What’s Been Happening With Me Lately

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Greetings everyone,

I apologize, again, for seemingly taking a sebatical after my previous update. However, that is not the case. I had been ill over many months of 2025, and I had colon surgery November 7, 2025. I am feeling better after that, but it was an emotionally harrowing experience.. I have Specific Antibody Deficiency (Low IgG), more than likely caused by sepsis/post-sepsis Syndrome. So when I had a partial colon resection, I nearly lost my good sense because I was afraid infection might set in. I needed to have it done and I went through so many different emotions thinking I might get an infection. Well, it did not happen and I am so relieved and grateful. And now that the bad part of the colon which caused the sepsis is gone, I feel like I can rest a little easier.

As for the surgery itself, it was done laparascopically and easier to deal with. Including the day of surgery, I spent nearly five days in the hospital, and then came home to rest. I panicked the day after I got home, realizing I had this surgery and no medical personnel nearby. I ended up in the emergency room with symptoms of nothing. I also refused IV fluids and got nuts when I thought they would attach me to a bag. I had had all I could take at that point. It was not solely about the surgery and the hospital stay, but all I had been through, especially with IVIG infusions each month that take like 3-1/2 hours each time, plus so many times in the ED and with hospital admission over the previous 10 years, and HR at my employer is ruthless, heartless and cold. I don’t care if they see this either.

Anyway, upon this ED visit, they just added an IV line (I guess it’s called) so they could add a bag of fluids if I was going to be admitted. But they found ntohing wrong with me. I guess it was nerves and uncertainty. By the time I spent many hours in the ED, I decided to not panic again unless absolutely necessary and it’s also the day I realized that I really did not need a lot of pain meds. Afterwards thought, t6he healing process was hit and miss, and a learning experience: what to eat, what not to eat, runny stuff, constipation, very hungry, not hungry at all, pain, no pain, and where are my friends and family in my time of need? If it were not for my 90 year old mother, I would have been left to suffer alone. I don’t know what I would have done without her for at least the first 2-3 weeks of recovery.

So here I am, reaching February 7th, which will mark three months after the surgery and I am doing okay with only minor complaints. Sometimes I bring stuff on myself by doing too much and forgetting I had surgery, despite it being laparoscopic, and might try to lift something too heavy, or just move in the wrong way and cause a pain or bad feeling. I had to recognize when my body is saying its had enough. I have to remember that I do have a small abdominal incision as well. Plus, I suffer from diastatis recti which is probably hereditary and I have a small pre-existing umbilical hernia. So I have to remember to be careful.

I have not been able to get back to the health center for my Zumba class or the track, mostly because I did not feel ready, and with it being cold and flu season, I did not always feel safe due my immune deficiency. And, I should not fail to mention the weather. I am in the Chicagoland area and it has sucked pretty much since around Thanksgiving. Between the cold, snow, Specific Antibody Deficiency and healing from a colon resection, I was edgy, wrestless and bored a lot, but just had to wait it out. I think next week we’ll have better temperatures.

Since August 2025, I’ve been querying literary agents for the completed Storm Dwellers. And, I have completed two more rounds of editing and word elimination for the previously self-published Someday Always Comes. I was going to hire an editor for Someday but then the surgery happened and set me back. I am Working on Chicago Down and I have a deadline for myself to complete the first full draft by June. Can I do it? I don’t know. But one thing I do know is if it is not completed, I will celebrate the try and be happy with what I do complete as long as it is more than I have currently.

Thanks for reading.

Wanda

A Re-Blog

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Inspiring Prompts to Spark Your Imagination

Take a look at this blog Post by Beem Weeks with tidbits for creativity, including some really good writing prompts to oil the wheels.

WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW

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Hey all,

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. I’ve had a lot of personal stuff going on, and it continues to go on, it seems. Acceptance of things we cannot change is crucial for our survival, but that does not mean we have to bow to the mischief. But at least my ducks are in a row, so to speak.

Then there are so many issues happening worldwide, and these seem to keep many of us stirred up in one way or another, or at least on our toes, if not at odds with one another. Or if you are like me, a sensitive, headache medicine and chocolate come in handy. We may feel like we have no voice on many public, or even private, issues but we do the best we can. So let us just plot our movements forward in our own lives and do what makes us happy. Let’s hang out with our pals and family, maybe even celebrate with strangers the things we have in common such as at concerts, sports games, working and sharing with our creative friends, pickle-ball. Or maybe fishing, riding roller coasters or studying squid. Whatever floats your boat. Just do it with gusto and take what’s yours by doing so…just don’t hurt anyone in the process.

As for me, I have made about 20 rounds – I kid not – through Storm Dwellers. Yet, I am still planning on last quick sweep to look for redundancy and longish paragraphs that over explain or just have too many words. I also like to find words that I use too many times on a page. Sometimes that cannot be helped though because you can only say, for instance, that Jethro is operating the barbecue pit today. I mean, if Jethro is at the pit, well, he’s at the pit. Right?

So, Storm Dwellers is finally complete in my eyes. For now anyway. I have to give it a rest.

As for Someday Always Comes, I have made three sweeps through the entire manuscript (after the original 20) and have every intention on hiring a editor for it this time around. I will self-publish the new edition since I did the original. I am not going to seek representation because it was already a self published book. I am also going to try to do some sprucing up on the cover. I did something regarding the cover that I rarely do. I took it to social media about a decade ago and some people had not so nice things to say about the cover regarding the thumbnail for the e-book. I got it back then and still do, but you know even the thumbnail for Kindle has a come a long way. Anyway, I went to social media this time to see what ideas people had to offer. Honestly, this time around, I got great ideas from commenters on both the thumbnail and the paper book cover, and many told me not to change it totally, but to just add more contrast and a couple other minor changes. Hey – if social media and generation gaps are not fickle, I don’t know what is.

I began a sequel to Storm Dwellers which is tentatively titled The Other Side of the Storm. It is meant to tie up loose ends regarding what happened to some of the Storm Dwellers characters when they exited the story to include Benny’s tale. In Storm Dwellers, Benny briefly mentions a girl named Rhonda who was killed. I think we might be introduced to character at some point in The Other Side of the Storm. At least, that’s what a character told me.

Next in line is the third, and probably the final in the Storm Dwellers line, temporarily called Rhonda. With the help of his family and friends, Benny finds out what happened to Rhonda and brings closure to her family and community. I want to write this, but it is not set in stone. Another thing that’s not for certain is how much of Rhonda’s tale we’ll get in The Other Side of the Storm.

And as for that friggin’ hulking undertaking that I could slap my damned self for starting, Chicago Down, these characters are jealous and do not like that I have left them mid-leap while brushing up Storm Dwellers and Someday Always Comes. Salbatora is feisty and Al is unforgiving, and I had better not attempt to double cross either of them. I have reassured them that I have no intention of doing so, even if it kills me. Al, in turn, has assured me that it just might. I don’t get it, do you?

That is my short update. I am working diligently when time permits. I have some upcoming health things to deal with but recovery should be quick. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, and I’ll post about it when I know more.

A friend of mine asked me about The Sheriffs of Robertson County. Well, that sucker is a doozy and the first in the series, Angel Maker, is on hold. The book is a work of fiction, but involves subject matter needing a great deal of research on sensitive subjects, and while it is not exactly a police procedural, it is me struggling to come out of the fantasy genre again and into what could really happen to anyone. Now, Someday Always Comes is not fantasy fiction either, but not in the same way as The Sheriffs of Robertson County will since Dorian Storm and his crew are chasing a serial killer in the opening book. Someday Always Comes, is the Gen X-er in me refusing to relent.

Exciting times! I think. But Al worries me. Really.

Thanks for reading.

Where to Sell Books (a reblog)

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Where to Sell Books

Can Friends Keep You Healthy?

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One of the greatest challenges facing older adults is loneliness. When we are younger, we are often surrounded by partners, children, and friends. As we age, though, spouses and friends may no longer be with us, and in our highly mobile society, children often move away from where they grew up. Being surrounded by loving […]

Can Friends Keep You Healthy?

The Benefits of Travel for Older Adults

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It is getting to be that time of the year; the travel season in the northern hemisphere is almost in full swing. With warmer weather comes the desire to get out and see the world–nearby and further away. Last year when I turned 60, my aunt (who is in her 80s) told me that the […]

The Benefits of Travel for Older Adults

Someday Always Comes, chapter 2 – excerpt

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Someday Always Comes, chapter 2 – an excerpt

Fernando ran with a small, seemingly fearless posse of bodyguards and anyone who crossed him ended up dead, or worse, and trust me…dead was much better than worse. Dead is just dead. But Fernando’s worst was gruesome. Broken bones, missing teeth, gouged out eye, no tongue, missing foot, missing fingers, and a broken spine. I’m definitely not making that up. The dude lived, but not to talk about it. I’d rather be dead.

I didn’t like to stare at Fernando’s face for too long. His chilling eyes were a strange brown color that I can’t accurately describe. In the dim, florescent lighting of Duk’s, they appeared crimson-brown, like dried blood. When he looked at me, his eyes told the tale that he could brutally murder me and then observe my dead body for hours without remorse, wallowing in the quiet joy that comes after the orgasmic rush that murdering someone causes for the ruthless contact killer.

Copyright 2023 Wanda Paryla

What Happened To Me?

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I just wanted to touch base here for any readers who’ve been checking in on my posts.

Evidently I was ill for some time and didn’t realize it. Long story short I had an infection and ended up with sepsis. So I have not really posted on here since the first week of December, and that’s why.

I was hospitalized for four days, and then had to fight it at home. I had to get myself antibiotic infusions via PICC line. That was not fun having that thing in my arm for so many days, but we do what we have to to survive.

Anyway, I’m doing much better and feel like myself again. I hope to add some more excerpts and different things to my blog. I found some poems that I would like to add as well.

I’vebeen on sick leave since Dec. 11, and can return to work Jan. 2nd. Also, it’s back to the office for me beginning Jan. 2nd. I’ve been working from home since the start of the pandemic in March of 2020. The last couple years we’ve been on rotation also two times a year for approximately 2 weeks. But now we’re going back full time. I’m not looking forward to it. Not because it’s going into the office, but I don’t think they should have brought back all 200 of us at once. They should have slowly brought in smaller groups, group by group, to avoid disease and illness, and I really wish they would have waited closer to spring. We were actually supposed to still be on work from home until about June 2026.

So that’s what’s been up. Thanks for reading!

Chicago Down, chapter 1 – excerpt

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Chicago Down, chapter 1 – an excerpt

He wanted Salbatora to take care of business in the end. He trusted her and only her to do it. After all, she owed him, and she believed in payment of debts. Yet, he was her friend. And she, his. Despite the world’s perception of Al Capone, he was honestly kind to her and never asked anything in return for all he had done for her over the years. Nothing at all. He never put the moves on her, or asked for any sort of sexual favors, or payment in some other shady way. When she had nothing, he had it all, and he offered some to her, Salbatora, a lost Texan looking for her family. Salbatora, who lost her family, found it, and then lost it all over again for the good of humankind.

Al, he admired her. No doubt that her tenaciousness, bluntness, bravery, and the way she accepted success and defeat, life and death, with sophistication was a few of the many reasons why he thought she was worth something.

 She wandered past everyone, barely aware of them. She imagined the blood of her friend being upon her hands and she broke down out on the veranda. All alone. It took only an instant though, for the valiant, solid Salbatora to regain her warrior stature. Not as young as she used to be, and having so many responsibilities these days, she pushed that grief aside. Now was not a good time.

“Salbatora,” Mae Capone was behind her, holding a small box. Only middle aged, Mae was still as kind as ever, even after all she had been through. “Al left this for you. He boxed up these things a long time ago. I don’t really know what’s in here. And I never tried to look.”

She approached Sal and gestured for her to take the box. Sal started to reach for the box, but hesitated.

“Really, Sal, take it.”

 She took the box. “I don’t know why Al would give me anything else. I’ve taken way too much already.”

“He left it for you because he knew that you’d come,” Mae took a deep breath and turned away from
Salbatora, almost as if she was ashamed to admit what is. “He knew you’d come here and do what the rest of us could not. What his family, friends, or employees could not do.” She shook her head and turned around to face Salbatora.

 “I…I don’t know…I…” Salbatora could only stammer. She was at a loss for words and actions.    

“He knew you’d end it for him. Put a stop to it. Do what even his doctor wouldn’t. What I wouldn’t…couldn’t. He never wanted to become like that.”

Copyright 2023 Wanda S. Paryla

Storm Dwellers, chapter 7-excerpt

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Storm Dwellers, chapter 7 – excerpt

“Hold on, y’all,” Lasso said. “I’ll get us some gloves.”

Lasso headed for his truck just as other South Padre Island police vehicles pulled up along with Texas State Police.

Covered with sand and grime a couple centimeters thick and caked with a sticky substance which had been splattered all over it, Terry’s car looked as if it had been driven through a slaughterhouse and out into a sandstorm.

“You can’t even tell by this car that it rained,” Hill said as she took a closer look at the hood and then the roof. “This gunk…how odd.”

“I…I think there’s some blood, for sure.” Lasso handed everyone a pair of gloves. “Here, just in case. Y’all be careful.”

Hill pulled on the gloves then touched the gooey substance on the car, rubbing it between her fingers. She held it to her nose and took a whiff.

“Yes, blood and…this stuff looks like…”

She stepped back from the vehicle.

“Like what?” Rob prodded.

The answer hit him, and he turned away from the car for a moment to gather himself then turned back.

“Awe, God.” Rob rubbed his forehead, fighting his emotions.

Copyright 2023 Wanda S. Paryla