Reading Is Always Good

Especially good if you live with chronic illness, I think. When I couldn't hold a book up to read it, not even a paperback, my therapist suggested that I join the Library for the Blind and Disabled. That was a wake up call. First time I really thought of myself as disabled. That was in 2001; I was first diagnosed in 1989. For all you unbelievers out there--you know who you are--I continued to fully function for 12 YEARS after the original diagnoses, and I can assure you I actually had the illnesses for many years before the diagnoses. But I digress. The Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled is for--you know. There are local branches all over the place. Call your local library to find out where yours is.

So, the preceding paragraph was for the purpose of relating the following paragraph to the point of this blog--invisible chronic illness. I'm researching for my stint as host of the Invisible Chronic Illness Week (ICIW) Conference on "Blogging About Your Illness", and so far have learned, among other things that I will be sharing with you here later, that I should stick writing about things that have to do with the point of the blog so people will keep coming back to read. Go figure. (Facetious, in case you didn't catch it.)

Louise Shaffer is married to my mom's cousin. I think her books are really good. The first two are set in a place called Garrison Gardens. She used to live in Pine Mountain, GA. (All you Georgia folks--can you CALLAWAY Gardens?)


Read the first four chapters of her latest book here.



Fellow fans of Louise's have inspired me to start a reading page. Or maybe it will be a blog. I haven't decided yet. I just wanted to go ahead and give credit where credit is due.