Apologies if this month’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group post seems ‘off-theme’, but I will get to the point… eventually. First, I must unburden myself.

I was unaware of the fateful significance when I wrote the following words within my October WEP/IWSG Challenger post:

“How much longer have we? We’ve so much to share. Evading death takes a miracle.”

On Sunday October 23^rd, I was rushed to hospital with severe abdominal pains, which had me screaming in agony. The emergency medics were unable to identify the problem beyond suspecting some sort of blockage, from their initial tests – and my constipation for five days.

A nasogastric tube was inserted through my nose, down through my throat, and into my stomach, to remove whatever might be obstructing my intestines.

More pain. More medication.

I was taken to a room on the medical/surgical floor, pending further tests and prior to any surgery. Overnight, gunk was sucked out via the NG tube, and the worst of the pain subsided. A CT scan revealed a section of my upper intestine twisted around itself, but at this stage my doctor (surgeon) and I felt cautious about operating given various factors, not least my age, existing medical conditions – MS and leukemia – and my minimal but positive progress since admission.

By Wednesday, I had finally shit and my abdominal pain was minimal. But worried about a possible surgery still being needed, I had asked my Hospice chaplain to visit. His visit was more a chance to discuss what I still had to finish, than confess to decades of sin.

Publishing at least one more book must be one task to complete.

His prayer encompassed both paths, Heaven and more Time. And hence the miracle unfolded.

A second CT scan showed the twisted gut had cleared. The doctor said my progress had made surgery less necessary, although why the gut had twisted remained unclear. If the blockage reoccurred, then he would have to operate. My choice therefore was to have investigative surgery that day or later, if the blockage returned.

My wife wanted me home, and I agreed.

So, after another night monitoring my recovery, I came home—

–to concentrate on the key tasks… my second chance.

To focus on family and writing… on leaving a loving legacy.

My Snowdonia police procedural will be finished, and my December WEP-IWSG Challenge, titled ‘Swords to Ploughshares’ is being outlined.

Anyway IWSG. Remember, the question is optional!

November 2 question – November is National Novel Writing Month. Have you ever participated? If not, why not?

2019 was my ninth year of doing NaNoWriMo, and my last… so far. My reasoning for stopping and a rundown of my attempts is in this December post: https://rolandclarke.com/2019/12/09/nano-notches/

In 2020, I sketched out an idea for ‘Lost Sheep’, a Snowdonia Shadows novella from a different POV – Sparkle’s maternal grandfather. The retired sheep farmer is a devout Presbyterian, who disapproves of her sexuality. However, I struggled to get beyond the opening scenes due to a mix of NaNoWriMo pressures and the first signs of writing debilitating health issues.

So, I’ve since stuck to the slow-plod writing.

However, I was tempted – for a few hours – to use November to work on ‘Freedom Flight’, the collation/collection of all my Ukraine stories. But that would have been the worst kind of cheating… the kind discussed in that 2019 post.

Strange though, I announced the IWSG Anthology Contest 2019 winners in the same post. And one was ‘Feathered Fire’, my short which began my Ukraine journey.

Slava Ukrayini

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The awesome co-hosts for the November 2 posting of the IWSG are Diedre Knight,Douglas Thomas Greening,Nick Wilford, and Diane Burton!

Finally, don’t forget to visit more active writers via the IWSG site:

Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.