Well ... 2023 is now well underway but after the catch up in the last post, unfortunately I have been struggling to think of things to say in this one! As usual, lets try to stick with the four categories from previous and see where that takes us!
Health
The hand is improving, although I have suffered sort of a setback this week. I am back up to around 50% strength which the physio is really happy at my progress. I have also been to see the consultant for the biopsy results, and he has confirmed that it was definitely Dupytrens disease. So good news and bad news. Good news is that it isn't anything life threatening and that he did cut everything out of me that was there. Bad news is that it is a genetic disease, and it can come back at any time, and in either hand. However, now that I am aware of it, he has shown and told me what to watch out for and to get back in touch immediately if it reappears. That way, it is easier for him to operate.
The set back that happened last Wednesday is that the scar tissue suddenly became very painful. Where they operated is where a lot of the nerves are in the hand. As it was a zig zag cut open and peel back, they cut the nerves. The pain is them now knitting back together and latching back onto the muscles and tendons. All good news really, but blinking heck, it hurts!
Football
The slow restart continued for the Foxes, but in the January transfer window, we managed to add three new players into the team. Harry Soutter, an Australian defender who is 6' 6"!! Should help us win more balls in the air! Victor Kristiansen, a young Danish left back who has bags of experience already and or very first Brazilian player, a right winger called Tete. His situation is a bit weird as he is under contract to the Ukrainain team, Shaktar Donetesk, but we have him on loan under the end of the season due to the war with |Russia.
The new faces gave us a fresh impetus and we won back to back games against Aston Villa and Spurs, scoring four in each before a loss away to Man Utd (not surprising really). But we are still handily placed for a top ten finish with a lot of games still to play.
Writing
A Soul Reclaimed continues to make slow progress. Chapter 7 is down on paper, well, on a computer screen anyway, and chapter 8 is underway. We are due to have a writers group meeting on the 3rd of March, and my plan is to definitely get chapter 8 finished and get a good way through chapter 9.
I have set myself a target of 100,000 words for 2023, which works out at 8333 per month so I do need to crack on with it.
I also was gifted entry to the NYC Midnight short story competition by S.J. Gibbs for Christmas. This is a company that I have entered several competitions in the past, without making it out of the first round group stage. However, I have never been in the short story competition before, This one tasked us to write a story of no more than 2500 words in eight days, based on a genre, subject and character. If you read my books, you will know my genres! So, imagine my delight (NOT!) when the draw came though and I was given a ROMANCE story to write, featuring the subject of ENCHANTMENT and a character of A LOBSTERMAN! I am in a group of 28 and only the top 5 get through so I have tried to be a bit different. I am not allowed to share the story until the results are through so I am afraid you will need to wait until April to read "William's Trial."
Reading
Once again, this is very hit and miss. I am trying to read during my lunch at work, but it all depends on how busy my day is. With the amount of time that they have given me off to go to my hospital appointments, I am trying to "make it up" by working part of my lunches. But I am cracking on with Fairy Tale by Stephen King. I am up to page 168 out of 550 ish so around a third of the way through. There is a lot of character and world building going on, and the story really hasn't got going yet. I assume that there will be some type of Fae within the story ... just waiting for them to appear
Well, I'm pleased that I got this done, just in time for my birthday on the 24th ... might be a drunken weekend coming up!
