October and the period running through my own birthday and the run-up to Christmas tends to be a bad time for me. I usually get ill, perhaps that has contributed to the fact that there is a network, a jigsaw, of bad anniverseries during those weeks.

(Possibly the most dangerous thing I can do during this period is to try to write fiction, or possibly to write anything against a deadline. I honestly don't know whether that would rule out any possibility that I could be a professional writer. To write to someone else's requirements is just not feasible during about 25% of the year[fairly predictably].)

Years back I talked to a doctor about it and was told that fever, (sleeplessless, high pain levels, etc. - plus, by this point, the effects of fluctuating blood sugar on the brain) all the effects of my physical disabilities also tend to break down mental barriers...

It turned out that I couldn't even write a nomination for a senior colleague until mid-last week (although state of computer/isp big factor in that.) Anyway, I managed it, and the secretariat has, predictably, taken it off the form that I wrote, typed it and worded it as though my work was done by a male job-sharer...