Good day one and all. Let me introduce myself. My name is Shiela Stewart and I write paranormal romance. I am also a mother of three children, 14, 17 and 21 and have been married to an absolutely wonderful man for twenty-four years. I have accomplished a great deal in the three years since I was first published, having 15 books under my belt.  Now, personally, I think that is quite an accomplishment, considering I work in pain eighty percent of the time.

When I was twenty-five, I was diagnosed with Migraines. For those that don’t know what that is, let me give you a brief explanation.  Despite what you may have heard, Migraines are not just a headache and anyone who has ever suffered with them will tell you hearing people refer to them as “just a headache” pisses us off.

The term “migraine” refers to a syndrome of vascular spasms of the cranial blood vessels. Symptoms of a migraine attack may include heightened sensitivity to light and sound, nausea, auras (loss of vision in one eye or tunnel vision), difficulty of speech and intense pain predominating on one side of the head. It’s not pain you’re likely to forget if you’ve ever experienced it. The excruciating pain of a migraine, often accompanied by nausea or sensitivity to light and sound, can be brutally painful. As anyone who’s suffered a migraine can tell you, these headaches, when left untreated or treated ineffectively, can disrupt every aspect of a person’s life, from the ability to work to day-to-day activities and relationships. They can eventually lead to a loss of self-confidence, sense of control and self-esteem.

Though the description above does give you a good look at a migraine, it does not give you a complete idea of what it really is like to suffer from migraines so let me fill you in. Have you ever drank a cold drink so fast that it feels as if your head will explode? I’m sure you have. Now imagine while in that excruciating pain, someone is stabbing an ice pick into one of your eyes. Now, add extreme nausea and the need to stay away from the bright lights that are so painful to your eyes that you would just as soon rip them out then deal with the pain. Okay, visual enough for you. Now try dealing with that pain for a day, two, three, a week, two weeks. And while you are in that searing pain, try concentrating on writing a book.

That is my life. I suffer from a migraine at least three times a month and they always last for at least three days but have gone on for a week. If I’m lucky they only last three days, but rarely I am. But despite the pain, I have managed to write over fifty stories and published fifteen. There have been times my head has hurt so bad that I want to slam it into a wall. I’ve had thoughts of gouging my eye out to relieve the pain. And though I want nothing more than to crawl into a deep dark pit, I know I have edits to do and stories to get finished to meet my deadlines. It’s difficult to think over the pain, to focus on building a relationship where the hero and heroine just can’t get enough of each other while the pain is screaming in my head. But I manage because it’s part of my life and I have to get it done.

I rarely discuss the pain I am in almost constantly. Only once have I written it into one of my stories. But I find ways to deal with it, such as writing stories about vampires who live in a city cast in total darkness for an entire year. When I am in excruciating pain and the sun is shining brightly into my room, I often think how wonderful it would be to live in a world with no sun. I guess, in some sense, I am a vampire because I avoid the daylight. If I’m in a dark room and someone opens a curtain, I will cry out and scramble for any part of the room that is still dark. I don’t have the blood-lust, though if someone were to tell me drinking blood was my only prevention from these awful migraines, I wouldn’t hesitate.

So when I write about vampires, I don’t make them ruthless blood thirsty animals. Well, the evil ones I do but the hero and heroines are always just trying to live with their disease and find ways to cope with it. I am a child of darkness at least seventy percent of the time and so what would be more fitting than for me to write about darkness and the creatures who suffer in it.

Now, I didn’t write this to gain pity. If I wanted pity I would be more vocal about my pain. No, I wrote this to let you know why it is I write what I write. And also, to give hope to someone else who is suffering a much as I am and to know that despite the pain, there can be pleasure. You just have to find a way around it, like I have. As I write this, I am in the midst of a two day migraine and despite the meds I have taken, the pain is still killing me. Though it has taken me the better part of an hour to write just over nine-hundred and fifty words, I have managed to get this post finished. Why, you might ask? Because I am an author and just because the pain is blurring my vision and dulling my brain, I know I have a job to do and it must get done.

For a more in-depth look at my struggle with Migraines, you can go to my website at http://www.shielasbooks.ca/Migraines.htm

My website: www.shielasbooks.ca
Place to purchase my books: www.breathlesspress.com