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Working Sick – Writing vs. Throwing Up


thToday’s column is based on something that I am obviously experiencing today…I’m not feeling well. My spouse, who works in the medical field, brought home a bug and has systematically shared it with each and every member of our family…I am the last to get it. I had things to do today and I write every day however today I am feeling physically bad as well as guilty for not being able to get any work done. What’s a writer to do?

The truth is we are all human and there will be times when a flu or a bad cold will catch up with you no matter how much orange juice you down. It’s easy to get up anyways and push yourself especially if you work at home to begin with but I am here to tell you…don’t do that. I have discovered over the years that just one day of actual rest will make all the difference in the world. Sometimes you just need to let your body rest and that’s okay.

I will be honest and say that I do still attempt to get something done such as this column today but I pace myself. Small amounts for short periods of time and then it is back to the couch. I could push myself and make it worse but then I lose several days instead of one. So if you must write while you are sick do so in small doses but hit that chicken soup and the cold/flu meds or you’ll just be down longer. Your writing will get done eventually and no one really expects you to kill yourself, not even your clients who expect the work “right now”. Everyone gets sick…even writers…so take the time and heal first.

© The Writer’s Advice, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

 
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Posted by on January 15, 2023 in Healthy Writers, Writing

 

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Weather Outside is Frightful….Use That!


Caught in the StormI don’t know about you but here in the Pacific Northwest the weather has gotten positively scary. We got down to 23 degrees this morning! Now I know for some of you I sound like a wuss but that is darn cold here and I am staying in the house. As I sat writing this morning however I realized something else about the cold weather…it made great fodder for a short story!

This is the time of the year when the weather will chase a lot of us indoors and that’s okay as long as you don’t waste the time. The colder weather is a great time to be a captive audience to your craft…heck…what else are you gonna do? I decided this morning that I was going to insert the cold outside into my writing. I realized that tend to write about weather I know…weather I am comfortable with. Looking outside this morning I realized that the cold weather adds an element to my stories that they have never had before…the element of OMG its cold.

Using the weather allowed me to totally change up my story. There are a lot of things that happen in the colder weather that wouldn’t in the summer weather. The cold makes it harder for my detective to solve his/her case, it makes it tougher for my killer to bury the body and it challenges that serial killer who has to go out into the cold to look for victims. And what if my main character, good or bad, has never had to deal with the cold at all? Now there is a monkey wrench worth exploring.

My point is the colder weather is full of ideas and challenges for your characters. Many writers don’t really think about environment or weather or if they do it is a secondary consideration. What if you made it a first consideration? Take your main character and drop him in the snow or the wind or the ice. How much fun could you have with that???

© The Writer’s Advice, 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

 
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Posted by on December 5, 2022 in Character Studies, Writing

 

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