My silence in recent months was not planned.
In late September, I was rushed to the emergency room with severe abdominal pains. Words like colon cancer, emergency surgery and high white blood cell count were thrown around and suddenly my life became finite. It became clear that I only have a set amount of time left on this earth. That maybe I won’t get to grow old with my wife or see my daughter grow up to be a woman and possible parent of her own. And it scared the shit out of me.
My wife and I are no stranger to death, having lost siblings, parents, grandparents and friends, but I’ve never faced my own mortality like this before. To be frank it was terrifying. It was just me and my thoughts. It was not a great place to be. It was a mind full of regret, despair, anger and fear.
It ended up being a fluke occurrence, I did have to have surgery to remove a full obstruction to my lower intestines, but the experience has spurned me on to being the best person I can be. Be that as a husband, a father, a friend, a son, a brother and yes, as an author. I’ve always been a bit of a procrastinator and suddenly I was faced with the harsh reality of being out of time. I want to make the most of the time I have here. I have a wonderful life. A wife and daughter I love very much, many, many friends and a promising writing career.
I am back into writing “Don’t Make Me Come Down There” and am all in until it’s finished. This will be my defining work. It has every part of me in the story, the characters and especially the dialogue. I look forward to releasing it to the world next year.
When my time is up, I want to look back with no regrets, with my elderly wife beside me and my grown up daughter. I will not settle for less.
Yours relieved,
CWC
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