Writing Through The Fear

Today was the annual Faculty Writing Retreat at Queen’s University’s Donald Gordon Centre, where we get to set aside a large block of time for writing. I planned to work on a technical book I’ve been thinking about for a long time, but the opening talk diverted me from that idea to write this blog post. It was all about making more time for writing, any kind of writing, and the most engaging part of the talk was about overcoming a very common cause of procrastination: fear and emotional pain.

Writing Your Character's Greatest Fear

This month I’m doing a series of daily writing exercises as part of K. Tempest Bradford’s online NaNoWriMo skills class. The first was a little tough (thinking through certain fundamental aspects of my characters, including ethnicity, social class, and spirituality), the second tougher (defining the main character’s greatest want), and the third stopped me cold: what is my character’s greatest fear? So like the archetypical scholar-nerd, I decided to do some research.

Heart scan

Last May I had a lot of medical tests in preparation for my radical prostatectomy, and several of them found "anomalies" that need further tests. Yesterday (Sep 10) was a Persantine test - a multi-part scan for heart disease using radioactive dye.

May: the Month of Health Challenges

This is an update on what has happened since my last health status update a month ago. The basics: I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in early March, and had two scans that showed it hadn't spread to either bones or lymph nodes, both of which would have been Bad. May is the month in which a lot of stuff is happening.

Argumentum ad Wikipediam

Easter took place this year on April 1, resulting in several fairly obvious jokes, and as likely happens every year, somone said it's named after a "pagan goddess" (as if there were only one "pagan" religion). A Facebook friend replied that "this is often quoted, but wrong; Bede is the sole source and mistranslated something." Finally, someone quoted the first few likes of a Wikipedia article to shut up the second poster. (I oversimplify). It occurred to me this is a perfect parable for one aspect of what University education is supposed to be doing for people.

Autism Diagnosis at 60

I am autistic. Under DSM IV I'd probably be considered to have Asperger's Syndrome, but I was diagnosed under DSM V at age 60, so I have Autism Spectrum Disorder. I have thought about posting something for several years, but am only getting around to it for this April's Autism Awareness Month.

Health status update

The CT scan showed no sign of spread to the pelvic lymph nodes, but there are a couple of minor things with almost certainly no connection to prostate cancer. Surgery may be a little earlier, May instead of June (yays!), but there's no date set yet.