Today is one of those days that reminds me, "Hey, stupid! You have lupus!"
I'm in a fog, I'm exhausted, and I feel bad. What did I do? I did a little house cleaning yesterday. Bad idea.
The way I feel, though, has reminded me of the limitations I'm have with promoting a book. "Are you having any booksignings?" "Do you want to come to our school?" These are questions I wish I could say a resounding YES! to, but the truth is I can't do too much on a regular basis. So I haven't been as arduous about pursuing signings because there is just so little energy to go around. After last week's appearance at the NAEYC convention, I was exhausted.
So today when I started beating myself up mentally for not wanting to call people, visit bookstores, send out mail, or update my web site, I remembered Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit. Laura suffers from CFS--chronic fatigue syndrome. I found this quote from 2001:
Right now my exhaustion is bad enough so I'm 100% housebound.
I've only been out of the house three times since my book came out two months ago.
Laura didn't do the book tour thing--she just couldn't. She fought her illness just to be able to finish her book--public appearances just weren't on the horizon. So I'll have to be happy for the things I can do. I'm blessed to have been able to get my book published and see it make children, their parents, and teachers smile.