Why I've Been Writing Less

I realize that I have been less productive in recent times than I would like and than history attests to. I wanted to provide a brief explanation.

For the past few months, I’ve been dealing with a degree of exhaustion that I couldn’t quite explain. At first, I thought it was simple fatigue, but it progressively worsened and has become rather debilitating. I realized the severity of the problem only after I almost stepped in front of a truck while walking my dog with my eyes closed. You know that feeling where you’re so exhausted that you keep closing your eyes for several seconds at a time? It was like that, but at 1 PM in the afternoon for no “reason” at all.

Thereafter, I sought medical explanations. After a sleep study, a visit with a sleep specialist, and an ENT, some conclusions have been drawn. My tonsils are oversized and are believed to be placing a significant burden on my airway, leading to UARS (Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome). It means that when I’m sleeping, my tonsils obstruct my airway just enough to cause me to have micro-wakeups every few minutes throughout my sleep. So, I’m suffering from a type of sleep deprivation that doesn’t have any relief.

As a result, I’m running at maximum effort all of the time just to meet my base obligations. Some days it’s worse than others, but it’s pretty bad most of the time now. When you’re exhausted, creativity is the first thing to go, which is why my writings have become less frequent (even non-fiction requires creativity!). This notice is not to say that I’m going to stop trying, but rather to let you know what’s happening.

The theory is that when I got sick earlier this year, my tonsils (which were always on the large side) grew just a little bit more, and never shrank again thereafter. So, they need to go. Tonsillectomies have a notoriously brutal recovery in adults, so I’ll be out of work for a couple of weeks, in a lot of pain and unable to speak. My guess is that I won’t be particularly up for writing during that time either. (Though I hope that’s not true!)

I don’t yet have a date for the surgery, but I see the surgeon to get that set up on July 9th, so it will be some time thereafter. I will keep you all informed.

Thank you to all of those who support what I do, in different ways, and please keep me in prayer. This has been a really trying time, and sleep deprivation just makes everything harder. In fact, it makes things seem more difficult and dark even when they’re not.