I have a problem with bioarchitecture and the flow of work. Well, okay, yes, I like living buildings, and the ability to manipulate matter in ways that look like magic but the reader is *sure* are just a sufficiently advanced science. Too much Michael Whelan and other such fantastical paintings in my youth!
But I also have a problem with my carpal tunnels, and the tendons that pass through them. It’s a problem with being a geek who’s done plenty of manual labour, and well past the age when the warranty runs out, and imperfect ergonomics. When I set a challenge earlier this year to write every day, I didn’t think about what the lack of downtime would do to tetchy joints.
I got a book out of it!
…I also got to wear my braces every day, and hurt.
So this month I’ve been trying to take off writing entirely, and let my wrists heal. Of course, I work on the computer for Day Job, and I type on a chat with friends, and thumb-type to text friends, and… with Kung Flu, my social life involves a lot of keyboarding. “Rest and heal” is more difficult than it first appeared.
Obviously, I need to spend more time reading (While holding the kindle ergonomically!) in order to no be typing, right? This should be easy… or I could find that there are 10 million books on Amazon and nothing I wanted to read. I’m sure the utterly awesome perfect book for me is out there, I just keep finding meh to good to thrown across room books.
Well, I can start researching stuff, right? I want to be better at openings, engaging readers from the first line. Okay,so, start working my thorough a couple resources from books to videos (Yes, three at a time. Or 4. Or… I don’t suffer from ADHD, no, I’m perfectly normal for me! Don’t most people have six youtube videos/podcasts/nonfiction books open that can’t hold their attention, but they want to finish, so they try to cycle through?)
I went into this hoping to learn, and maybe even write a sequel to a short story I wrote. Instead, my brain started going “Self, remember that story you have tried writing and rewriting for 3 years, and finally gave up and stuck on the scraps pile last year? Yeah, this right here, this explains what’s wrong with it. You can dig that out and fix it…
Damn it, between all my little lapses of writing down scenes that are random and scattered to get them out of my head and this, I’m only going to manage to not write for about 15 days this month, and I’m not healed yet and the main character is grumbling gently in the back of my head about what caliber for dragon, and…
Not Writing is harder than it looks!
( Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay )
Mad Genius Club 
I can be plenty of not-help with your not-writing
Yeah. I hate not writing, but for a few days I can make-do with working out the scenes in my head. To be typed later. But not a month later!
Fortunately (inadvertently), I had kept you in reserve. Re-read “Outcasts and Gods” on Friday, just starting “Explorers” now, and haven’t even touched the Directorate. So, as far as I am concerned, everyone can take a week off. Maybe two, but definitely not three…
“Not Writing is harder than it looks!”
Tell me about it.
There are speech-to-text programs. If you can make them work with your computer then you can write and not aggravate the carpal tunnel. this may be something you’ve already thought about and there may be a reason that it doesn’t work for you, but I thought I would mention it.
*nods*
I’ve heard good thingsa bout Dragon– but also heard the warning that you end up doing almost as much typing to fix/polish it when you’re done, it’s more like a very rough beta first draft than a normal first draft.
Carpal tunnel is a tough one. There are some myofascial release techniques that -might- work, but if you are in the inflammation phase they might make it worse. Have to find out the hard way.
As to not-writing, my condolences. Writing it down is my preferred way to get the characters to move on and stop harping about that scene they want to do. Generally a really violent one where the Bad Guy gets a beating. After the fifth time through that gets tedious. After the five-hundredth time I’m trying to write on toilet paper with a crayon just to make it stop.
Stuff like that makes me laugh every time I hear some Normie complain they want to write a book but they can’t think of anything to write about. Having an idea is the easy part. Getting it down so that it doesn’t look like “Mary Sue Tries Crack”, that’s the hard part.
Dragon Dictate might be your friend here. Clunky and annoying, but better than pain and swelling in the hands.
I haven’t progressed to the brace yet but I’ve had to ice down the wrist. Also the shoulder.
My sister found some relief by using a left-handed mouse, because the problem was heavier on the right.
I wear a hard brace on the left hand (trackball hand) and either a soft or hard brace on the right hand. Left is worse than the right, but the trackball or mouse cause more pain on the right. Go figure. *shrugs*
I had really bad carpal tunnel when I was pregnant with the Young Master. My chiropractor actually helped a lot, with adjustments, yes, but what helped the most was the ultrasound wand applied (believe it or not) to my neck.
Try juggling geese. I hear it’s quite distracting.
For distracting reading, Amazon popped up a title that I just had to check out: A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking. It’s everything the title promises: A bit odd, funny, lighthearted, a different sort of wizardry than usual, defense required (so there’s a big bad), etc… It’s a really fast read. Reminded me a bit of Mercedes Lackey, but without the angst. Which reminds me, I should leave a review (and 2-start another; good author fell into the woke trap).
*reads blurb*
Wait, Ursula Vernon? *rummages brain* That was… did a comic… sweet, deepish… excivating rat… DIGGER, that was it…
*searches again* She did!
*buys*
Her best work is Castle Hangnail.
Yep, Ursuala Vernon is the name she uses for her middle-grade fiction (which is awsome and no adult should ever let that designation keep them from totally enjoying it!), and she uses the T. Kingfisher pen name for her adult fantasy stuff, which is also awesome, but can be much, much darker. Sort of, um, Disney vs. Original Grimm level difference there.