Sherri Cornelius

I have a little fragrance hangover. Yesterday was my daughter’s Thanksgiving lunch at school, and I actually did quite well. Felt fine (as fine as I ever do) while I was there and into the evening. The eyesight started to get a little iffy around nine, and I went to bed soon after. Woke up this morning with bad eyes, but let me tell you, I am grateful for these bad eyes. You know why? Because last year at this time I was just starting The Time of the Migraine, a good two months in which I had constant blurry vision and any whiff of fragrance brought forth the headache. And the year before that, I had bronchitis or pneumonia or something along with a bad back but was unable to go to the doctor, so both lasted for months. I can handle a little fragrance hangover.

This fragrance thing is actually getting more manageable. I think I’m healing, as the reactions for the past several months haven’t been as strong. Trips to the store are less taxing. I can think while at a school function. It’s tempting to start letting my guard down, but I know this is a slow process. I have to let my body heal.

Finally seeing the end of this editing project. It’s the first novel I’ve edited, been editing shorts, so it seemed to go forever. I’m at the point now where I know what it’s like to be an editor, and I need to balance it against my own writing. Do I like editing enough to put my book on hold for three weeks? Not sure about that. I’d planned to get BVA done by Christmas, something I could have done if my editing assignment had been another short. I had no idea how much time a novel would take.

Gotta get bananas for Maggie’s class . Thanks for everybody’s good wishes about her arm, it’s not bothering her too much, with the brace.

So…that’s me today. What’s up with you?

Having a hard time getting started this morning, due to a bit of a fragrance hangover from my outing yesterday. I went to OKC to see The Time Traveler’s Wife with a friend, and while I was there I did a tarot reading for her. The movie was good, the reading I’m not sure about. I’m very rusty doing readings in front of a live querant, because I haven’t had a real-life hang-out buddy in a long time. Years, even. It’s kind of weird, hanging out with somebody just for the fun of it, with no obligation attached. I guess that may make me seem like a real loser, but I’m sure we’ve all gone through periods of time where we put ourselves last, and that’s just what happened with me. I’ve never been one to collect friends like knick-knacks, and when you add in family obligations, moving around a lot and fatigue from health problems, it’s easy to lose touch with people. I’m happy I have the energy now to direct toward new friendships.

I finished my long synopsis for reals on Friday and sent it off to my agent. Thanks to all my beta readers, I’m extremely happy with how it turned out, which in case you didn’t know is pretty rare for me. I think the synopsis is tight and readable and, most importantly, informative–I just can’t imagine how it might have turned out better.

So now I’ll switch over to another project on the merry-go-round, which is editing these short stories from Eternal Press. One is almost finished, so my mini-goal for the next few days is to finish that one and get a good start on the next one. Then I plan to get the notes for my novel in order and work on that till I get stuck, and after that devote a day or two to a friend’s critique, then finish the second Eternal Press story. This merry-go-round method is really working for me. Instead of thinking about how many things I have to get done and becoming overwhelmed (and possibly frozen), I can focus on one thing at a time. Although I have the same amount of work to do, it’s more maneagable in smaller chunks. Duh.

Happy Monday, people!

The in-laws drove up from Alabama for a visit this weekend. It’s always fun catching up with my husband’s family, but it is also exhausting, trying to get the little kids to interact with their grandparents after months apart. Everybody was great about the fragrance thing, of course–don’t know why I always worry about offending someone. During the family gathering on Saturday my teenage step-daughter Z told me something wonderful: Her headaches went away after she stopped using body spray and smelly detergent. She’s had unexplained headaches for years, so this is great. I can’t recommend enough taking a look at the chemicals in your life if you have a chronic, unexplained condition. It can’t hurt.

My book life just got a little busier. I’ve been working on my own writing stuff, then yesterday my brother sent me a new short story of his to critique, and this morning got my next editing assignment. Now, my former MO is to work on one thing frantically, to the exclusion of everything else. However, I’ve learned a couple of things about that method, and those are:

1. The piece I’m working on suffers because I get brain-fatigue but push through anyway.
2. My writing is always the last thing I work on. There’s always something else to work on.
3. I’m more stressed.

Conventional wisdom says to complete one task before moving on to another. I have to modify that to fit this crazy artistic business, and say that I must complete one mini-task before moving on to the next. Think of it more like a rotating to-do list.

Hope your Monday is good.

I’m in no mood.

Totally hung over from all the fragrance I inhaled yesterday on the field trip to the children’s museum.  I rode the bus to and from the museum, and that was by far the hardest part. All those parents with perfume and aftershave, and all those clothes washed in detergent with renewing scent beads or whatever they call them, and all those kids freshly washed with poison-er, I mean scented soap… I want to be supportive of my children, so I won’t complain about it in front of them. They might wonder why Mommy needs to close her eyes all the time, or why she doesn’t notice them talking to her, or why she can’t sit with the other mommies, but damn it, I WILL be there for my kids. I just have to modify my there-ness. I’m physically present at school functions, but I may not be totally mentally there. Hopefully I can make up for that by being fully present at home. As I always say, at least I know what’s causing it, thereby making it easier to reduce the impact.

Apparently Jenny McCarthy has a new book out about a link between environmental chemical exposure, like to mercury in fish and VOCs in carpet (and if anyone would like me to expand on those or provide links, just holla), and autism. She’s paired with a doctor to write this book, so maybe it will be taken more seriously than if it was just Bulldog McCarthy on her own, with her crazy eyes and sharp tongue. If I felt better I’d do the linking and all that, but right now I’ll just say I think there probably IS a link, and it makes me angry that scientists aren’t really considering that as a possibility. As a person with a near-debilitating problem with environmental chemicals, it makes perfect sense to me. I think the research WILL eventually be done, and in 20 years it’ll be, “Remember when we didn’t understand the link between all those chemicals and illness? Ha ha ha, we were so naive back then. Good thing we know EVERYTHING now.” (right).

Despite the fragrance, I was glad to have gone, and my daughter enjoyed having me there.

I dreamed about books and writing and publishing all night. I wish I could remember more than random details. Some of you know I’ve been going through some internal turmoil about my writing career (or lack thereof). You know how when you need to pee, trying to put it out of your mind just makes you need to pee worse? That’s me.

You guys have a great April Fool’s Day, hope all the pranks are harmless, and I’ll see you on the flip side.

Update: see Poison Scents, my blog dedicated to my fragrance sensitivity.

So this fragrance sensitivity I have, it is the real deal. As you may remember, I took out most everything in my house that contained fragrance and saw an immediate improvement. Over the past couple of weeks I have had much less eye fatigue, no headache, little to no sinus pressure. I’ve had a stuffy nose, but it’s the regular variety. I’m getting to a point where I can live with it.

I was able to find a fragrance-free version of everything in the house, but some things are available only through the internet and cost quite a bit more, such as dishwashing soap, so I’m dragging my feet on those. We’re still using the old Soft Soap, and my husband still uses his Irish Spring (making the concession of keeping it under the cabinet when not in use, not sure that’s good enough), and I’m using my kid’s shampoo since the smell is not nearly as strong as mine.

Everything was peachy…Until I whipped out the carpet stain remover. You know the kind where you spray it on the stain and wait three minutes and blot? That stuff will tear you a new sinus cavity. I didn’t consider as I sprayed it on that even after I blotted, the stuff would still be sitting there, in my carpet, silently giving off noxious fumes. By the end of the day I had a migraine. My first headache in weeks.

The headache is only annoying this morning, but I’ve been sneezing and having trouble focusing already. I tried rinsing and blotting again, but it didn’t work. I guess I have to break out the big guns: the carpet shampooer. Of course I won’t be using shampoo, only rinsing. Just think, I used to make my whole house smell like that shit… *shudder*

No wonder I had migraines.