The Healing Web
Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Internet
Michael Stipe is somone to whom I aspire. We do have some things in common: We are both vegatarians, members of PETA and Greenpeace, bisexual (not that there's anything wrong with that, as Jerry Seinfelf would say), artistic and creative. I haven't got a bald head and I'm female, and of course I cannot turn out CD's that are just superb as they do, but we all have talents in different areas I guess. I would love to see Michael write his autobiography. Maybe he will someday.
This is my favourite picture of Michael, because he looks so sensitive, thoughtful and kind. All members of R.E.M. fit that bill too (no pun intended) and if it were not for them, I would not be here today.
I also joined an online writers group, called "Writers". I "met" the list owner, Mike Barker, nicknamed "Tink" and a whole host of budding and published writers. There were many problems but they will be covered in fiction in my book. I wrote a book called "Turning Your Life Into Saleable Prose" and so I hope I have learned a few things. Anyway, please stop by later while I get the summaries started and get this book underway. I hope you'll come along for the ride. Oh, and that dorky photo at the top of this page? That's yours truly, "The face that sunk a thousand ships".
Summaries Of the Chapters Of the Novel: A Beginning
Chapter One: Slipping Backwards
Sara Schilling had had a good summer overall. She went to Seattle to watch her younger brother marry a wonderful young woman named Rochelle and had finished her autobiography while in the fresh air, gorgeous mountains and creative verve that literally set Seatlle ablaze. Sara thought of Kurt Cobain here and wished he hadn't killed himself. He was such a gifted musician but so incredibly tortured.
Sara admired Kurt, for at many times during her thirty-eight years she had considered suicide herself. In fact, she became an expert on botched attempts. Doctors said that she really didn't want to die but it was all a cry for help. Sara agreed for the most part but two times had been the real thing. Fate had just happened to intervene in time, that was all. She wasn't proud of these incidents as they nearly destroyed her mother and promised never to attempt it again. This chapter opens with Sara having her autobiography accepted for publication. She has mixed feelings about it. For one thing, it was nice to be under forty and published, as she never thought she would, but it cut both ways: In her book she had been openly candid about her bisexuality and had told the world about a sick babysitter who molested her as an infant. Nobody in the family knew about that until they read her manuscript. But Sara, for the longest time, didn't want anyone reading it. She developed hysterical pelvic pain, as some do with blindness, pregnancy or paralysis. Sara was in such incredible pain that she got hooked on Percocet. This will be fleshed out as the book gets underway.
It seemed as even Michael Stipe, who she adored, looked sad in this picture and she imagined he was despondant because of her. She knew differently, of course, but the pain got worse. She went through a battery of tests from a gynecological one to a sigmoidoscopy and everything in between, with no results. So Sara felt like a hypochondriac or one suffering from Muenschouser's Symptom, which she vehemiently denied. But what was wrong?
Sara lay on the living room couch for weeks, never showering, changing her clothes or moving at night up to her bedroom. It just hurt too much. She wanted her life back. She wanted something other than suffering on a couch and blankly staring at the television, not taking much in. This was the fall of 1995 and all Sara Schilling had to look forward to was seeing R.E.M. on David Letterman, a show she had on every week-night to try to cheer herself up. Meanwhile, her use of Percocet was escalating, eventually to make an addict out of her. Her physician kept prescribing them because he hated seeing her in so much pain. He tried to understand why Sara was having these awful hysterical pains but nobody had any answers. So her life went further and further downhill.
End of the summary of Chapter One. Later, I will put chapter two's summary up here, just so you know that this novel is getting done. You people out there are helping me by reading this. It's the only way I know if I am doing a decent job or not. Thank you, all who stop on by. A preview of Chapter Two is that Sara finally confronts what is causing the hysterical pain and it leads to more problems. I strongly urge new writers out there to write a novel first. I have learned the hard way. Believe me, it's not easy to "open a vein" as they say.
