As those of you who were at the Romance Writers of America Conference in Denver this past summer know, I teach self-defense. I absolutely love it. I first started taking self-defense four years ago to help strengthen myself and learn to write better action scenes. And now I absolutely love helping to empower people to protect themselves and be strong in a crisis.
Recently, I got knocked sideways. Literally. I was training with my partner, when I was (very accidentally) hit with a left hook, right to the temple. I went down hard and ended up in the hospital with a concussion.
Suddenly every part of my normal life stopped cold. I couldn’t write. I couldn’t read. I couldn’t even jog with the dogs. I wasn’t allowed to drive, watch television or go on the computer for days. Then when I could start returning to normal life, I had to do so very slowly and in little steps. I’ve learned that concussions are tricky things. Some people recover very quickly—and thankfully my recovery has been relatively smooth—and others take a very long time to heal.
I wish I knew why life sometimes comes along and knocks us down, whether with an illness, financial problem, job loss or crisis in our family lives. Sometimes it’s easy to look back and see what God was doing in our lives or the blessings that came out of tragedy. Other times, like 1 Corinthians 13 puts it, it feels like we’re “peering through a glass darkly”.
It really helped me relate to Celeste, the heroine of Amish Hideout. Celeste is a computer expert who loses everything when she takes down a criminal hacker and ends up in Witness Protection under the care of my hero Jonathan. She’s being tracked online by killers who are out to collect a bounty that our villain placed on her head. So, Jonathan takes her to the one place he knows she’ll be safe—the Amish family he thought he’d left behind forever.
I knew I’d be able to get back to my computer eventually. But Celeste, a talented and world class programmer, might be losing her work and purpose.
Like Celeste, I’ve been discovering the unexpected blessing that quiet, rest and silence can bring.
I hope you enjoy Amish Hideout. And if so, be sure to check out the rest of the Amish Witness Protection series, with Amish Safe House by Debby Giusti and Amish Haven by Dana R. Lynn.
What has helped you when life has hit you by surprise?
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Maggie, so sorry about what you had to go through with your concussion! How terrible. The writer in me is also thinking great research! :) I'm sure you'll have a character suffer a major concussion in one of your future books. Rejoicing that you are better!
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited about the Amish Witness Protection Continuity! I have Amish Hideout and love the story! I know readers will love it too!
So honored to work with you and Dana on this continuity!
Hugs!
It was a huge honour to work with you and Dana too! Just realized the link above to your book wasn't working, so I updated it :) It should work now. Yes! I'm writing a concussion into my next book now... :D
DeleteMaggie, I suffered from a similar concussion with a recovery time just over three months. I fell on concrete in a Walmart garden centre and had the same thing: no computer, reading, TV etc during recovery. My heroine in my debut novel goes through the same thing. I just couldn't let that experience go to waste! I love your cover for this book and am excited to read the three books. All three of you are on my auto-buy list for LIS. Congrats on the new series!
ReplyDeleteThat's terrible Laurie! And yes, I won't let the experience go to waste. We put a lot more focus into teaching people how to avoid concussions now. And I'm writing one into a book now too. ;) Everything we go through becomes something we can share! Lol. What's your debut novel?
DeleteI tend to take my health for granted. This is a good reminder to be grateful for health while I have it!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you're doing better.