Writers Don't Take Sick Days

I write 1000 words a day. This is my daily writing goal. Usually, it takes me an hour in the morning. So, if for some reason I don't get back to my writing for the rest of the day, I feel satisfied that I've accomplished something.

And then I got the flu.

It. Was. Awful.

My entire body ached. I could barely sit on the sofa. Not to mention the dizziness, the nausea, and all the other unpleasantness that the flu brings. I couldn't even concentrate on watching mind-numbing television to ease my woes, so my writing was completely dropped from my daily plans. All my energy went into sleeping and caring for my 2 children and my husband who were each afflicted with the same bug. At the same time. Yeah, I told you it was awful! My only saving grace was my oldest son. By some miracle (or extremely strong and efficient immune system), he didn't get sick. So while he was home, he helped tremendously with taking care of us.

It was a 24-hour flu, but we were down for the count for about 3 days. Later, everybody sprang back to health. For the next 4 days all was well. I went back to my normal routine of writing as if I had never stopped. Then one morning I woke up with a sore throat. Later, came the cough. Soon a similar cough was heard from each of my children and my husband. Even my son with the miraculous immune system couldn’t fight this one!

It was a virus. A nasty one. One that clung to your lungs and didn't let go. For weeks! My 6 year-old son barely got any sleep for days and days because he was up all night coughing. And it was a horrible sounding cough, too. Then there was my husband. He ended up with pneumonia. I didn’t sleep much, at all.   

After several trips to the doctor, a few variations of medication, now everyone is on the mend. 

   

So ends February and our entire month of being sick.

And, I'm sad to say, I barely got any writing in. At first, I was angry with myself over letting those days pass without a word count. I didn't like taking so many days off. Of course, my family comes first and during those many nights of staying up with sick kids, I was not in any frame of mind to string together a single cohesive sentence.

So I took a break.

Only from writing. That doesn't mean I stopped creating stories altogether. I did a lot of brainstorming. In fact, I'm constantly thinking about my stories, so I managed to work out some details to a few of my WIP's while taking a break from the actual writing process. I also took advantage of this time to get in some reading. For a writer, reading is essential. I read several interesting books on writing craft, marketing and history. I continued reading A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin. I caught up on reading some blogs, as well as some online research for historical details for one of my stories. 

And, writers never go without research. Life is research. The next time I have a scene that involves a character who has the flu or maybe a nasty virus that just won't let go, and has to care for her 3 children and husband at the same time…well, I've experienced that!

I'll be able to describe that scene perfectly.

So really, a writer never takes a day off. Even sick days. We’re always working in one way or another.    

I'm not the only one. Here's a helpful blog post I've read recently:

How Writers Can Stay Productive Even During Sick Days

1500 Words a Day

I'm always on the look-out for writing methods. It fascinates me to learn about the way others write. No two are the same. What works for one writer, doesn't always work for another. But, that doesn't mean a writer shouldn't try new methods, just to see if maybe it might work for them.

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I read recently that Stephen King writes between 5-10 pages a day, everyday. If I calculate 250 words per page, that’s between 1250-2500 words a day. Doesn't seem like a lot. (HA!) Many days I average about 2000 words. Then on some days whatever talent I possess has been drained from me and I'm lucky to have 400 shoddy words to prove it. I don't write every single day either. I tend to work on my project and obsessively finish it, or sometimes get stumped and set it aside for a bit (I hate doing that) and find something else to work on. But I take breaks in between. I work on editing. I read a lot. Many articles about the writing craft and the business side of writing. I also do research for my stories. So, even when I'm not producing word counts, I'm still working on my writing, just from a different angle. 

At times it seems a bit difficult to get back into the writing part of it if I linger away for too long. I often hear writers preach that you must write every day to keep the writing muscle strong. For writing is like working a muscle, isn't it? If you don't exercise, it gets a little sloppy until you get back into the swing of things again.

Since I do a lot of research into the way other writers work, I thought I'd try an experiment. My method of writing seems a little laid back. I have three young children between the ages of 22 months and 6 years. They take up a lot of my day. I have a flexible writing schedule, doing most of my writing in the early morning hours and at naptime. I don't like to stress myself, but I do like to push myself to try harder, so that's what I'm going to do now. I'm challenging myself.

I going to write 1500 words. Every. Day. 

Starting today, I'm going to strive to reach a word count of 1500 (or more!) every day until school starts at the end of August. Then I'll re-evaluate my writing schedule and see how well I've done.

Am I insane? I'm not sure yet. I've never given myself such a challenge before, but I do enjoy challenges. However, because I hate to stress myself, I have given myself an easy way to out. No, I'm not going to quit.

I'm going to write 1500 words every day, but they don't necessarily need to be part of a manuscript. Aha! No one said my writing muscle needed to be a fiction writing muscle. So, if I feel stumped with my characters for the day, I might give them some breathing room. Sometimes I need a day or two to figure out a solution to whatever has stumped me. So on those days (hopefully there will be very few!) I'll write a blog post or two. I'll look up writing prompts and try those for some exercise. I'll write about my day in a diary-like fashion. Or I'll write about my kids. I do have their journals I need to catch up on. I'll write about any little thing, as long as I get 1500 words (or more!) a day.

Look here! I'm counting this blog post as part of my word count for today! See, it's working!

When I look at it this way, it seems completely do-able. After all, there are 24 hours in a day. I can certainly sneak an hour or two away for solely myself and my writing. I've done more in the past, I can do this, too.

I'll check back in near September with my results. Hopefully, I'll have some positive things to say about my experience. Wish me luck!