Ouch!

Uh-oh. I have a medical issue that is wreaking havoc upon my writing. My pointer finger on my right hand is sore and the tendons feel "weird," like they're stretched out or something.

It's been building for a couple of weeks, and it's now reached a point (get it? point?) where I can barely type! Not good for a writer. And the pain is probably a contributing factor in why my post yesterday was so short.

Alas, this one will be, too.

I am going to give myself a couple of days off from revising (and cut way back on my computer time) in the hopes it will heal up and feel better. I'm leaving for Mexico in a couple of weeks, so that will be seven or eight days with no computer, therefore no typing.

I suspect it's some kind of repetitive strain injury, no surprise considering I spend between 12-14 hours a day at this computer. I hope that cutting back some, coupled with the week in the jungle, will get the old pointer finger back in shape.

However, there is some good news. I slept much better last night! Yay! So maybe it was an isolated incident after all. I hope so.

More later. Gotta rest the old finger right now.

Too pooped to pop

Yawn.

Yeah. I'm tired. I didn't sleep much last night, and boy, did it show today. I managed to slog my way through a chapter of revisions, but my heart wasn't really in it.

I'm subject to periodic bouts of insomnia, and have been all of my adult life. Unfortunately, I seem to be heading into yet another bout. It's been a while. I have no trouble falling asleep, but then I wake up half a dozen times and have one hell of a time getting back to sleep. And when I do sleep, I generally have very vivid (and weird) dreams.

I hope it was an isolated incident, that perhaps I ate something last night that didn't agree with me (although I don't think I did). We'll see tonight.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have real difficulties concentrating and being creative when I'm sleep-deprived. It just doesn't come, if you know what I mean.

Here's hoping to a better night's sleep tonight, and a better day's work tomorrow!

Go! Follow Emma!

Please see the button on the left sidebar. If you click it, you go to my friend Emma Michaels' blog, where she is giving away all kinds of cool stuff.

For free!!!!!!

What do you have to do to win, you ask? Well, all you do is become a follower of hers. Pretty simple, huh?

So go. Click that button and win something. And remember, she bought that stuff with her own money. It's the least you could do!

:)

UPDATE: I removed the button, but you can still visit her blog at http://emmamichaels.blogspot.com/.

I'm starting to like this!

I've always loved writing, and hated revising.

The very act of writing is cathartic. Creative. Revising is just, well, work. You know?

But I'm starting to realize that I don't hate revisions as much as I thought I did. Oh, don't get me wrong. I'd rather be writing and creating. But in a way, that's exactly what I'm doing now. I'm taking my book and, line by line, I'm making it better. Adding richness and texture. Weighing words and phrases. Replacing bland verbs with better ones, more active ones.

I'm having a blast!

I got through two chapters today. Not bad. And in one of them, I completely rewrote an entire scene -- a scene that I had loved dearly and had been dreading revising. But after getting it done, I re-read it and got goose bumps. It was so much better than before, and yet it retained exactly the sentiment that it had. In other words, the scene gained by revising, and didn't lose anything in the process.

I finished chapters 10 and 11 today out of 28. I'm averaging between six and nine chapters a week, so I should be done in a couple of weeks. It's my goal to finish before we leave for Mexico on Feb. 20. That way, it won't be hanging over my head when I get back, and I can start querying in earnest.

I can't wait.

Quick update

The revisions continue. I slogged through Chapter 9 today. Only nineteen more to go!

I think the reason it took me so long to get through only one chapter today is because I made the mistake of starting at the beginning of the manuscript and reading it. I guess I just wanted to blow through it, since I've done so many revisions that I worry about typos and all that stuff that I thought I had cleaned up months ago.

I usually don't do this, because I always read what I had revised the previous day before I start tackling today's work. That way, I can proof read for any errors I might have added. It also puts me back into the narrative, making the revising I'm about to do a bit easier.

But today, for some weird reason, I started reading from the beginning (I think it was because I got started early and felt I had the time), and that turned into hours of more revisions and rewriting on chapters I had finished days ago! And, you know, it's not like I haven't read the thing a bazillion times!

I just need to quit it and keep plugging along. Moving forward, you know.

Anyway, I got caught up and made it through Chapter 9. Slooowwwlllyyy.

But I'm getting there. So, how is your work coming?