I'm Known As Ladymermaid

I always knew that I wanted to be a writer, as I child it was my goal, but that dream somehow was forgotten for many years. I grew up, I married, I had children, and life was busy with the processes of living.

Then the marriage which I had entered into too early in my life failed. My husband and I divorced while the children were still in their preschool years. I quickly discovered how much I hated the poverty that came with being a single parent. I desperately wanted to earn my independence so I returned to college to further my education. But life seemed to have a different course set for me and I was going to run into a few major roadblocks.

At the wise old age of 26 I found myself faced with a battle which has remained with me since. I was struck down and disabled by a very rare and misunderstood chronic illness. It happened so quickly that it seemed to occur overnight. My body stiffened up like a tin soldier, I was exhausted, dopey, weak, and in severe pain. I was choking on my food and the slightest exertion left me gasping for breath. The severe fatigue and brain fog that accompanied the illness made it impossible for me to continue my university program. I reluctantly withdrew from my course of studies and spent the next few years simply, and desperately, battling my illness.

I tried numerous ways over the years to maintain some form of employment which could be maintained around the illness, but the disease somehow always managed to outwit me, and I would have to leave the job to take time to heal. I would rest to heal from the abuse on my now weakened body. Then I would revise my battle plan and try a different approach.

Even situations which would appear to be the ideal part time employment were impossible to maintain over any extended period of time. My illness would take a dangerous turn, and I would be forced to retreat, rest, and heal.

It is extremely difficult to hold even a part time job when you must rotate working months with taking numerous months off from work to rest. It is a combination which is just not acceptable to the world as it currently exists. It also began to be just too frightening for me to continue this form of abuse to my body.

So I turned to the Internet to search out a way of creating a source of employment for myself. It was a logical decision. I would not have to leave my home to work and I could take rest breaks whenever I needed them. While searching out ways to earn money online I rediscovered my love of writing and I made the decision to be a writer.

The majority of my first articles focused on my illness and the processes of earning an online income. As I researched an idea, I would then write out what I had learned, and create my articles this way. As my illness is always foremost in my mind I am constantly searching out information, possible causes, and treatments which might aide me. This research became the basis for many of my online articles.

My theory was, "why waste good research?" and sharing what I learned also gave me the unique opportunity of providing aide to someone else who may have found them self in one of the same circumstances as myself.

Writing can be a very satisfying profession. The monetary rewards are slow but the emotional benefits are immense.

Because the fatigue and brain fog issues of my illness are still very real I have a tendency to live my life in bits and pieces. This makes writing and blogging online the ideal writer's format for me. I write short articles and then add to them as is necessary. When you write online it is very important to be constantly updating your articles so this system works very well for me.

Reading and writing are real issues for me as I must work around the brain fog which causes me to be somewhat inattentive to detail. Brain fog is somewhat like working while you are suffering from an extremely bad case of the flu. Your brain is indeed foggy. This mental confusion causes me to miss small details, to substitute in similar but incorrect words, and to have a very low concentration span. I spend a great deal of time correcting my errors.

I write short articles, I read short articles, and I live my life in bits and pieces. Although I used to love to read I have now not read a complete book since I became ill. It is too frustrating a task to even attempt.

I now have a considerable number of articles online. The direction of my writing has changed somewhat over the years but each piece still maintains my character within it.

I have had quite a few plagiarists steal the words from my articles and this has been more than a little annoying. This theft makes me so angry that some days I could scream, but usually I just break down, and have myself a really good cry instead. Then I go spend some time reporting them to the proper channels.

When you write online it seems to be a constant battle against those individuals who want to earn a free dollar off of the back of someone else's hard work. I guess not seeing your victim makes it a little easier to create the crime...

I'll conclude this article here, but anything else that you would like to know about me, you can learn through my articles. My writing is my life. My writings hold my heart. They are my anger, my laughter, my tears, my frustrations, and my triumphs.

I hope that my articles can bring you a touch of warmth on a cold day and a new prospective to the way that you view life on this old planet that we call home.