Writing while sick...

If it's bad enough that I'd take time off work, I take time off writing. Otherwise, I write, but am very gentle on myself, allowing myself to stop after 100 words if I want, or just writing *stuff* not relating to any projects. Once I'm in the recovery phase of any illness, I get bored easily so I spend time writing just to keep myself from getting stir-crazy.

But, I have learned my lesson about pushing myself too hard. It's such a personal thing. Lots of people are 'force yourself through' types, which is fine, but trying to follow that path when it came to physical and mental ilnesses did me a lot of harm.

I take a break, if I can. Otherwise brain fog takes over and when I read back
on what I attempted to write, I laugh so hard I start coughing,
which then makes it hard to breathe,
which then lands me back at square one of feeling miserable.

Hope you feel better soon!

Now go rest.

Depends on the person. I can power through a cold with ease, others need a couple days of laying face down in the sheets with a tanker of chicken soup and truckload of tissues.

If you can't think straight, then don't write. Abide your time by reading instead.

Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

If I can think clearly, I write. If I can't, I don't.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

The dreams one gets from some cold and flu medication, on the other hand, are worth writing down. They get intense.

That is certainly a novel excuse to watch the Cardinals in the World Series. Tell me if it works.

Seriously though, do what you feel like. From experience, what would take a couple of hours while "normal" might take all day under the weather. It is sometimes more efficient to wait till the malignant germs pass along on their way to Boston or where ever they go.....

Sometimes when I'm sick, I feel like doing nothing. I screw around on the Internet, I play video games, sleep, that's it.

Other times, I write. I was sick for a week last spring and wrote three short stories inspired by my fever dreams. It was a silver lining, to be sure.

If you feel cruddy and unfocused, but still want to write, take a break from your current projects and mess around with something else.

Write a scene where someone has a terrible cold...

It depends on how sick I am. If I can manage it, I will write. If I can't, I will read. Being sick in bed (or in a hot bath, which will clear your sinuses) is a great way to catch up on reading. But your health is first and foremost. Don't forget that. Hope you feel better soon.

When I'm sick, I keep thinking about my characters getting sick and lazing around in bed.

I normally take a break, but I don't really stick to a strict writing schedule to begin with. Writing is a pastime for me, not a job, so I don't treat it like a job.

Writers write. I feel no more miserable writing when I'm sick than I do when I'm lying around sick. I usually feel better because writing takes my mind off how I feel. So if I can write, I do.

A second vote for fever dreams. I'd stopped writing original fiction for over ten years (no inspiration, too many early rejections, too busy with other career, etc) until June of 2009. I suffered through a very interesting bout of what we think was H1N1, and came out of it with some staggeringly intense, relatively coherent dream-stories, including the continuation to something I'd trunked years earlier. I scribbled down everything I could remember, and haven't stopped writing since.

But writing while out of my head sick? Not gonna happen. I'm a whiny baby.

T Robinson said:

That is certainly a novel excuse to watch the Cardinals Red Sox in the World Series. Tell me if it works.

Seriously though, do what you feel like. From experience, what would take a couple of hours while "normal" might take all day under the weather. It is sometimes more efficient to wait till the malignant germs pass along on their way to Boston or where ever they go.....

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Fixed that for you.

Honestly, though, when I'm sick, I find reading much more beneficial to my writing than actually trying to write much. Inspiration is a wonderful thing, as is laying lying in bed with hot cocoa.

Get well soon.

Look, the Braves already got put out with their anemic hitting, so I just get to watch. I prefer the Cardinals simply because my father played on their farm team, many decades ago.

Christy will cut off your cookies and milk for changing her Cardinals.

Christyp said:

I'll be cutting off way more than cookies and milk! How dare you blaspheme!!!!!! <----That's me saying a few choice words!

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Well, maybe in a week we can be friends.

Depends on how sick I am. A mild cold or headache or something, I can usually still get in the zone. If it were something where I had a high fever, I think it would be harder. Maybe if I were writing a scene where my character was really ill it would help me establish the mood, but it would probably be really hard to focus.

As for those people who can work on anything when they've got severe stomach, um, issues--I can only express admiration from a healthy distance. I had a friend who told me that when she was pregnant, that was her life for a while. Keeping the trash can close to her desk every day at work. I just can't imagine that (which may be one reason why I never had kids).

I can usually manage to get something done if it's just a cold. As long as I don't have a headache. Can't get anything done then. If I can't write at all, or even read, or anything more mentally challenging than watch TV then I know it's flu.

Anninyn said:

Lots of people are 'force yourself through' types, which is fine.

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me.

well, I'm sick RIGHT NOW and i want to write, but... siiiick...

*cough*

i have done some plot brainstorming tho, so my two days off work haven't been completely wasted. That and i've watched most of the films i recorded off the telly over the last 6 months

ETA: *cough*

ugh.

Kallithrix said:

well, I'm sick RIGHT NOW and i want to write, but... siiiick...

*cough*

i have done some plot brainstorming tho, so my two days off work haven't been completely wasted. That and i've watched most of the films i recorded off the telly over the last 6 months

ETA: *cough*

ugh.

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aww, sorry to hear that, Kalli. Maybe I can help:

Grab a seat. Pull it up to the computer. Just to start out, until your creative juices are flowing, type what I am typing.....it will help get you into the swing of things, sort of like a small plane launching the glider....



"My name is Kalli, and I am sick. I'd really like it if everyone cried me a fucking river, as I sat home and wallowed in self-pity and general wussitude.

*coughwhinecough*

I'm such a poor, poor baby, and whiny me, I'd like to write, but I just caaaaaaan't......"




you're welcome