Do You Write When You're Sick?

So I have a four-year-old. He's a great little boy...most of the time. Hyper, yes; energetic, of course, but for the most part he's a wonderful and sweet human being. However there is something that comes with having young children that is the bane of my existence. Something those of us who wash our hands regularly, don't stick our fingers in our mouths, don't sit on the floor in public places, and don't stick our tongues on everything manage to avoid.

I'm talking cold and flu here. And that son of mine manages to get sick as much as he possibly can, perhaps in the interest of causing his father to become sick so I have to stay home from work. That could be it, after all. The kid could have a master plan in mind when he's sticking his tongue on the table at a restaurant or touching every goddamn thing at kid-level in every store and then sticking his fingers in his mouth. 

Yeah, maybe he's doing it on purpose so dad gets sick and has to stay home with me.

Well, whatever the reason, I was sick on Friday and Saturday. It was some kind of bastard summer cold that attacked my sinuses something wicked. The kind of sinus pressure that makes one dream of lobotomy. And the sore throat...I don't remember swallowing any sandpaper, but apparently I did. I sat around most of the time reading Downfall by Michael S Gardner (review to follow), watched some documentaries on biker gangs, dozed off a bit, read more, and...

Well, I tried to write, but for the life of me I couldn't get my thoughts together enough for the task. In those two days I may have typed out a grand total of 250 words--maybe! A sentence or three of uninspired drivel better left on the cutting room floor.

As it has been since I began writing, it remains: I cannot, for the life of me, write while I'm sick. It seems like a great time to write for someone who works full-time, but that just isn't the case, so I fell behind the schedule I had created for myself this month in regards to my work-in-progress. I started on August 1st, aiming for one thousand words a day. The manuscript looks like it will round out between 20K and 30K, so I am determined to finish the first draft by the end of August. I should be at 12K by the end of the day, but I don't know about that. I had fallen a little behind before I became sick, and even more so over the course of Friday and Saturday. I'll write more tonight. Hopefully I can take my 9K words and elevate them toward my goal.



So, if you find yourself with a nasty summer cold, you've been placed on supreme couch duty, why not download my latest book onto your e-reader and forget about your misery by losing yourself in some good ole horror? Various formats are available at: amazon, Barns and Noble, and smashwords.

Keep it horror!

Robert