Catching Up and Free Stuff

Hi Everyone!

First things first...

I'm really late to the party on this, but Cruel to be Kind, my story for the Goodreads MM Romance Group Event is available as a free download here. It's also listed on Goodreads here. It's MM, BDSM, Vampire.

My story from last years event is on the same site, again as a free download. It's called Taken. It's MMMM, BDSM, Elves. (Heads up it contains what some readers may consider dubious consent.) Download it here. See it on Goodreads here.

The stories for this year's event are still posting, lots of different stories, lots of writers you may not have read before. Check them out. All the stories contain tags at the start so you can get an idea of it each one will be your thing before you dive in :)

On to other news...

I've been debating about whether or not to write about this. If you've been following me for a while, you may well have heard me mention that I've had certain health concerns that sometimes mean I can't write and release books as quickly as I'd like. For people new to the party, a brief recap. I was diagnosed as having ME (also referred to as Chronic Fatigue Syndome) 17 years ago, when I was 13. My symptoms are toward the more severe end of the spectrum a lot of the time.

ME is effectively a negative diagnosis. There is no test for it. You get to a diagnosis by ruling out everything else that could be causing your symptoms. This isn't a perfect process. There are a lot of things to rule out. Every so often, a new possibility rears it's head and you have more tests and, generally, add something else to the list of things you *don't* have.

It's quite an emotional process. To be honest, I've reached the point where I really want a test for something to come back positive. There's nothing they can do to help me with ME, but if an underlying condition is found, there's the hope that there will be treatment or management options attached to it.

Over the last few weeks, I have had a couple of tests. The results aren't what was expected. I don't have what we were testing for, but it seems possible that I might have something else instead. There are lots more tests to do to find out what exactly might be going on, and if it is at the root cause of what is currently diagnosed as ME.

I don't want to get my hopes up to high. I don't know if there will be an actual diagnosis at the end, what the options might be, or if it will turn out I have ME plus something else alongside it.

In an ideal world the process will lead to me being able to do more writing and release more books at a quicker pace. However, along the way, it might be that things actually slow down a fraction more, because energy will have to be diverted to dealing with tests etc.

There won't be anything new coming out this summer, but I have my fingers crossed that Axel's Pup will still release in the autumn :)

*Hugs*

Kim Dare