From the Kickstarter fundraising campaign for Trajelon: The Way of the Falling Star Book 2, Saturday, May 2nd, 2020:
Hey, friends. How are you doing? Crazy, stressful times, but I hope you’re finding ways to cope.
It’s been completely mad over here, too. After several months of buildup, my medical situation finally exploded into an emergency early in April and now the dust is settling. Not to get too much into it, but I’ve had a full thyroid removal in the middle of a pandemic lockdown, because it was slowly choking me to death, and it turned out after the fact to have been cancer.
Drama!
Also apparently I had (Have? Had? Is it the kind of thing you can ever be rid of, even if you no longer have a thyroid? I’ll have to find out.) Hashimoto’s disease. So, whew! Glad that thing’s out of there.
To head off any concern, that’s that. No further worries or ongoing cancer treatments. For all intents and purposes, as much as anyone can ever say this about any cancer, I’m “cured.” Now it’s just about the recovery and settling into the right dose of the meds I’m going to have to be on in perpetuity, going forward.
While this whole episode obviously sidelined me temporarily, a few things have still been happening on the book and I’m slowly starting to get back to work.
I did manage to get the emails sent out with the short story and Mornnovin eBook download links before I went in for surgery, so if you didn’t already get yours, let me know.
I also spent the last hours of my pre-op time working on a new page at my blog where all of the Asrellion short stories will live permanently behind a give-what-you-think-is-fair paywall. You can find that here. It will continue to be updated as time goes on and more stories are written/added, so consider that a living page and check back often. For the time being, the reward short stories for this fundraiser (“Witness” and “Black Books”) will remain available only to those who backed this project at the relevant reward tiers. Probably until after the book release.
Also – and this was a lovely get-well-present – the first proof copy of Trajelon arrived the day I came home from the hospital. It looks amazing, inside and out. I did submit an updated cover file because the alignment of the spine was a bit off, but other than that it’s perfect. The second proof is in printing as I write this.
Given the current pandemic situation, Kirkus has shifted to a digital-only review model until further notice. Meaning, they’re not accepting physical book submissions at this time. That being the case, there was no reason for me to keep waiting on a perfect proof copy and I went ahead and submitted Trajelon for review. That was incredibly scary to do and felt super legit. There’s obviously no predicting how that will turn out, but a good review from Kirkus would be a big deal for an indie publication. Fingers crossed!
And because I’ve already got the book in to Kirkus and have my estimated review due date in hand, that means I am now in a position to announce a solid release date for Trajelon: The Way of the Falling Star Book 2. This bad boy will hit the market on Tuesday, November 24th, 2020. Backers can expect to receive their copies at least on November 17th if not earlier, mail systems willing.
Luckily, I’ve got some time to work on the other backer rewards. While I am beginning to feel more myself, I discovered this week when I tried to begin work on some of the jewelry that my hands and focus are still a bit shaky. That’s getting better all the time, but it was a reminder that I need to allow myself to keep a reasonable schedule on all of this and not push. I definitely don’t want to put a pen to that lovely parchment I ordered for the maps while I still have shaky hands!
So that’s where we’re at on this first weekend of May. Waiting on the second proof, waiting on Kirkus, waiting on my body to heal. Waiting, waiting, waiting. This is probably a good time to look into other review and publicity options, while I’m not quite ready to do much else and it’s still too early to know whether or not I’ll be able to make launch party plans.
I will also, as my feeble meatsuit allows, begin in the coming days to package up and send off the paperback copies of Mornnovin that are due to backers. Do feel free to message me with any questions about the project or the world of Asrellion in general and avail yourselves of the lovely FAQ. We’re going to get this thing done.
I’ll talk to you all again soon, and please, please: take care of yourselves and stay safe.
Autistic Wordpainter 
WOW. Glad you’re okay.
Thank you! It sure was… a lot. I’m recovering from the emotional whiplash of the whole affair as much as the physical effects.
I can imagine. I know several people who’ve been through thyroid cancer and if you’re like them, you feel very ass over teakettle (and the hormonal shift is non-trivial, even though you were hypothyroidal before). You may want to consider a support group if you have the energy.
A friend of mine who has been through the same thing described it very well: it’s like your whole body is a symphony playing at full blast with no conductor. I described it less well in the hours immediately after I woke up from surgery: like my whole body was just sort of yelling, “Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?”
Hopefully they can calibrate the meds effectively soon!
Oh goodness! I had no idea your health scare was that serious! But it sounds as if everything worked out, so wishing you continued improvement!
Thank you! I was in some serious denial about the severity of the situation for a long time myself. Fingers crossed it’s all uphill from here!
I’m glad you eventually understood the serious nature of the issue. Sometimes it’s hard to make such decisions.
Being completely serious, it was honestly my dog that got me to realize I was in real trouble. He had begun to act so worried around me and was refusing to let me out of his sight even for a minute, even at night when he prefers to sleep on the loveseat downstairs. He was sleeping in bed with his whole fluffy body stretched out along the length of mine all through the night. Wouldn’t budge no matter how overheated we both got. He was so worried, I knew I needed to listen to him. Dogs don’t have any subterfuge in them about this kind of thing.
That is a remarkable story. What a lovely dog. Clever, too. They really have another sense. It’s a good thing, too, that you were sensitive to understand what your dog was telling you! It would be easy to dismiss an animal…
Oh, my! Wishing you speedy recovery. *hug*
Thank you! I do seem to be making more progress toward normalcy every day.
That is very scary! But sounds like you will be feeling much better soon. I’m amazed you were able to focus on the project at all!
Thank you, Sue.
For better or worse, working on the project helped keep my mind of things, especially during the times when there wasn’t anything I could do but wait.