Monday, May 31, 2010

A bad week...

It's been the worst week, or rather 7 days, since it began last Monday night with the burglary and theft of my laptop. And then on Saturday night, one of our cats, beautiful Cleo, was hit by a car. We got a message at midnight, we were deeply shocked and upset. She is in the RSPCA clinic - amazingly the person who hit her took her there, which is wonderful, I can't bear to think what might have happened otherwise, we are really grateful to him!




We went to see her on Sunday, poor little thing - her hip is dislocated but the worst thing is that she seemed to have gone blind. It was so hard to see her there, just lying there, not moving. But they are taking good care of her. They X-rayed her yesterday afternoon and, thank goodness, found no internal injuries, but also no damage to the eye so the vet thinks it is nerve damage.

This morning when we called, he said that one of her eyes is now reacting to light, which is an improvement, so we are hoping that it is trauma, or swelling which will go down. She is such an active cat - she'd taken to hanging out in the pub around the corner! - and we didn't want to force her to stay in after she'd spent 6 months in quarantine. But if she's blind, her whole life will change. We will probably be moving her to our local vet tomorrow, round the corner, and then home soon, I hope.

And today, in a sort of unrelated move, I closed my Facebook account. It suddenly dawned on me that I needed to do it. I had been feeling too "exposed", too "out there" for a while, and an unpleasant interchange this week just made me see that quitting Facebook was the right move, and would give me so much more time to write!

So, a retreat, of sorts, back into myself, back into my private space, my writing space. I will miss hearing about what all my online friends are up to, getting links to newly-published stories, sharing good news and seeing pictures. I know I'll miss out on invitations to events and that sort of thing. But I hope that if anyone's interesting, they can pop into my blog, see what I'm up to. I will probably be blogging more now, as I process what I'm up to in something slightly longer than 400 characters!

I look forward to writing. Perhaps, in a while, I might even have another book to promote, and nothing beats Facebook for that sort of thing, but that is a long time off, nothing in the works. Drop me a line, leave me a comment, so I don't miss you all too much!

In other, nicer, news, a lovely review of The White Road and Other Stories by Ilana Teitelbaum on the Huffington Post today. And tomorrow Nik Perring will be here, talking about his lovely new collection of flash stories, Not so Perfect.

12 comments:

Susan Pogorzelski said...

I'm so sorry to hear everything you've been through, Tania...My thoughts go out to your cat, and my heart goes out to you. Much love and friendship.

Ann G said...

So sorry to hear about your cat, Tania.

Will miss you on FB, but it's terrible time sink. It can only be Good Thing if you get more writing time

Ann :)

Lauri said...

Tania so sorry about your cat. I hope she's better soon. Somehow sick animals are so much harder to accept since you can't explain to them what is going on.

About FB, it's true is is a timewaster and people can be difficult. I'm sorry if you had a bad experience. In the end we need to take care of ourselves.

Group 8 said...

Sorry to hear that, Tania. If you need to 'talk', mail me. N x

Tania Hershman said...

Susan, thank you so much. I know that you, as a fellow pet-lover, understand how upsetting this is. Lots of love to you too.

Ann, thanks, I really hope the extra time will feed my creativity!


Lauri, it is true, we need to look after ourselves, and this is definitely me doing that. And yes, the worst thing is not being able to help Cleo understand why she can't see right now. So sad.

N - thank you, will do. x

Jenzarina said...

Oh, what a horrible week, all those things happening at once.
Best wishes to Cleo Cat, it is heartbreaking not being able to explain to them what's happening. I hope she can come home soon.
Hugs from this side of the Pond,

J x

Nik Perring said...

Hugs, Tania.

But what a fabulous review!

E.P. Chiew said...

Tania, I'm really sorry to hear that you're going through such a lot. Poor kitty.
Lots and lots of hugs.
Elaine

Ossian said...

Tania, you will be missed on Facebook. I've unjoined and rejoined several times and I think most people of sensitivity have the same experience with it. However, in the end I hope you will find that you don't want to let anybody deprive you of it indirectly by being beastly. It is a good lark I think, after all. I'd love to know who said what and preferably to clobber them with a metaphorical frying pan for you. I'm sure the cat is receiving the best possible care and will know that it's you who is ensuring that it receives the best care. I remember when my oldest dog was very ill and I had to leave him with the vet for two nights, when I came to collect him they asked me for his collar and lead and went in the back. He came out carrying his own lead in his mouth, ran out to me, having escaped when they put it on. I hope your cat comes home. Please God. Whom I don't even believe in, but for your cat, I will make an exception.

Sue Guiney said...

Just getting back and catching up on blogs. I'm so sorry to hear about your cat. I hope she recovers fully and soon. I completely understand about facebook, but don't worry -- it will take a lot more than a little closed account to get rid of me! xoxo

Rachel Fenton said...

Awe - lots of get well vibes for Cleo - what a terrible thing on top of your other misfortunes. Hope things improve from here on in for you.

Wishing you lots of creativity now you are face book free, too :)

Pippa Goldschmidt said...

so sorry about your kitty, hope she gets better soon...