Warning: depressing article ahead.

As I sit here in my computer chair, there are constant stabbing pains all the way from the base of my spine up until between my shoulder blades.  I have a lingering stiffness in my right leg from a little unplanned hike earlier in the week and my knees are starting to ache because it’s late in the day.  Even though it’s only around 8:00pm on a Sunday I’m exhausted, despite sleeping in until noon.

This is a good day for me.

My as yet undiagnosed chronic pain has taken so many things away from me, mainly the sports I used to enjoy and are still listed on my ‘About’ page because they’re too painful to take down.  I have no social life and just surviving a full day of work takes enormous effort.  And you know what?  Compared to some people with chronic pain, I have it easy.

Yes, I’m trying to go somewhere with this rather than having a pity party.  My point is that chronic pain is hard because it’s, well, chronic.  As in you’re in pain for every single waking moment.  That’s what makes it so hard for normal people to even begin to understand, let alone feel comfortable talking about.

So how does this relate to books?  Well, in YA you see all kinds of different people being represented and that’s awesome.  It’s nice to see LGBT people and people of various races finally being represented in fiction, even though we still have a long way to go in regards to fair representation.  I think it’s amazing that YA authors are able to talk about things like terminal illnesses such as cancer or self-harm and suicide.  But as someone with a very limited support group trying to deal with chronic pain, it would be nice to be represented in even just one book.  Yet I also have a practical streak, so here are the reasons why no author wants to tackle chronic pain:

1.  It would be a tough balancing act. Continue reading →