Sick feeling

Not during writing. Nor during rewriting, or editing. All of which I enjoy.

Preparing submissions . . . even contemplating submissions . . . gives me migraines.

If I manage to conquer those, the deeply tolling bell starts ringing, signalling the inevitable futility of it all, and they come back.

bird

I exercise until I'm too exhausted to feel stressed. That or I sleep.

I know what you're talking about, Stacey, and I suffer from it too. The culprit, at least with me, is sitting in a dark room and staring at the computer monitor too long. Another thing that adds to it is if I haven't eaten anything in a while.

I find that, as much as I love my writing, I have to take frequent breaks so as to keep the nausea to a minimum. Also, I find that I have to have some light close to where my computer is so that the glare from the monitor doesn't make me sick.

Also, I feel a similar nausea when reading in the back seat of a car, and even sometimes on the bus.

Sometimes I have to leap up from my desk, grab the nearest sword and spend five minutes doing practice cuts, all the while growling, "Ha! Take that! And that!" I think that's more or less the same thing.

Stacey Sweeney said:

When you write, do you ever get a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach?
It sounds stupid, but sometimes I get this nauseous feeling while I write, or while I'm thinking about the next part in my story. It doesn't really bother me, except that sometimes writing leaves me emotionally drained.
Does anyone else have that happen? Just curious.
Stacey

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Yes, but for me it has nothing to do with the writing. It has to do with forgetting to eat, or drinking five pots of coffee.

Though many computer monitors can cause nausea in some people. They do flicker, even if you can't see it on a conscious level. It's much the same as getting carsick or seasick, and for teh same reasons. Most people who get seasick are below deck, and their eyes tell them all is calm, but their inner ear tells them something is in motion, even if they can't see it. Turning on a reasonably bright light usually helps.

I only get a sick feeling when William Haskins writes(sorry William I hope you let me pick on you), not when I write. Sounds psychosomatic, or are you sensitive to any other situations that are similar, do you get sick taking tests? or car sick?

If I'm too tired sometimes staring at the monitor does make me sick but not too often...but when I was pregnant, I wasn't able to write at all, I actually would throw up if I was at the computer too long.

A couple of posters mentioned the effect of staring at the monitor. I have a tall, very small halogen light set to one side of me as background light and I find that counters the effect of staring at the monitor as an only light source. You can of course adjust the monitor so that glare is at a minimum. If that in itself is a cause of nausea.

I don't get nauseated when I write (though some of what I write I'm sure could be compared to vomit), but I usually get very warm. In my old house, I kept my computer in the basement (it was a new house with a nice basement), and the temp was probably in the 60s during the summer months and mid 50s in the winter (nothing like putting on a jacket to go write). In my current house, I have it in the lower level of a tri-level which does stay cooler, but not as cold as I am used to - so I have a little fan clipped to the desk. The circulated air keeps me cool and feeling refreshed. Perhaps a fan might help you with your problem as well.

Good luck with solving the problem and with your writing.

Yes! Stacey, I'm so glad you brought that up. I thought it was just cuz I'm weak and crazy.

If I really get going, or I get to a point where I can see something big is just about to open up, I start to feel ill. I'd almost call it a drowning feeling more than a seasick feeling. Sorta between the two. (Some kinduva things-going-wrong-in-the-water thing.)

Since it is very likely to happen just as things are going well, or ramping up, I think it's fear. I'm guessing it's fear that I won't be able to actually accomplish what I see is possible here. The job is too big for me, I won't do it justice, etc. etc. etc.

Even as a kid in school, I had a very hard time getting homework done, even though I loved to write, because I'd feel sick when I thought about it.

Of course, it's also highly likely that that your monitor is set to the wrong refresh rate, causing flickering, causing nausea, or you've had too much coffee... and I am just weak and crazy.

Stacey Sweeney said:

When you write, do you ever get a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach?
It sounds stupid, but sometimes I get this nauseous feeling while I write, or while I'm thinking about the next part in my story. It doesn't really bother me, except that sometimes writing leaves me emotionally drained.
Does anyone else have that happen? Just curious.
Stacey

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Yes, Stacey, I get that sometimes too. Or I get really anxious and feel like I need to go to the bathroom. It's not a pleasant feeling. It usually happens when I'm writing to beat a deadline. (personal or otherwise)

I like it better when I get to that "in the groove" feeling, where I've become my characters and the story just flows.

No, but I get a sinking feeling when I'm editing and come upon something that is a nightmare to fix.

Jamesaritchie said:

Yes, but for me it has nothing to do with the writing. It has to do with forgetting to eat, or drinking five pots of coffee.

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Me too! I tend to forget to eat but I keep drinking coffee. I usually force myself to eat some pretzels and that does the trick (of course, getting up to have a real meal is better)