Some people go to a massage therapist for to relax. I go so that I can walk. About ten years ago, I experienced the first flare up of an injury. Â After sitting crossed legged on the floor, I tried to stand up – but couldn’t. The pain was excruciating. I felt like my hip was trying to pop out of the socket. Â After a few minutes, the pain subsided and by morning I was fine. Only I wasn’t. Â I didn’t realize I had started down a path that would change my life. Â The frequency of these episodes increased. Â My husband would literally have to pick me up and carry me to the bathroom because I couldn’t walk due to the pain. I sought medical help. Â Tests confirmed this wasn’t an auto-immune condition like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. Â I turned to sports medicine – which meant X-Rays MRI’s, cortisone shots and physical therapy. Â I developed bursitis in both hips as well as a noticeable limp. Â And still, the episodes continued. Living with a condition that causes debilitating pain is depressing – especially when medical professionals couldn’t determine the cause.
And this is where my story changed. I was driving down the road and literally heard a voice in my head say call Cindy Johnson. Â I’ve known Cindy for years – knew she was a massage therapist but never gave it much thought, until that moment anyway. Â I listened and made the call. Â Cindy, whose massage therapy schooling took one year, figured out what medical doctors had missed. Â (She would later tell me that she didn’t know how I had walked into her office that day.) My pelvis had rocked back and twisted. Â Ligaments that should have been short were long. Those that were supposed to be long were short. Â And all those times I thought my hip was going to pop out of socket – that was when the iliopsoas knotted up. Â She worked on my body, massaging knots from my legs, hip and lower back. Â After that first session, she sent me to a chiropractor – said she’d done what she could but I needed more help than she was trained to give. Â The two of them worked together – helping me repair and restore my body. Â It’s taken years – but I’m better. Â I still visit both, finding the benefits too great to forgo.
I share this because I’ve learned the value of looking for alternative treatments. Â Cortisone shots and painkillers only masked the problem. Â It is because of the massage therapist & chiropractor that I am able to walk. Â No, I don’t wear high heels anymore but that’s a small price to pay. (And I’m always grateful for that little voice whispering in my head.)
Obviously, I’m not a medical professional and I realize that there are many competent doctors practicing medicine. But sometimes, they miss things and we shouldn’t be afraid to take control of our health.
And now – my next goal – to find a doctor of Chinese medicine practicing in Eastern North Carolina. Â (If you know of one, please share his/her name in the comments below.)
m
Some writers are very disciplined. Me? Not so much. As life happens, my writing pays the price. Â It tends to be the first thing that gets moved to the “I’ll do it tomorrow” list and I end up feeling frustrated with my lack of progress. Â I admire writers who stick to schedules, who recognize the importance in what they do. In an effort to make some changes in my writing life, I came up with a set of commandments that I hope will help me stay on the path.
In North Carolina, it’s common knowledge that if you don’t like the weather, have patience. It’ll change in a day or two. Â After the blizzard of 2016, to which residents of coastal NC were casual observers, we had a couple days of rain and then a warming trend. Today (Sunday) saw a high in the upper 60’s and plenty of sunshine. Â When days come along like this – you have to take advantage of them. Â I grabbed some paper and a pen and headed to the park.
The change of scenery provided me with an escape from the distractions of home. Scenes unfolded and the words came. It was wonderful – so wonderful, I’m thinking that a weekly writing escape might be in order.
And then comes my blog…
I stumbled across a blog post talking about the reasons a blog is a waste of time for a writer and that prompted a lot of thinking on my part. Â Am I a writer who blogs? Am I a blogger who writes? Does it really make a difference?
If you are a writer, I’m sure you can relate to the dilemma so many of us face.
Over and over, we are told:
Build your platform!
Grow your audience!
Blog! Â Tweet! Â Pin!
And we do it or at least we try…
But in doing so, it’s easy to lose sight of the reason we’re doing all of this – because we want to write books – we want to share our stories – and the time we’d spend conjuring those tales is instead spent on creating content for our blogs and being good neighbors over in Twitter-land…
Maybe that’s a necessary evil.
I’m not sure.
What I have learned is this –
Blogging doesn’t equate to selling books.
And neither does tweeting.
Writing more books, however, definitely increases the likelihood of sales.
Not convinced?
On Twitter, I follow boohoos of authors. Â Some do nothing but scream “Buy my book!” I admit it – I ignore those tweets. Â Others share links to their blogs – offering great content – maybe an interesting podcast – and if I find them helpful, I sign up for their emails. On occasion, I might purchase an e-book. Â But the thing is – that’s not an everyday occurrence and just because I find a twitter account informative doesn’t mean I’m going to buy the author’s books. Â The same holds true with blogs.
I don’t think I’m alone in this…
It’s not that I don’t appreciate the author’s efforts. Â I do. Â But my goodness – who has the time or the financial resources to support every writer we come in contact with?
When it comes to my blog-
I try to offer interesting content. My followers/daily traffic is increasing. I know that building a following takes time.  That being said – all the blogging and tweeting really haven’t made a difference in my book sales.  And that’s okay.  I like blogging. I’ve made connections with people from all over the world – friendships that were made possible because of our blogs.
What’s it going to be?
My focus will be on my writing. Â That’s my dream. Â BUT – I’ll continue to blog and if blogging leads to a book sale then great. Â And if blogging continues to open doors to different parts of the world, allowing me to meet new people and share ideas with them, that’s even better!
What about you? Â How do you balance blogging, writing, and all the rest?
Time Saving Tip:
In an effort to maintain my social media presence with a minimal time investment, I’ve turned to Hootsuite. Â If you haven’t tried this scheduling option, I’d encourage you to check it out. Â By scheduling your tweets, etc – you can in effect be in multiple places at one time. Â I may be at work but Hootsuite is sending out my tweets/facebook posts, etc – making me look active. Â Hootsuite also provides links to relevant content (blogs) that you can share on your various accounts. Best of all – it’s free. (There is a paid option available.)
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