So, last summer I broke my ankle. It’s a terrible excuse for not getting things done, but that’s a real thing. So I had a struggle where I thought it would heal on its own as a sprain, and then I found out the ankle was really broken.

I have spent the past four months (October, November, December, January) in a cycle of finding the break, looking at the options, having surgery (28 December) and recovering. I’m not all the way there yet. I was allowed to weight-bear as tolerated this week, to wean off crutches, and to actually teach yoga with this tank-boot they gave me.

Before this, I’ve been teaching from the chair. It’s nice to have a reason to get out of the house and interact with adults. Sitting alone in the house, even with the husband nearby, isn’t enough to engage my brain. I took naps, too, at first. It’s amazing how refreshing a nap is while healing.

It’s good to note that I’m not fully recovered. The PT regimen I received after surgery details 16 weeks of therapy before I’m ready to run again, and that won’t be until late April. I did tell my classes this week I’m so excited to be able to stand and walk – even limited walking with a crutch that I did for most of the week.

This is the second time in my life I’ve had issues standing and walking. The first happened in my early 20s, and I haven’t forgotten the pain and struggle I had to be upright and mobile. It’s one reason I have been so dedicated to yoga for such a long time, because that is part of what helped me heal. However, nothing else stands still just because you can’t get up and move.

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you’ve seen Shohola Press‘s new anthology Abandoned Places which will contain my story, “Two Tails”. Mermaids ahead! I’ve read a couple other stories contained within the book, and it’ll promise a lot of wonderful reading material. I can’t wait to get my copy.

Also, I’ve been interviewed as a fitness expert on the Unreliable Narrators podcast. It’s my first time on a podcast! It’s a little less scary since I know most of them in person. Click Here to listen.

Last ICON, Jim C. Hines was kind enough to take new headshots for me, and I’m ever so slowly updating my images. If you ever get the chance, he’s an amazing individual, sometime photographer, and a terrific writer. Always room for him when I’m at BarCon. (I promised. I hope he never regrets it.)

Finally, the rights for The Art of Science have reverted back to me. Funny, I’d asked if it was out of contract but I did have it in my email that it was finished last March. That was confirmed in the last week, though it is still available at Amazon (1 copy left) last I checked. It’ll catch up eventually.

Some years I like to look forward around December and January, but most of this has been obscured by surgery and the fog that comes with recovery. What day is it? What date? No one knows. My phone buzzes with Physical Therapy and Doctor Appointment at intervals, and I find myself rides to get there. I’m allowed to drive, but no one wants to let me do that on my own yet. I get it. Don’t rush it. Take time to heal. The platitudes are ever-present.

I run into a possibly surprising number of people who have had similar enough injuries to require the tank-boot on my foot. I have to wear a shoe on my other foot, even in the house, to even out my gait for walking – which is torture in and of itself. I hate wearing “real” shoes.

So this year’s planning session ends up the end of January and into February. I know I’ll be at ICON. Thinking ahead to the yoga festival and possibly a few other trips. WorldCon is on my radar but I’m still figuring out logistics. I’m working on a couple short stories and trying to find the brainspace to go back to that novel editing. I’ll also be running my local writer’s group this year.

I am amazed how much space healing takes up. Some of my reading time has been spent trying to understand the role pain plays in the body, how it’s all in my head, and how to overcome it. Yes, that might be working its way through my head to not only help me with yoga teaching but also in some coming stories. It might be more than one now. I’ve had a lot of time to just sit and think and at some point the characters in my head will start demanding their stories be told.

Photo Commentary: X-ray for interest, taken in October. The bone fragment at the bottom of my fibula was removed, about the size of my thumb to the first knuckle. A ligament had to be reattached.