Tackling Flaws of Lyme Disease Tests & Treatment in Fiction

What do you do when your journey down the rabbit hole that is Lyme disease likely began with a misdiagnosis of ringworm, led to a possibility of advanced bladder cancer, morphed into several autoimmune disorders that required visits to a myriad of medical personnel, and finally, nearly a decade later, was correctly diagnosed as Lyme?

Perhaps, like many, you write a memoir.

Or you turn to the wisdom of Albert Camus and tell your story in a novel since, "Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth."

Protagonist in I Cannot Play With You Fights for her Health

I've given my 50-year-old protagonist, Anna McGrory, a state director for a U.S. Senator from the Berkshires of Massachusetts, all of the exhausting, perplexing, and often painful symptoms of my own Lyme disease and its co-infections.

Anna travels from her home in Concord, NH, to the Berkshires, into Boston, and up to the islands off the coast of Portland, Maine, in this tale of intrigue. The story, which begins and ends on idyllic Cliff Island, Maine, features favorite local businesses such as Casco Bay Lines in Portland and Angelina’s RistoranteItaliano in Concord.

Cultural attractions also appear, including MASS MoCA and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which are spotlighted in end-of-chapter summaries with links to Anna McGrory’sPinterest pages. Also featured is the Trustees of Reservations’ Field Farm in Williamstown, Massachusetts, which serves as the fictional U.S. Senator’s home.

I Cannot Play With You is scheduled for release Dec. 13, 2018, by Texas publisher Black Rose Writing. For more information, please visit the author’s website at GreenChairPictures.com.

Find I Cannot Play With You at these bricks-and-mortar stores: Gibson’s Bookstore, Concord, NH; Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shops, Bar Harbor, Boothbay Harbor, Camden, Damariscotta, Freeport, & Portland, Maine; Cliff Island Store, Cliff Island, ME; MainStreet BookEnds, Warner, NH, and--thanks to the New Hampshire Writers' Project--at Toadstool Bookshop of Milford, NH.

Borrow the novel from the Pillsbury Free Library, Warner, New Hampshire, the Concord Public Library in Concord, NH, or the Cliff Island Library in Maine when it opens again in June 2019.

Online, I Cannot Play With You is available via the following retailers: Indigo (Canada); Barnes and Noble; Amazon; Black Rose Writing (Publisher)

Ends of Chapters

I've been reading mysteries for decades (never mind how many!). In the past couple of years I began reading chick lit murder mysteries that offer recipes at the end of each chapter. While I usually breeze past the ingredients and the how-to directions in order to get to the start of the next chapter and see where the cliffhanger takes me, I often return to the most memorable yummy snacks to try my hand at the concoction. Or at least to drool over the ingredients. 

Located at the end of Chapter 25 in my novel, I Cannot Play with You, due out from Black Rose Writing, December 2018.

In my debut novel, I decided to create a Pinterest account for my character, and conclude each chapter with a little snippet that sums up an aspect mentioned in the story. I created the profile and board more than two years ago as I wrote the novel to see how it felt. I really enjoyed jumping into the character of Anna in both my writing and via the social media board. I also like highlighting some of my favorite things in life, like the BritCom Miranda, created by and starring Miranda Hart. 

Here's a snippet of a conversation from an earlier chapter--number 23, I believe. The main character, Anna, and her best friend, May, really do quote from the show quite a lot. If you haven't seen Miranda, I highly recommend you watch it. Now. With a cup of tea. That's not too hot...since you may find yourself spitting it out as you laugh aloud.