This year didn't start out very auspiciously. On January 5th I became very ill and feverish with chest and stomach pain, and by January 9th and 10th, I was too sick to sit up or move. Hero Material had to carry me to the local hospital. The nurses there had initially told him over the phone (he called before taking me there) that the wait time was going to be long, so I girded my loins for hours and hours of waiting. But once they saw me, they immediately rushed me to the back room where they drew some blood samples and started an IV.

As much as I appreciated not having to wait, I couldn't decide if it was something to be happy about. Really.

I sort of recovered by the 13th, but it's not until now that I've felt somewhat normal. In some ways the whole experience was surreal since I'm rarely that sick. Not to mention I had a book coming out (Reunited in Love) on January 9th, so my release day activities were limited to RTing a few things, then getting two bags of IV fluid, and then hoping that I'd be well enough by the end of it that the doctors would allow me to go home.

I promised myself that this year I'll become healthier — eat more veggies and exercise at least two times a week. Of course I haven't been able to hit the gym—nobody there wanted a feverish woman collapsing on a treadmill — and I wasn't in the mood to go outside when I felt dizzy and fatigued at the slightest physical exertion, including sitting in front of my computer for more than a few hours.

BTW — despite all the blood work and X-rays and so on the doctors did, they have no idea what was really wrong with me. I don't know either, and Hero Material's been puzzled by it as well since it's not like I have the flu or something contagious. (Neither he nor The Boy were sick.)

It makes me wonder if it was due to stress — I'm terrible at managing it — and not sleeping well. I've started a few things since late December to better manage both. (I'll talk about them later this week or early next week.) I even quit drinking coffee. Regardless, I'm taking it easy for the rest of the month — and hope and pray that I don't become sick again for the rest of the year, if not longer. I need to stay healthy for my own sake and as well as my family's.

And if anybody has any tips on how to stay healthy, I'd really appreciate it!

It's crazy how 2013 is more than half over. It's crazy…crazy I tell you!

I've been terrible about blogging. Mostly it's due to my being busy with things that required (and drained) a lot of my energy.

Recently, I've been super stressed, and I started taking phosphatidyl serine, which supposedly helps reduce cortisol (a stress hormone). I think it's helping me stay calmer than I would otherwise. It also supposedly boosts brain function, but I haven't noticed anything. However, cognitive benefits were tested on elderly people who had trouble remembering things, and I don't fit the demographic. If you want to try it, you can get a bottle from Amazon. It's not that expensive.

In July, I finished drafting one book (contemporary romance), and I'm working on another book that's tied to it (a novella). I'm hoping to release them all either December 2013 or early in 2014. It's going to depend purely on the editorial schedule and how healthy The Boy is for the rest of the year.

And just for fun — and I haven't done any self-improvement that's mentally stimulating in a while — I've decided to study Photoshop on my own. I have a few books on it, and why the heck not? I only did one unit so far, and I've already learned so much. (BTW – one of the books was written and published by Adobe, which called Photoshop “intuitive.” *snort*)

On the reading front, I just devoured Ilona Andrews's Magic Rises. It's my favorite Kate Daniels novel now. :) Really loved it.

The plan is to finish the novella this month and start revising the novel I wrote in July.

I hope everyone's doing well, and have a great August.

I sometimes read Tim Ferriss's blog because I found his Four Hour Workweek very thought-provoking, and he usually has interesting things to say on various topics.

His latest book is The Four Hour Body, which focuses on relatively small things you can do to improve your fitness, health, sex life and so on. I read only a few pages because it's been hard for me to focus on any topic that requires me to concentrate for a long time, and anything biology or medical-related requires a lot of focus on my part. (I blame my Zompyre Baby for my inability to focus.) But somebody forwarded me an interesting article by Mike Geary that referenced Tim's work. (BTW — Mike is also into fitness and health, and he's been putting out good information for about half a decade now.)

The article (thankfully short and easy to understand! :) ) was quite intriguing. I've been reading and hearing for years that cellphones can damage your brains or whatever. But I've never thought much of it because I don't usually talk on cellphones and I'm too lazy to carry mine around. But then as I was reading the article, it hit me that men don't just keep their cellphones in purses (like women do). They keep their gadgets in their pants pockets!

Per Tim's research, a man carrying a cell phone around in his pocket might be doing himself some permanent damage…damage of a kind that most men really do not want to have happen, if you catch my drift. But it's not just that. It may possibly create problems if he wishes to conceive a child. (Which is a big deal to some women who may want to have babies.) And women themselves may have some problems as well.

Anyway, it's a timely and possibly very serious issue, so I'm linking it here for reference. Take a look if you like.

I'm not sure if you've seen it, but Linda Howard briefly discussed the trouble she's been having with her work due to her health issues on Facebook. I'm not surprised that less than good health can affect one's creativity and productivity and everything else so much. It doesn't even have to be something hormonal. Even something as non-specific as chronic pain can bring on numerous problems and kill productivity.

When little aches here and there let themselves known, I used to just forge ahead until my body went on a massive strike. It did for two months soon after I signed with Agent. It did again last year. After two devastating battles that lasted five months total, I've decided I cannot win against my own body. So these days I try to be kinder to myself, even though it's very hard, especially because I never used to have joint pain. My first instinct is usually to flog myself for being lazy or whiny or something.

So what do I do when I feel achy or fatigued? I allow myself a very short nap and half an hour of stretching. On top of that, I see my physical therapist at least twice a week to keep my joints in working shape. And I eat fresh fruit and vegetables every day. I should exercise more regularly as well, but one thing at a time.

What do you do to keep yourself healthy?