My first novel, THE FEVER, is still chugging along and was just favored with a new review.
Check it out:
http://www.stephaniereadsbooks.com/432082977
More info on THE FEVER and its sequel, A CURSE THAT BITES DEEP, can be found at
WeekendCoffeeShare-Update
If we were having coffee today I’d have to tell you I am very happy to see you. Last week I talked about my upcoming eye surgery on my cataracts, so I thought I should give you a little update.
It is nothing short of amazing. And that’s just one eye. Of course, my right eye was my dominant eye, it always has been, but I’d been depending more and more on my left eye, although I knew it was rapidly deteriorating too. The doctor suggested I have the right lens removed from my glasses but I actually think I function better without that … since my left eye, even corrected, is pretty bad.
I was just standing on the front porch. There is a small store across the street from us. I can close my left eye and see the small, lit “OPEN” sign clearly. If I cover my right eye, I CAN’T EVEN SEE THE SIGN. That’s uncorrected. I can see that there is a store there, as I can with most other big things. It is like looking through smoke and haze. Understand, this eye is about 50% better than my right eye had become.
I had become pretty used to my deteriorated vision. I was still driving up to two weeks ago, depending on the weather and the light conditions and how my eyes seemed to be functioning at the time — some days I could see better than on other days. Since the surgery, my wife had been reluctant to let me drive again, but I told her, really, I can see so much better than I could even see two or three months ago.
The new situation is not without its adjustments and pitfalls. I still have what they call “floaters” … including one I was calling a dragon’s claw, shifting back and forth just out of my central vision, a bit like a hair on an old projector lens at the movies. It has diminished over the last several days, now more like a spider or fly, dancing around. The doctor said it is not uncommon and should likely fade over the next couple of weeks. The nature of my eyes precluded a complete adjustment … although the eye tested at 20/20 for distance, I still need enhancement to read. Although this seems a minor adjustment, it is actually more than I anticipated. I’ve worn progressive lenses for almost 20 years … basically trifocals without lines. I used to joke they were like being young again. Now, I don’t need glasses for distance but have to relearn what I used to do years ago before the progressives and keep reading glasses handy. I haven’t had to do that in a while and it is different now with things like tablets and smart phones. I’ll know more when I have the other eye complete.
But considering I struggled to even see the screen to type last week’s dispatch, I can see the screen clearly now with minimal strength reading glasses, although I think I’ll need to take it easy because even now I can detect eye strain as my left eye struggles to help. Not complaining, mind you, as I know this is temporary.
Eye two scheduled for early December.
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Thomas Fenske is a writer living in NC. Find out about his novels The Fever, and A Curse That Bites Deep at http://thefensk.com
He really needs some sales to help pay for all these related medical expenses!
The Eyes Have It
If we were having coffee today, you might notice me struggling a bit. “It’s my eyes,” I’d admit. “Cataracts.”
Then you’d tell me about your experience, or your brother’s, or a co-worker, or your mom …
At my last checkup my eye doctor, an optometrist, told me it was coming. I first noticed a few changes early last Summer. It seemed to come and go. I pushed through the minor inconvenience because of our daughter’s upcoming wedding. Stupid, I know. This is something that doesn’t go away. Vitamins or exercise don’t help. I just didn’t want it to possibly get in the way of the nuptials. What got me was how fast it started to deteriorate.
In the final month before the wedding, I could tell it was changing pretty quickly. After the wedding, I finally got an appointment. Yep, he said, time to head to a specialist. Of course, I then had to wait. In my case, although I have cataracts in both eyes, my right eye is significantly worse than my left eye. Unfortunately, my right eye is my stronger eye, always has been. And in the last month both have been going downhill fast. I finally surrendered my car keys to my wife the other day. Oh, I think I can still drive okay, as long as I know where I’m going, but my depth perception has suffered too and she got tired of me running over curbs and such. My worry was someone possibly walking in front of me. I can see big stuff okay, but it is like driving in a misty early morning fog … all the time, everywhere, and bright lights like headlights and street lights are often exaggerated and blinding. That famous painting Starry Night? Welcome to my world.
I go in for surgery on the right eye this coming week. It is perhaps the most common surgical procedure these days. Very routine. That’s why I mentioned the anecdotes earlier. I’ve heard a lot of them. I’m both dreading the surgery (as one does) and looking forward to it. Then I get to do it again, on the other eye. The doctor told me I’ll really see how bad the left eye is when the right eye comes back on-line.
One of the saddest things for me is the fact that I have to miss National Novel Writing Month this year. I’ve done it every year since 2011. My two published novels were NaNoWriMo projects. I enjoy NaNoWriMo, it is fun and I’ve made some lifelong friendships from the random writing buddies I’ve collected over the years. But NaNoWriMo takes commitment and with surgical disruptions and … well, hardly being able to see the computer screen (struggling even writing this!), skipping it this year is a no-brainer. Maybe I’ll write the third book in the series NaNo-style in January.
One of the good things that will come out of this is the fact that they can actually do proactive corrections. The flip side is that it is almost always out of pocket … insurance should pay for all this stuff but they balk at actually doing something helpful and forward-thinking. They’ll replace the cloudy lens with a buck basic replacement, sure, but for a few bucks more and what is basically some minor LASIK I can expect some real improvement. But it is an easy sell for the medical industry … the prospect of better eyesight, not just as good as before with glasses but BETTER … well, that is hard to pass up. And given what they are already doing, it just makes sense in the long run. Can I afford it? Not really, but can I afford to NOT do it? Well … not really.
So think about me this Thursday. Feel free to comment to me about your experiences. I know you will anyway, so I might as well invite you. It helps. It really does. Oh, and remember the cost and remember those two books hanging around out there on Amazon (and other popular sites listed on my web page). Hint, hint … a few more sales might help offset the cost for me, so tell your friends too.
(“Always play for sympathy, my boy,” an actor-mentor once told me).
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Thomas Fenske is= a writer living in NC. His latest novel, A CURSE THAT BITES DEEP, was published October 1. More information: http://thefensk.com
They Broke The Curse?
WeekendCoffeeShare-Giveaway
If we were having coffee today, I’d suggest you enter my Halloween Giveaway.
“Giveaway?”
Well, I’d explain, I just finished yet another lackluster Amazon giveaway. They are easy to set up, Amazon handles it all, but I’ve had mixed results with them. Sure, I’ve picked up twitter followers with some, have had a lot of entrants, but none of them have attracted as much attention as I’d hoped.
The way the Amazon giveaways work is that you buy the prizes up front and they take it from there. It’s a lazy-man’s giveaway.
“Oh, a perfect fit for you,” you might say .
Right. I had an extra copy left over … from the last giveaway. They give you the option of running another giveaway or getting a gift code for that copy. So, I decided this time, to get the gift code.
And here we are. I have this gift code for a kindle copy of my latest novel, A CURSE THAT BITES DEEP.
Here’s the deal … either comment here or leave a comment on my web page. I’ll take the names and throw them into a hat and pull one out and if you win, I’ll send you the gift code. Not as easy as Amazon … and maybe more depressing. But here we are …
Either comment here on the blog or on my web page (blog or web page comments only) indicate that you are interested in this Halloween giveaway … I’ll draw from the entries early on November 1. I’ll announce the winner on the blog.
WebPage comments:– just click >>. HERE
Or comment below.
Feel free to reblog or share.
Thomas Fenske is a North Carolina writer. His latest novel is A CURSE THAT BITES DEEP
94 Years Young
If we were having coffee I’d be lamenting the fact that I am once again missing my mother’s birthday. I live across the country from my mom, who turns 94 today. I’d raise my mug in toast and say “Happy Birthday, Mom!”
The photo is my favorite picture of my mom, High School graduation photo. FYI, that’s pre-war … and I’m sure she was all piss and vinegar as they say. She got married right after the war and I came along third in line to the throne with two following.
There’s a little-known secret about my early years … my parents were remarkably cyclic … four of my five siblings were born five years apart. Only my older sister was out of sequence. She’s four years older than me.
What this means is that when I was a toddler/young hellion, and my older brother and sister started school. me and my mom were home all day … just her and me. She was the typical 50’s housewife then … stay at home. When she was a fledgling mother she had two infant/toddlers at the same time. By the time I emerged from that cycle, for 2-3 year until my younger sister came along, it was just her and me. By the time that was over, she had started working again. Both younger sisters knew the joys of daycare but me, I never experienced that. Oh, she had periods of at-home time with them, and of course with my older siblings, but I had her all to myself during those few great years. I’m not gloating, I just feel fortunate. I’ve done a lot in this life, but those are some of my fondest memories.
So, Happy Birthday, mom!
Thomas Fenske is a writer living in North Carolina, far from his mother in Houston. His second novel, A Curse That Bites Deep, was just published this month.
#Giveaway
I’ve started another Amazon Giveaway … three Kindle copies of A CURSE THAT BITES DEEP are up for grabs by a random drawing. No requirements … just enter.
http://tinyurl.com/zyhxgx7
In a Nutshell
I only want to add: http://thefensk.com
The SHOES, Part 2
If we were having coffee today I’d have to beg forgiveness again because, well … I just have to give an update about the shoes.
I first mentioned the shoes last June, while they were still in the process of being transformed into the showpiece/centerpieces for our daughter’s upcoming nuptials.
To recap, Gretchen, my darling bride, took our daughter’s sweat-stained, ragged, worn-out pointe shoes, remnants from many years of intense dancing, and proceeded to turn them into works of art. To this end she used paint, decoupage, glue-on gems and flowers, and all manner of arts and crafty add-ons. She created about twenty unique pieces for this wedding.
When the florist delivered the bouquets and boutonnieres he mentioned to me that no centerpiece flowers were ordered and I showed him what we had instead … he was impressed.
Anyway, as you can see from the pictures, after she finished decorating all the shoes, the plan was to display them in a tall glass vase. After looking them over, she decided a little height was necessary, so each vase was elevated with an inverted glass heart dish. A dab of lace around the dish, a round table mirror, a little decorative border and a few additional accents completed the centerpiece … I think it was a marvelous and unique idea and I am not alone. In looking at facebook postings of wedding pictures, everybody included multiple shots of different shoes.
The glass dishes were a little unstable as a platform and this required a late-breaking modification … we glued them, and very late at that, so we were quite fearful of the glue curing in a timely fashion. It made for tricky transportation because I did not feel safe boxing them … so I put them on the floorboard of the two cars we were driving with a little light padding around them … and tried not to take any sharp turns during the 170 mile trip to the venue. All arrived intact.
Like most wedding preparations, these shoes were just one of many details.
The wedding? Simply magical.
Thomas Fenske is a writer living in North Carolina. His latest novel, a Curse That Bites Deep has just been released. More info: http://thefensk.com
Don’t Take My Word For It
I’m stoked about my first teview. It’s from the tometender review blog (a top-rated GoodReads reviewer!).
A Curse That Bites Deep is available in paperback from Amazon or in eBook format from Amazon, Barnes&Noble, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords. Buy links here … http://www.thefensk.com
Help me get rhe news out, please reblog!
Scratching the Surface 