Health issues have been closely tied to my association with books and writing. While there are weeks, months, and even some years when I can hardly write or even read for any length of time, yet when I am able to focus, both reading and writing have proven a great and important escape from my numerous health issues. I have heard that writers have a high incidence of depression. Yet I rather think that people who have chronic depression are more prone to write--they are creating a better, or at least a more interesting world than the one they are living in.

I am paraphrasing, but I believe J.R.R. Tolkien said that for a man living inside a prison, escape is not a bad thing.

I have been something of a book hoarder, a habit I have mostly broken now. I loved to buy books, too many of which I never read, yet to me a book is a chance to have an adventure, to live another life, to have new experiences, and travel to different places. So each book I purchased was not just a book to me, but a piece of "hope", an investment in an enjoyable experience to come. Yet that only works so long as you have room to store all those books. I started running out of room and even filled up my garage, yes, the hoarding of books had to go. And then came ebooks, which thankfully, do not take up anything but digital space.

Finishing a book is a nice feeling. With books you can live more than one life, you can live as many and varied types of lives as you wish. You add to your own life experiences, you feed your imagination, and you exercise your brain when reading.

I find myself even more depressed when my mental fog from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ruins my ability to focus and read. It adds insult to injury, as reading to me is therapeutic, and those times when I am unable to concentrate and read are the very times I need to read most. Occasionally I find myself borderline between being able to concentrate well or not, and then I can do some light reading, or listen to an audio book, though I may miss portions of the story. When I was quite young I took reading for granted, something I don't do now.

My grandmother was a voracious reader. She mostly read romance novels. I thought she had a sixth grade education, but my mother told me my grandmother actually had to stop school after the third grade, and she was self-educated, taught herself to read and write. It astounded me that she could read an entire box of books while I was still on a single novel. She read until she was quite old, and she stayed mentally sharp up until she hit her 90s. I suspect she stayed so sharp mentally because she read so much. So when I can do so, I try to read, not only because I enjoy it, but because I think it helps my overall mental clarity despite my CFS.

My most popular and most important book is: Chronic Illness. I wrote it after living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for many years. Other serious health issues also fed into that book and its ideas and my beliefs as well. A major experience of affliction for me has been the Crohn's Disease that nearly took my life.

I must mention some important non-fiction books that have helped me so much over the years, center-most is the Bible. I have found the Psalms in particular to be comforting in my affliction. The Discourses of Epictetus have been particularly helpful in anchoring my mind and emotions in difficult times. And lately, Simplify by Joshua Becker has helped me to regain perspective and reconnect what is valuable and what is not in my life. So books not only entertain, and help us to escape, they can also transform and shape our lives.

I hope this blog post gives you some idea about who I am as a writer, and how important books are to me. I think my strengths as a writer are two-fold: I can communicate, and I have a good imagination. "Chronic Illness" is written with a focus on communicating with that individual who is suffering, and needs a bit of encouragement, and not just empty promises and unrealistic expectations. "Griffin Island" is a short novel for young adults or anyone in the mood to read a light fantasy. "Nandrin" is a strange animal, my weird little Science Fiction book. It should be considered PG-13 and I hope the main character's off-color words do not offend my Christian friends, but this is an eighteen year old boy who is not overly religious and I felt I needed to be true to his role in the story. My other books are collections of short stories that readers have seemed to enjoy. You will not be seeing a 500 page tome from me. My Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and other health issues prevent that type of focus for writing. My stories and books have been put together over decades, I am not a prolific writer due to my health. And I must credit lots of help from editors, copy-editors, proofreaders, those who formatted, and did cover designs for my ebooks. I am very grateful for lots of help with my books.

My hope is that with my fiction I entertain, and with my non-fiction I encourage. If I have done that my books are a success.

Thank you for taking time to read my blog and for visiting my author page!