Oh, Yes, That’s Right, I Have News – Hey, Look! A Writer Fellow!

In March, I cheekily posted about some exciting picture book news that I would reveal on this blog SOON. My hope was to drum up a little excitement in The Bloggyverse by not tipping my hand too early. 

I’ll let the post sit for a few weeks, I reasoned, Then I will reveal the Big News. Woo!

My body, however, didn’t agree with this schedule.

On the same week I was gonna reveal The Big News, my neck cinched up in blinding pain. I started shaking uncontrollably. Then my newly-christened artificial ankle decided to stop artificial ankling; in an instant, I wasn’t able to walk anymore.

These symptoms warranted an immediate trip to the hospital, where I learned that I had a bacterial infection in my bloodstream that had designs on a bunch of my body parts.

The doctor’s counterattacks were aggressive—sort of a “destroy the village to save it” type deal. I am so very grateful for their efforts, but being the village in this metaphor really sucked.

I was in the hospital for two weeks. My memories of that time only reveal themselves in a series of foggy, unreliable vignettes:

• I remember taking drugs that made me cripplingly claustrophobic; my trip to the MRI was particularly eventful.
• I remember my orthopedic surgeon stripping my ankle for parts like an inner city abandoned car.
• And I remember the friendly glowing, pulsating cobwebs that jellyfished around the room just out of my curious reach. (Apparently, I hallucinated a lot.)

According to a veterinarian friend of mine. What I had was serious. “If you were a horse,” he told me, “I would’ve put you down.”

Fortunately, I am not a horse. Even more fortunately, my psycho friend is not my doctor.

That brings us to today. I’m still recovering. I can’t walk yet, but I’m getting replacement parts installed in my ankle soon. I still need to take intravenous antibiotics three times a day. And I haven’t slept for more than three consecutive hours since Palm Sunday.

So yes, I’m getting better, but bleah.

Anyhoo…

Here’s the The Big News I promised way back in March: Sarah Gives Thanks, my picture book that’s been out of print for more than six years, is getting a paperback edition.

Woo.

I know, the tone of my announcement is a bit less giddy than it should be, but cut me some slack. Remember, if I was a horse, this post would’ve been an In Memoriam.

I’ll get giddier soon, I promise.

As I continue to recover, I’ll get more info out there about the book and the happy circumstances that helped persuade my publisher, Albert Whitman & Co., to give this title a new lease on life. It’s a good story, and I’ll tell it to you soon.

Jesus, at least I hope so.