: “…a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.”
It’s a little like the Catch-22 of being a writer these days. You’re supposed to be writing the best novels you can write, but you have to do a million things to promote and market each book as it comes out, which means you’re writing faster instead of better….or you’re doing a terrible job of promotion which means your sales will suffer which means your next book might not get published anyway.
Word of the Day: Cortisone
I came home from my visit to the knee surgeon yesterday with a big decision to make about when to get knee replacement surgery….and a knee that felt quite a bit better within minutes of getting a shot of cortisone.
This is the first time I’ve tried it, mostly because I’d convinced myself it was going to be excruciatingly painful. It wasn’t. It won’t cure anything, but if the cortisone works, I might at least be able to postpone the first surgery until after my November book release. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
If you ever had one or more of these injections and want to share good news, I’m all ears. I don’t want to hear anything scary.
Good morning, Pat.
So glad your cortisone helped. I`ve had pain relief from injections, as well.
I`ll keep my fingers crossed you can have your surgery when YOU decide. Very important:)
Maggie
A to Zing at http://www.awordgirl.blogspot.com
Hello, again, Pat! So good to see you again! Yes, I’ve had the cortisone in my back between discs, and it made a lot of difference for quite a while. I decided against elective surgery, because I’ve heard so many horror stories about back surgery – on the other hand, I’ve heard many positive stories about knee surgery. A lot depends upon doing the therapy following the surgery. God’s blessings on you, my friend! Ruby
Dear Patricia,
Thank you for stopping by my blog. It is nice to meet a new blog friend… especially an author. Congrats on your accomplishments.
I had a series of 3 cortisone shots, over a year’s time, in my foot. I got so much better I didn’t ever have to have the surgery. I think it won’t prevent your knee replacement but it will probably postpone it for quite a while. My good friend got both of her knees done this past year. She is so glad that she did. She is doing great now and walking without pain for the first time in years. Good Luck
I first read Catch 22 around the same age as you…but in 1979 ish. I enjoyed it and was also moved and slightly disturbed by it. Saw the movie about 15 years later. Didn’t enjoy it as much. Catch-22 was the first deep novel I recall reading.
Never have done the cortisone thing, but know people who have had good results from it.
Wishing you the same.
Thanks for all the encouraging comments about cortisone shots and knee replacements. I’ll be very happy if I can hold off the surgery until January.
Instead of answering you all individually today, I’ll just follow you back to your blogs.
My mom has had injections in her shoulders and hip and they have worked very well. The best to you. 🙂
Hi human, Patricia,
I love the way you are doing the A to Z. Even though I cannot stand the darned alphabet challenge.
“C” is for “Colorado”.
Encouraging to read that the Cortisone made you feel better. I do hope you can delay your surgery in the meantime.
Penny, the pawsitive host of the Alphabark Challenge, 2014!
Boy, there are a lot of us with things that hurt! I just had a couple of cortisone shots in my big toe on Tuesday. And they hurt like hades. I thought I was done with that after surgery last year, but now we have an issue with scar tissue and are trying to break that up. Ugh.
My mom’s another with new knees (not so new now–10 years ago?) that work WAY better than the old ones did!
Great “C” post Loved the review of the book and was interested in Cortisone, as I have 6 monthly shots in both shoulders . I hope you feel the benefit.
Yvonne.
When I was walking five miles a day I had to have several cortisone shots in the bottom of my foot under the second toe – the shot hurt like hell, but I could walk for several months without pain. It worked, I was amazed!
Good luck!
Like David, I read Catch-22 in college, and saw the movie a few months after. I have never forgotten either. Gruesome, brutal.
We tend to take knees and joints for granted, until something stopped working. My left knee–heading in your direction.
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
Hey, good picks! I also read Catch-22 in college. 🙂
Hey Pat , I love how you are pumping local writers! Catch 22 was a big deal to me, as a war hating hippy!
I had cortisone shots for my back many years ago and they worked til they didn’t and then I had surgery. Knees and backs aren’t designed as well as they might have been. I know lots of folks with new knees and they love em!
Glad the pain is less. My mom underwent total knee replacement surgery six months back on both the knees. She is now much better and walking well.
I love how the meaning of books can change for us, depending on the stage of our life in which we read it. I’ve read GONE WITH THE WIND a few times now, and I always come away with a different perspective.
Good luck with your knees! 🙂
Madeline @ The Shellshank Redemption
Minion, Capt. Alex’s Ninja Minion Army
The 2014 Blogging from A-Z Challenge
I could write a book on knees, Pat. I had a cortisone shot, one of many, many over the years, a few weeks ago. It didn’t really help but the doc said I could put my surgery off until I couldn’t stand the pain anymore. I can take a lot of pain, LOL, so I’ll put it off. Had knee replacement at a very young age, youngest ever done by my doctor, and I jog 3 to 5 miles almost every day.
I hope you will be able to postpone the surgery!
Pat – First, I’m glad you’re in less pain. That’s so important. I’ll be thinking of you as you decide what to do about the surgery.
And thanks for mentioning Margaret Coel. I really do like her Wind River series very much. I’ve always felt she doesn’t get the notice she ought to get.