Life Gets in the Way
Some days you wake up excited to sit down at the computer. You know you're ready to get in the groove and start typing away. "Today is going to be a great day for writing!" you tell yourself.
Some days you wake up with your head full of cotton. You make passing glances at the writer's war machine, knowing you should get to work, but you just don't feel it. "Maybe I'll be up for it later," you tell yourself.
And then there's days like yesterday where you call the doctor's office to get an appointment because you've had random chest pains/discomfort that don't seem to be getting better since the day before. You then spend the entire afternoon having lab work and EKGs done and wait around the clinic for hours for results because... well, the off chance that you're having a heart attack is kind of a big deal and they'd really prefer you not be roaming around if that's the situation. At least my doctor seemed to think so. "I'm 99% sure it's *this problem*, but I'd really like to make sure it's not a heart attack based on what you're describing, just in case." I like my doctor. He's a super nice guy. He seems legitimately interested in keeping me out of a pine box. I appreciate that quality in a person.
The short version: Everything's fine (more or less). I'm not writing this from the great beyond, so that's a bonus. For a fat, male, middle-aged smoker I actually seem to be in really good shape (knocks on ALL the wood). As it turns out, it seems I just have a bit of an Upper GI thing going on that an over the counter med should reverse (in theory). Yay for non-fatal conditions!
My point in writing this isn't to drive up sales (hold off on the posthumous accolades, thanks) or alarm anyone (I'll be calling a certain someone shortly because I know I'll be in trouble if I don't). I'm simply illustrating that Real Life (tm) can put a serious dent in a person's creative process. I'm extremely grateful for the way everything turned out and especially to my doctor and his team for getting me in quickly and making sure I wasn't, oh, you know, DYING. It doesn't change the fact that I lost an entire afternoon of potentially productive work time (mentally I was amped and ready to get to it for once!) or that by the time I got home I was exhausted and in severe need of vegetation/recharging (OMG, the DC shows on the CW are on fire this season! So much fun!).
Priorities: Take care of yourself. Keep your affairs in order. Don't die. It's kind of hard to pursue your creative endeavors if you're laid up in a hospital or worse. By that point "suffering for your art" stops having much merit. Take care of things before they have a chance to get worse. After all, ghost writers aren't actually ghosts. (I know, I was disappointed too.) You're far better off giving yourself the chance to heal than to try and "work through it" or blow off a problem. Your projects will be there when you get back. Just make sure you make it back.
UPDATE: "I'm not dead yet!"
No major reports to make from the World of Chalisaria at this time. Time to get back at it!
