Hello lovelies! Personal post incoming:

I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease when I was seventeen. CD has affected my life in a lot of ways, but I never consciously considered the disease part of my identity as a writer. CD was something that “was there” in my day-to-day, but I didn’t really think it made me me as a writer. Oh, how naïve I was 😉

Crohn’s Cliffnotes

Sooo, CD is an auto-immune disease and a type of IBD that causes inflammation in the digestive tract. In my case, it mostly causes abdominal pain, weight loss, malnutrition, and fatigue (the latter even when I’m in remission). There’s no known cure for CD, but medication can greatly reduce symptoms and even bring about long-term remission. I’ve been in remission for four years now 🙂

The Surgery Thing

In April 2020, I had to have surgery because scarring from my CD inflammation was blocking my food flow. I was in a lot of pain, I was losing weight because I couldn’t really eat, and I was suuuper tired. My doctors removed 12 inches of my (mostly large) intestine and I spent a week in the hospital.

At the time, I was very down-to-earth about it (if I do say so myself 😉 ). Yes, the disease had knocked me down. Yes, it had been a bit scary. Yes, I now had a nasty scar on my stomach that kinda looks like Harry Potter’s lightning bolt scar (which is maybe sort of cool). BUT, thanks to the surgery, I was feeling much, much better. The pain was gone. Food tasted glorious. I grew less and less tired, so I could get up and actually do things. I appreciated every stupid, little, wonderful thing about my life. ALSO: I was more determined than ever to write my first book.

Check out this 2022 blog post for the deets!

CD and Author-Me

Apart from that (fairly short) blog post, I never really addressed my chronic illness on my writerly channels. I didn’t think it was important to who I was as a writer, and I wanted to keep my content light and fun and focused on my writing journey.

Fastforward to August 2024: I was deep in revisions for my second book when I came to realize that my experiences with chronic illness were woven into its very heart: it’s a story about a teenage girl with a chronically ill brother and a permanently wounded love interest. Together with their misfit friends, they fight villains, rob the Austrian empire, start a rebellion, and work through their complicated feelings about love and family and life and sickness.

Coincidence, perhaps?

Flashback to my first book (the one I wrote while recovering from my CD surgery): a young woman with a debilitating magical power infiltrates the rebels that brutally killed her family, because the only one that can teach her how to understand and navigate her condition (and maaaybe keep her from dying) is their notorious leader.

Again, coincidence? Hahaha, yeah, probably not…

Aaand, I have another story idea stewing in my brain. It’s about a young, female MC with CD who may or may not be a prisoner in the infamous Bastille Saint-Antoine in Paris, plotting to escape so she can kill King Louis XIV of France.

#mmmokay… 😉

To Wrap Things Up

Looking back, I have NO EFFING IDEA why I ever thought my experiences with CD/chronic illness were not important to who I am as a writer! They so obviously are…jeez!

Sooo, lesson learned and new insight gained: I now know a bit better who I am as a writer! And even though I’m never going to be thankful for having CD, I am grateful for the stories I’m writing because of it.

Also, as of today, you can find my updated author bio here 🙂