Sunday Reflection: Writing Again for NaNoWriMo

It's November! Feliz Día de los Muertos! Happy Diabetes Awareness month! And if you're participating, Happy NaNoWriMo! As you've probably guessed by the picture to the left, I am participating this year. It's been a while since I did so, but the words are finally flowing again so I decided why the hell not. I'm hoping to end 2020 with a completed book or two to add to my published page next year.

This year's NaNo offering will be a sequel to Lunchtime Sex, tentatively titled Dinner for Two. I actually already started another book in this series that I thought would be the sequel but I guess it's going to be book three now. We'll see which one gets finished, edited, and covered first. That one will most likely be titled Breakfast in Bed (see the theme there?) All three are part of my Sophisticated Women series, which is an older woman/younger man series of forty-something women getting their groove back and the twenty-something men who help them with that groove. They are erotic romances, and definitely have HEA endings.

Being Hispanic, Día de los Muertos is a holiday I've always been aware of but don't technically celebrate in the traditional way. My mother used to create an altar every year but I never have. My son expressed an interest this year but it was too late to make one. However, this is definitely on the list of to-dos for next year. To anyone who is celebrating with an altar, post pictures! I love to see the creativity that goes into celebrating our loved ones. Mine will probably be mostly about my maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather. I also have two cousins I'd like to honor. Do people include their pets? This year I lost my beloved cat Cheetoh and years ago I lost my dog Baby who was seven years old. I think they both deserve a place on my altar.

November is also Diabetes Awareness month which is important to my family, too. My seventeen-year old son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age seven, and my husband and I have been diagnosed with type 2 in the years since. As a family we strive to do the things necessary to stay healthy and support the efforts of organizations like JDRF. We usually participate in their walk every November. It's going to be virtual this year and I'll admit we did not sign up for the first time since my son's diagnosis. With everything going on in 2020 I just didn't have the mental bandwidth to handle the fundraising efforts required for that endeavor. Though it makes me sad we won't have a sign with his smiling face this year, I knew it was too much to ask of my family, friends, and myself. Here's hoping 2021 will return to normal.

The Face of Diabetes in My Family

I'm usually very careful about what I share publicly that has to do with my family, but one thing I'm not shy about is my daughter's Type 1 Diabetes. I have four beautiful girls who I would do absolutely anything for, so being given the diagnosis that my youngest (then 7) had an auto-immune disease that I couldn't "fix" devastated me. That was in 2011. Now that we've lived with it for over four years, we're kind of getting a handle on things. Kind of. There are still bad days. There are still times when she doesn't feel like pricking her finger again, when she doesn't even want to eat because she'll have to check her blood and take insulin, when she is sick to death of counting carbohydrates.

And who can blame her? All I want for my children is to live a loving, productive, normal life. Or as normal as I can make it for them while they still live in my home. But this is one monster I can't slay, and it kills me to admit that such exists. I pray for the advances we've seen in just the past four years to keep on going at light speed. I don't want her to have to become an adult with type 1. Why? For one thing, there are many other health complications that go along with this disease as a person ages. This isn't the type of diabetes that can be controlled by diet and exercise alone. Her pancreas doesn't produce insulin the way it should, and at this time there's no way to correct that. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The organization I've chosen to support for this journey is the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. When we were first given the diagnosis it was the only one I knew existed. I now know there are others, but JDRF has been so good to us. Every event I attend, which happens at least twice a year, is full of information about the advances in research and ways they are trying to help type 1 diabetics live a more normal life. This foundation has a walk every year, where about 80% of the proceeds go directly to research. From my own personal research, that's a phenomenal number. There are too many non-profits with a lot of overhead who can't claim such a large amount actually goes to where it's intended and desperately needed.

I know there are a lot of very valid charities out there. I know there is a lot of need and we can't possibly fill it all. However, all I'm asking for is $1. If everyone who reads this post pitches in just that much to sponsor our walking team, we'll be that much closer to our $500 goal. What can our one team do? In the past four years since our diagnosis, the artificial pancreas has gone from experimental to a reality. A drug called "smart insulin" was created and will soon be in human clinical trials, along with a procedure called encapsulation that will theoretically allow a T1D live without the disease for up to a year. I want these things to become a reality for my daughter. I don't ever want her to be afraid of intimacy as an adult because her abdomen is bruised from her injection sites. I don't want her to be afraid to eat because of her blood glucose levels. Just like everything else, these advances require funding.

You can help by donation to our team here. Thank you for reading this.

Here I Am!

My wonderful, faithful readers, I owe you an apolgy for being MIA the past few months. I've played a little on FB and Twitter, but not nearly the norm of the past couple of years. 

I've changed jobs twice since July and rearranging my schedule has been a bit hectic. My daughters and I just (this morning) finished the JDRF Walk for a Cure, which has taken up a lot of my time as well. To those of you who donated to our team, THANK YOU! We sincerely appreciate it. I'll probably start planning for next year's walk in late spring so keep it in mind if you'd like to join us.

Next up: NaNo! November 1st marks the beginning of National Novel Writing Month. Me, along with thousands of other masochists, attempt to write a 50,000 word novel within thirty days. It's funny, exhausting, eye-opening, and frustrating all at the same time. You should join in!

Along with NaNo, November marks my return to Allen, TX for Readers n'Ritas. This year one of my all-time favorite authors will be there, Sherrilyn Kenyon! I've had the honor of meeting her twice before but still look forward to seeing her again.

So, as you can see there's never a dull moment in my house. NaNo will also be my return to a regular writing schedule. After all, who needs sleep, right?

Why I'm Walking

Before January 11th of this year, I didn't know diddly squat about Juvenile (Type1) Diabetes. My mom has type 2 diabetes and I always suspected I would eventually be diagnosed with it as well (I was a few months ago), but Type 1 wasn't something I ever gave any thought to. I knew Nick Jonas has it, as well as a slew of other celebrities and a few sports figures. Imagine my surprise when my then seven year old was diagnosed as well.
My daughter Alice Jane has Juvenile Diabetes, and her diagnosis was a real eye-opener. Most moms will do anything to take away their children's aches and pains, but what do you do when you simply can't? The entire family has gotten much better at our eating habits. We ALL know how to read nutrition labels now. And, everyone does their part to ensure Alice takes her medicine every single day.
So, what else can we do? Not much really. There are still an amazing number of unknowns associated with this disease. And that brings me to the point of this blog. This weekend my family will be walking in the JDRF walk to raise funds for Type 1 diabetes research. 
I know right now the economy sucks and extra money doesn't exactly exist. But, can you go one day this week without Starbucks? Can you not buy that e-book until next payday? (Even if it's mine?) All I'm asking for is one single dollar. Our team goal is only $500. I have almost that many Facebook friends and nearly double that followers on Twitter. So, the way I figured it is if everyone pitches in $1, meeting our goal should be no problem. What do you say? I really hope a cure is closer and this step helps.

http://www2.jdrf.org/site/TR/Walk-TX/Chapter-HoustonGulfCoast4644?px=1770228&pg=personal&fr_id=1484