If you can see the image… that’s pretty much my life right now. And before we get started… this is an update blog, and a little bit of a vent.
I hate unsolicited medical advice. Don’t comment with it.
The ouch came at a bad time, considering I am fighting to finish Destiny in any sort of reasonable time. It really did.
What I thought, initially, was a pinched ulnar nerve. Some tingling in the forearm, half my hand, and two fingers… had revealed itself to be a bit more complicated. To give you an idea of how long I’ve had hand-tingling… I think this is day 8? Long enough that I’ve actually lost count, the days sort of blending together.
As I do when I am presented with something wrong with my body, I attempt to please everyone before trying to heal. All I’ve wanted is to finish Destiny.
With the tingling, like I could still type. Whatever.
Well, it’s not the ulnar nerve. It’s coming from the shoulders and spine. Oh yeah, that big bad word, the spine. It’s a nerve issue, no doubt. I won’t give a “real diagnosis” or anything here. It’s certainly a nerve issue, though.
I’ll be fine. For those who don’t know, this is not the first time I’ve unknowingly messed up my back. This time is more of a mysterious than my previous spinal trouble. i herniated a disc in the lumbar region at 16. I played lots of sports at the time. I truly don’t know what caused it this time. I promise, I’ll take it easy on my back. If this becomes a substantial issue, well, the future blog posts will continue to let you know what’s happening.
Warning for the future, just to make sure it’s all very clear:
Clearly, this could impact writing schedules, especially for full length novels.
I find myself being find for shorter periods of time before the pain really sets in. Not normal soreness but real pain. Long books are a constant drain over days and days. But I can’t stop writing. This means… I have to be smart. If it comes to pass this isn’t clearing up, I will look at the main release schedule first. Give myself more time on the looooong projects, because they will be the most stress. It’s not the same writing a 10k short and a 100k book. It’s just not. The 100k book is a daily, repetitive injury over weeks. The 10k short is a few days. See where I’m going with this?
(Patreon’s launch will be unaffected or I will throw myself into Kaliya’s desert and refuse to come back. I live right next to it.)
But nothing is going to change right now. This is just an update. Because here’s the vent thing:
I fucking hate changing my schedule. I fucking hate not being able to write when I really want to. This is coming right as I was getting back into the swing of things after the holiday.
So you can bet, I’m going to do as much as I can to make sure this resolves and keep it from coming back in the future.
sorry you are facing the pain. As a loyal reader I say do what you need to be healthy so the magic stories keep coming. Slower is better than stopping.
I hope your pain goes away and you heal soon. Not only because I love everything you write but because I am in a similar boat. I suffer from back pain which can be so bad it makes me faint. So I get where you are coming from.
I send you all my positive vibes from here.
Ok here’s my vent…..take care of yourself FIRST lady…cuz who is gonna let us know what happens in your world you have hooked us in…..it must be frustrating but take care of yourself and work when you can and don’t over do it…if you have to change release dates them do it and don’t listen to the people bitch “oh no” they will wait just like your faithful readers if not send them my way, I’ll set them straight….luv your writing take your time….sending healing and good vibes and go to the doctor
Wishing you a speedy recovery!!
Take care and fast healing. Pain SUCKS! I hope yours is resolved quickly.
I relate so hard to this. I got Carpel Tunnel at the beginning of the global panini and I still get some nerve pain/ numbness 18 months on.
Take care of yourself and I hope it gets better for you soon!
And all of us keen as beans readers will wait however long it takes!
I hope you are able to get it fixed. The reason I’m not writing is because I’m not an auditory learner so I just can’t get into dragon speaking naturally, but my autoimmune causes issues with nerves and finger joints etc. And as you probably already know, most of the nerve meds make your brain not function the same which is rough for all phases of writing.
You are not alone. (Although this makes me sad because I binge authors and having discovered your books I want you to be able to keep your 6 month timeline!! Also I would be interested in your story “process”… character development, outlines, arcs, writing schedule… do you blog about that? Because I feel like a new novel every 6 months is pretty incredible.)
Oh, I actually have a new novel every other month.
I have 3 on going series with 6 month release schedules.
You are my hero! There’s a typo in the description of servant of the blood on Amazon. “They looked like me and they could act like me, but we were fundamentally different. I was human, just like my parents, and when I turned eighteen, I decided to work for the vampires after college, too. We had worked for their nest for over five generations and I wanted to ***continued*** that tradition.“ It should be “wanted to continue” or “I had continued”. Hope that helps your business. I’m a fan! 🙂
How many hours a day do you write? (And by write, I mean all the things related to crafting a new novel.)
If you ever need a new beta reader I am available! You have my email! 🙂