This will be a longish post.
First the coolest thing:
Hi Ilona & Gordon,
I hope you are both doing well and enjoying the summer! I’m so pleased to share that TIME Magazine has recently launched a major romance project, including a list of The 50 Best Romance Novels to Read Right Now that features WILDFIRE by Ilona Andrews! 🎉 A version of this project will appear on TIME’s print issue on August 16th.
All best,
Madelyn
Oh yes. We are the coolest. I would do a dance, but I hurt all over.
COVID
PSA: a new fun COVID variant is out and about. You know how the COVID test warns you that the sample line, the one that tells you if you are infected, might be faint? And it might take 15 minutes… My line showed in 3 seconds and it was so thick, it was purple. If that test had a voice, it would’ve screamed at the top of its lungs.
The picture on the left is me during the release party when I was feeling sick but still functional. The picture on the right was also me, after an evening of burning up with a fever, shivering under two blankets, and not being able to get warm. It hit that hard and that quick.
My fever finally broke around 1:00 am and I thought I was going to be better. Then someone shoved some broken glass into my throat.
It hurts. This is not a typical sore throat. It hurts so bad that I cannot sleep. Coughing is excruciating. Drinking lukewarm water hurts. I have slept about 8 hours total since Saturday. I’m writing this on Tuesday, so we will see how it will go tonight. I made a mistake of tasting a small piece of steak I made for Gordon. We are both exhausted, but we had ordered out 3 days in a row, and I felt this weird, slightly delirious need to make something. So I made steak because it’s easy. Except I marinated it in my patented marinade, and after I broiled it, I tasted a small bite.
It burned like fire. I made this little hoarse scream, ran for the medicine cabinet, and drank some Mylanta, because it felt like someone poured acid down my throat and I needed to neutralize it. I must have ulcers all over. I almost cried.
Nothing helps. Not Theraflu, not throat spray, not cough drops, throat coat tea, lozenges, ibuprofen, not salt water gargle, not honey, not whatever remedy you want. Nothing helps. It feels like someone is stabbing your throat with a knife from inside out. I can’t breathe through my nose either, so it is extra fun. The only thing that numbs it for about 15 minutes is this hard core Mucinex throat spray, but it numbs your whole mouth too and it burns like hell on contact.
If you haven’t boosted, I strongly urge you to boost now. I was vaccinated and boosted, but it had been several month since my last shot. I was planning to get my booster shot before Dragoncon, but the birthday dinner ended up hitting me first.
Whatever this fucking variant is, you don’t want it.
Just in case you are worried, we have an oxymeter, and our readings are normal. It’s just torturing us right now. Hopefully it won’t get worse.
Store refunds
We are happy to announce that despite being sick, we have processed all V-neck refunds. Some of them may take longer to reach your accounts, depending on your method of payment. We can only issue refunds, we can’t speed up the processing via Paypal, etc.
Why did it take so long?
Here is the process for issuing a refund:
- Open the affected order in Shopify (our storefront.)
- Edit Order and remove V-neck or V-necks.
- Click refund. This gives me the amount of the refund without shipping.
- Manually add $5.19 per T-shirt on the calculator.
- Refund the sum of the order and shipping.
- Send apologies through the email.
- Go to Printify (our supplier.)
- Find the order
- Edit the order to remove the T-shirt.
- Recalculate shipping.
- Send order into production.
We have refunded 240 orders. Some of you will get an additional refund for 1 dollar due to a slight accounting error with shipping taxes.
You will get a statement with your refund that will show the original shipping. That’s because we rolled your shipping into the refund itself. So if you shirt was originally $20, your refund will show $25.19. It was easier to do it that way than to refund your order and shipping separately.
Some bad news: the volume of BDH orders was really high. 1,349 orders were placed, most for multiple items. Over 1,200 are either in production or shipped.
We have 95 orders right now with items out of stock, which is our only hold up. We are going to do our best to work through this issue, and if we can’t resolve it, we may have to issue more refunds. We would much prefer to resolve it because we know you are excited for the cute merch.
If your item arrives and it’s misprinted or broken, please let us know. We will get a replacement to you at no extra charge. This doesn’t come out of our pocket. That falls onto the producer of the item.
The store will be open this Friday for last minute shopping.
We have done months of preparation this time. We commissioned good designs, we had a variety of items, we were excited to offer you new options, and we had finished everything a couple of weeks before the store was to go live. We even had a practice shopping session. Smooth sailing. And then the store opened, and we started getting hit with the items being out of stock.
We are so sorry for the stock issues. It’s out of our control but we recognize that this is not the shopping experience you were looking forward to.
I don’t know when or if we are going to do this again. They have assigned us a special team now, and they are promising up and down that this will not happen again. The future of the store will require some thinking and adjustments.
So the bottom line is: BDH totally broke the store. The castle of Printify was overrun.
Horde Level: epic.
Mod R’s Vacation
Mod R will be on a much deserved vacation by the end of this week. You are going to get my COVID-tainted ramblings instead. You can still send her questions, but the replies will be delayed.
Panic
I am low-key panicking, because since both Gordon and I have COVID, the editing ground to a halt and the long book is due at the end of this month. So I need to get my rest in tonight, and tomorrow, the store will be handed over to our awesome store staff and I will need to try to claw my way out of this fever, etc. to get back to work.
It has to start getting better by tomorrow, right? Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, I mean, we have got to turn the corner here.
Emotional Support
We got flowers today. From Kid 2 and her boyfriend. The card said:
Congratulations on making Time Magazine.
You are good at stuff! All the stuff!
Get well soon.
We are good at stuff. We can get better.
Gordon is coughing badly. Got to go.
Update: It’s Wednesday morning and the combo of Theraflu and exhaustion worked. I got six hours of sleep. Vacation responder is down and I am back at work. Throat still hurts. Damn it.
I’m so sorry you both are having to deal with COVID. My doctor told me at one point that for a sore throat – one like you are dealing with – to purchase children’s Benadryl, gargle with it and swallow it. It also helps numb your throat but not everything else. Also it will help you sleep.
If COVID is causing a post-nasal drip, this will help slow that down.
In addition, you need to take vitamin D and zinc. The vitamin D dose is weight dependent so for every 25 lbs, you need to take 100 UI of vitamin D. The zinc can be in any form (gluconate, picolinate etc.) I hope you both feel better.
Yay, the first half of my mug order arrived today in N. Ireland. That’s pretty quick, and more to look forward to 🥳
Call your Dr. and ask him for Lidocaine mouthwash. Yes, there is such a thing. You swish and swallow it and don’t drink anything for at least 10 min and it will numb your throat so you can hydrate and eat after for at least 30 min. (retired RN here). Home remedies that may help: honey and WHISKEY. the honey helps the whiskey down to numb the throat and help the pain. The honey also boosts immune system if you use locally produced honey. They whiskey, well, I don’t need to say more about the benefits of that helping you get *some* sleep? Bless you both and get well soon.
Have you doctor prescribe Paxlovid if you are still sick. It worked a miracle for me last time I got COVID (also vaccinated and boosted). The variant I got sounded similar to what you have minus the throat from hell. Mine was a headache so bad, I couldn’t tolerate any light.
I hope you feel better. It is probably too late now but the best thing for when you feel the slightest throat tickle is the original Listerine full strength. When you gargle try to get it as far back in the throat as possible. The alcohol in it will dry out the inflamed tissues and within hours your throat will feel better. A few seconds of OMG what did I do for fast relief.
I miss the days when doctors prescribed codeine cough syrup. Now, it’s only small slivers of crushed ice that seems to provide any relief. I hope you feel better. My wish for you is rest and healing.
I read the TIME list a few days ago and you are in some very august company, as you well deserve to be.
Every best wish for total recovery ASAP
so sorry about your throat. my colds have taken the pattern of starting with a severely sore throat and moving to my nose and head as congestion.
for the first part, I usually try hot orange juice or salabat (ginger tea). salabat comes in instant powdered form (usually full of sugar). or you can toss peeled ginger into boiling water and add lemon and sweetener to taste.
Hugs hugs hugs hugs hugs hugs!
Wish you and Gordon a fast recovery!
For the throat, I used ginger fresh ( high pain gradient) or caramelized with sugar or honey (less painful).
Love and healing. Sooo sorry about covid. Hoping to avoid but it is roaring. For future reference. Dissolve a bit of goldenseal powder in warm water and gargle. Frequently. It is like a miracle. Also an anti viral. Been doing this for 30 years. Because it works. Hugs
I am so sorry you both feel so bad. Glad the Theraflu helped. When you wrote warm salt water gargle didn’t help I was stumped. When you wrote lemon and honey didn’t work I was amazed! My deepest sympathy.
I have a friend who had a severe respiratory variant. Sick as could be with multiple negative Covid tests. Feeling better, risked a small short outing and her smell blinked out. Positive test for a couple of days then negative. Crazy 😩
Glad you’re feeling a little better.
I saw this days ago but didn’t know how to tell you. Congratulations!! Well deserved.
Hope you are feeling better!!
Agh, the Covid sore throat was AWFUL!! I also couldn’t get my fever below 101 even with Advil/tylenol combo for 48 hours. I wanted to sleep through it, but apparently the throat pain and shivers said-Nope! But three weeks after I recovered, my hair started falling out like I took chemo!! The Doctor said they’re calling it Covid Hair😡 But he said in 4-5 months it will start to grow back. I lost about 1/3 of my hair😒 Feel better soon!
Covid sucks. Hope you feel better.
But what is Time thinking with their Wildfire rec? Starting at Book 3? What a stupid thing to do. Nevada and Rogan are already a couple in it, not all that much romance just some twinges of jealousy. White Hot would be a better choice. It’s all about Nevada and Rogan becoming a couple.
I’m just getting over the exact same Covid. A humidifier running all night long as you sleep will help with the sore throat. It’s the only thing that helped me. Plus, of course, Tylenol flu meds – which I’m not allowed to take due to my BP meds, but the heck with that! My throat felt like razor blades were in it. Hope you feel better soon! And thank you for all your hard work, I love your books!
Congratulations on making the Time romance booklist! You are good at “stuff”!🎉
Covid sucks! Get better soon..and try not to overdo it while you’re fighting this virus off. 🤒❤️
I had something like this and here’s what helped my throat and my health: warm salt water gargles regularly- it gets the germs away from your throat and yes the spray you mentioned. Then take NyQuil but not the one with the fake Sudafed because you want real Sudafed. You need to dry up your sinuses so you’re not adding post nasal drip on top of other throat pain.
Warm wet washcloth compresses on your neck also help.
Also BUY AN ELECTRIC BLANKET!!!
It is amazing for the COVID fever chills and pain. One of my first rounds of COVID (I get vaccinated but I’m also just apparently extra prone to getting it), I turned my heat up to 80, and cuddled my dog under heavy blankets and still couldn’t get warm. The electric blanket really helps with the chills and the pain.
Do a Neti pot too if you can. As silly as it sounds, salt water gargles and nasal rinses help get the crap out of your body. Take Vitamin D and Zinc as well.
My COVID experiences have led to me getting reached out for studies and I’ve had this sadly often enough (despite vaccines, masking when appropriate, handwashing etc) that I have a whole routine.
Chamomile and other non-acidic teas can help once the initial pain dies down (the salt gargles and painful numbing throat sprays were the only things that helped). You want to avoid Rosehips or anything with too much vitamin C as it will hurt your throat.
Feel better soon!
Also Grether’s throat drops are sold for opera singers and the gelatin in them really helped my throat. They’re expensive for throat drops but totally helped my throat when I was in so much pain. Google Grether’s black current. Or red current. The currant flavors are my favorite but the elderflower worked too. I went through three boxes in a few days. I lost 7 lbs in one week with my throat being so bad. I could only manage bananas half the time.
Congratulations on the book status! One of my favourites! And sending healing energy to the Andrews household for quick recovery from covid.
dont know if you wille ver read this but for the sore throat : get a humidifyer (not sure i spell that right sorry english is my second language). Nowaday for some reason each time i catch a cold (covid or not) my throat get so sore i simply cannot sleep. Any citrus helps a tiny bit and chicken broth, also those cold syrup they coat your throat so it can alleviate a bit to help falls asleep.Hope you feel better soon!
I found the worst thing ahout (non-life-threatening) COVID is that it liiiingers. Get better soo, go rest, igjpre the Horde and our grumblimgs for a week. Anyone who does jo umderstand needs to get a life.
Sorry you are sick. It sounds like you have ulcerations in your throat. And serious congestion. As a nurse I recommend you see your md to look at your throat, and ask about getting prescriptions for tesslon pearls (cough suppressant), lidocaine/nystatin/benadryl throat wash (numbs, reduces inflammation, treats thrush, a fungal infection common to mouth ulcers. These are used for serious mouth and throat care.
Also, stay away from anything spicy, salty, or crunchy texture until your throat heals. No hot food. Eat soft, bland food until you feel better.
This won’t last forever, even though it may feel that way.
Thank you for using your illness to make a public service message about getting vaccinated. I wish everyone would keep up to date with their Covid shots, since it is on the rise now.
Hope you feel better!!!
For some reason your description of being stabbed in the throat from the inside reminded me of that scene in Nevada’s book where that ice mage killed that rich guy at the party. (All names are eluding me today) Don’t think I can go a week without thinking of that series.
Sounds exactly like the covid strain I got back in January. I live in Europe and we started early. And I’m sorry to say, but the cough will last about 5 months. At least mine did. Sucking lozenges non-stop did help a bit – I went through them like water. BUT I had to try many different brands until I found one that worked. It’s a French brand (Azeol), so probably not available in US, but it’s a herbal lozenge made of sage, elderberry, mint and zinc. Maybe you can find something similar. Good luck and best wishes!
So sorry to hear you are both suffering through COVID. Thanks for fighting through medicine and exhaustion to bring us your special brand of magic. We who are patiently waiting to read, salute you! 🙂
P.S. Your health comes before all else, but I truly hope you are well enough to attend Dragon Con in three weeks. Sending you virtual throat lozenges, extra-strength Tylenol, and vapor mist.
No Paxlovid from the doctor(s)?
Yikes! I’m inspired to schedule that booster right away!
Taking bets that an upcoming book will have some sort of throat ulcers as a torture