Life Teaches You Patience

24Jan2026 Author’s Notes:

3 years. What have I done with myself? Well, discovered my health really does matter and I have a bizarre combo of things to deal with now, mentally and physically. Oh, and we finished writing Book 2 and 3 of The Harrogate Chronicles!

Psoriasis. Epilepsy. Physical therapy. Uveitis. Cataracts. Retinal Tears. And a host of things us folks getting older tend to chat about. The biggest issue has been my epilepsy diagnosis. The human brain really does do weird things. I have focal awareness seizures with an aura that I experience as deja entendu. That is similar to deja vu where you swear you saw something before, but this is having heard it before. Watching a new movie and experiencing an entire scene as if from my memory and not in real time. At the grocery store, listening to the clerk and customer ahead of us in line and thinking I have heard this exact same discussion before. Crazy right?

My brain switches things up when triggered, and it changes from placing the experience in the here and now to placing it directly into my memory instead, and then spins into a seizure of sorts. I was not crazy. I was not being studied by aliens. Not drugged by spies. Two MRI’s caught pictures of my brain enough for the neurologists to show me I was not bonkers, just a little broken. It was real. Whew! I am aware of the seizure, but you could not tell from looking at me that I was experiencing the accompanying weakness and hot flashes and mega tiredness. In that sense I feel luckier than many with epilepsy.

So what does this have to do with writing? Well, it took me away from writing regularly and meeting up with Nan. I had to work on changing my life to remove triggers and focus on me and my brain health. Once I had finally tackled that and Nan and I were working through Book 3 of The Harrogate Chronicles, I developed eye issues. Searing pain with light. Like a migraine, I had to rest in a darkened room and sleep it off. From there I jumped to cataracts. I could read with my Kindle, but could no longer drive. I waited 6 more months before I finally had cataract surgeries. Then the first retinal tear hit, and I went into more surgery. It was scary, no guarantees, and I came out with my vision…skewed. The retina was repaired, but tilted just enough to throw off my vision in that eye. And just as I thought the world could not get weirder, the second tear began in the other eye. We caught it early enough and the surgery fast enough that I retain full vision in my right eye. My last 6 months have been healing from that and finishing Book 3 with Nan, as well as getting Books 1 and 2 ready for a full series release.

So yes, we have all three books almost ready. And no, I am not the same person who started these books.

Book 1, Atahualpa’s Mummy, will be out as a second edition, and has the Teacakes and Kraken Bait story tacked in there. We are just about done with the book cover now, and I am in love with what they have done with our characters! The formatter is formatting the manuscript. Patience. There are some things to fix already that I will move onto after I finish this quick note to everyone. I am learning all the myriad things about releasing a book these days.

Once Book 1 is done, we will move on to Book 2, Merlin’s Tomb, and Book 3, Aztalan’s Idol. So everything should be out within the next 6 months. This will end the series, but in no way ends our world or characters. Eventually there will be more about Esme and Kinzy (and Trell).

So my life is very different now, but writing is still a passion. I send out short stories to magazines and anthologies. When those are published, I can send out news for them, but I must have patience for their publication process. I even wrote my first horror story. Keep your fingers crossed!

Meanwhile, Nan Sampson, my co-author for The Harrogate Chronicles, has published a new series!

Your Goyle and Mine (The Magical Underground Book 1)
A Djinn and Tonic (The Magical Underground Book 2)

For this past holiday season she also wrote: The Christmas Caper: A Love and Larceny Historical Romance (Love and Larceny Historical Romance Novellas) with plans for other holidays too!

Give them a look and leave her some reviews! Honestly, without reviews, writers get lost in the publishing noise. They are the lifeblood that helps us find more readers.

So thank you for your patience with myself and The Harrogate Chronicles. I think it has been worth the wait through the doctor’s visits and surgeries, meds and therapies. These are struggling times for many so cut yourself some slack too. Relax and read a book. I’ll have more news for you shortly.

~ Sue Wachowski