Tales From My Sick Bed: Writing Must Go On

TALES FROM MY SICK BED: WRITING MUST GO ON

So, as I'm sure you'll be aware, I've not been around the past week other than to post my vlogs and other blog stuff. I've been sick, and it's had a big impact on my social media presence and my writing life. To give you a little background, I have several chronic conditions, the biggest one being a lung condition. Last Tuesday I woke up feeling pretty bad so headed to the local hospital where after a long day I was diagnosed with pleurisy and told to take it easy. I have been working pretty hard at both writing and editing and releases and all of that, and my doctor feels that I need to take some time off.

Of course, when you're an indie author, there's only so much time you can take off without having it make a big impact on your life. To begin with, he was adamant that I not write or do anything strenuous, having spend the last two months working really hard with few days off, my body has finally said: Nope. So we came to an agreement, I would work a few hours every day and spend the rest of my time resting and doing everything that went with it. It's been hard because I've gotten to that point where not writing feels just plain weird. But I don't want to get sicker, so I've following his rules.

For the next six weeks, I will be spending the majority of my time in bed, and yet I didn't want to leave my blog blank on the Monday's advice pieces but at the same time, I'm just not well enough to be doing a whole heap of work. So I came up with the idea of doing a few pieces about what it's like to write and be chronically ill. I've touched on some of these topics in the Spoonie Writer series, but I've never really had the chance to discuss it in detail beyond that. So today I decided to branch out and see what I could come up with.

One thing I have learnt from the early days of being sick was that I was limited in just how much work I could do from bed. These were back in the days before tablets and wifi and so everything that was written was either done by hand or typed into a laptop/computer. Since then technology has moved forward and I have the ultimate set up. I have a lovely purple husband pillow (we affectionately call him Jack), as well as a bed desk. I have a nice tablet, with a nice bluetooth keyboard. I have an oxygen machine upstairs because I spend so much time I'm spending in bed. So I'm set. I have my chapter plan and my character notes, and I can write.

Another thing I've learned from being sick is that if you can find a way to do something, you'll do it. So even though I feel pretty crap right now, I am still writing. It's the natural way for me to spend my time and losing that time can actually make me feel worse. Don't get me wrong, I am obeying my doctor - I don't want to get sicker or risk admission right now - but I'm still managing to get some work down during my up hours, and again during my down hours. It's nowhere near the level it was before, but for now I'll take it.

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