Fighting Back – Overcoming Obstacles

Today, I’d like to welcome Ashlynn Pearce to my blog. Ashlynn has been struggling with some major health issues and I wanted to give her the opportunity to tell you about her journey and to also introduce you to her book, FUEL, which releases tomorrow.

I hope this provides some encouragement to others facing major obstacles to keep fighting, to know that it IS possible to overcome despite the roadblocks in your path. One of my favorite sayings is, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Ashlynn’s journey proves that to be true. So now I’m going to turn the blog over to Ash.
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Were it not for Hope, the Heart would Break…

April 28, 2010 my first book was published…and I had a stroke.

Yes, on the same day.

They never figured out why I had the stroke, nor can they explain all the multitude of symptoms I have and fight every day. As far as the medical community goes, nothing is wrong with me.

That’s a freakin’ lie.

When I got home, I fought extremely blurry vision for months before that cleared up. I had/have seizure like muscle spasms throughout my entire body, including my face. My eyelids will force themselves closed and will not open until they are ready to. I had to re-teach myself to type. I have to concentrate when I hand-write or I misspell everything. There are times I can’t talk at all, and a lot of times when I do, it’s slow and hard to understand. I don’t process things like I did before and can’t handle loud noises or flashes of light. I don’t handle stress well and I developed anxiety and severe depression.

I’m not allowed to drive, go to the store alone, or even go in my front yard alone. Because I lose my eyes at the snap of my fingers and I get confused and disoriented quickly. I often have to use a walker or wheelchair because I can’t walk. My husband often has to help me undress for bed, because I can’t. I can go from okay, to not being able to speak within seconds, with no warning.

I still deal with all of this on a daily basis and lose approximately 3+ days a week.

Trust me when I say, this post is not about poor me.

This is about fighting back.

This is about figuring out a way to do what you love. No matter what.

To say I was lost without being able to write is an understatement. Don’t get me wrong, I tried SO many times to write. I totally gave up as many times as I tried. I even threw away all my writing notes, the character notebooks I had and a lot of books on writing. I just tossed them in the trash. (I kick myself for doing that now)

When I say gave up, I mean, I curled up in a ball in the recliner, turned on the tv and did…nothing. (And FYI that is NOT me. I hate tv and hate doing nothing even more.)

In the midst of depression, I voiced to my friend, Linda (yes, the one who owns this blog) maybe I can try one more time. Write a really short story. You know, like 5K words. Just something I maybe can finish.

She told me to go for it, poked and prodded me until I gave it a shot.

I had nothing.

I couldn’t think of a single story or character idea…and I cried. The ugly cry.

I thought, well, that confirms it. I’ve lost the ability. It’s just gone.

I was heartbroken.

But Linda started tossing out ideas. Nothing she said stuck…BUT it did get my wheels turning.

In May of 2014 I had an inkling of an idea so went with it. Then it grew. And grew. I wrote 5K…it wasn’t done so I kept going. I hit 20K, still wasn’t done. When I hit 30K, I thought, no way, but by this time, I had an entire cast of characters all babbling away. All wanting their story and the DirtSlap series was born.

FUEL was done at 40K words and will be available Jan. 29, 2015.
WRECK immediately followed at 50K+ words, is in editing phase and will be out in May 2015.
FIXT and WIRED are plotted and KRUSH, a short story, is in writing stages now and will be out this summer in an anthology I was invited to participate in.

I DID IT!

In spite of it all the setbacks, I did it—but not alone. Along with Linda, there have been a whole slew of peeps cheering me on. I couldn’t have done it without their encouragement.

Every one of us fights a battle no one else knows about. But I do know if you want it bad enough, you can make it happen. You WILL find a way. It might not be pretty and you may fail many, many times before you make it, but if you want it. Do it. Go for it.

Life waits for no one. LIVE your life now. Pour every bit of passion you have into it and try. You will never know for sure until you do.

Because were it not for Hope, the Heart would break.

BIO:
Once upon a time…You ain’t gonna believe this sh**!
(I always wanted to start a bio like that!) But seriously—scrap that, I’m not serious, but I do love to write. Create characters. Give them hope that there is something better around the corner. It’s my passion. I live and breathe stories. When I’m not arguing with the characters in my head (yes, I do that, you can ask my hubby who thinks I’m nuts btw), I’m taking care of said hubby, my two kids and a melee of furbabies. I’m Okie born and bred and, yes, we get a lot of twisters and, no, there aren’t any teepees around that I’ve seen. Follow me around to see what other mischief I’m up to!

http://AshlynnPearce.com

FB: https://www.facebook.com/ashlynnpearcewriter
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ashlynn_Pearce
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3512149.Ashlynn_Pearce
Amazon Author page: http://amazon.com/author/ashlynnpearce

FUEL… DirtSlap series

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fuel-ashlynn-pearce/1120913527?ean=2940151682206

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/FUEL-DirtSlap-Book-Ashlynn-Pearce-ebook/dp/B00QYAPUDC/ref=asap_B008F9J94G?ie=UTF8

KOBO: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/fuel-6

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id951159485

WRECK – out May 2015 (no links as of yet)