Where I’ve Been

So it’s been a few weeks since I last checked in and there’s a good reason for my disappearance.

About three weeks ago, I noticed I was having pain and tightness in my hands after working out with hand weights (particularly in my thumb joint). It only got worse, to the point where the pain was there even when I was just sitting and not doing anything. You can imagine how writing, using the computer and everything else took a backseat.

Ice packs, Epsom salt soaks, heating pads, massage — I tried everything and anything but the pain was still there. After a doctor’s visit, I now have some meds and a brace on my right hand. Recovery has been slow, and I’m still going through it.

Needless to say, I’ve made no progress on my writing in almost a month, which has been equally as frustrating and depressing to say the least. Some days, the pain was so much that all I could do was lay there and mope and other days when it wasn’t so bad I wanted to continue doing nothing so wouldn’t flare up again.

I still have some pain when doing certain tasks but I’m slowly getting back to work, even though I still have to take it easy. Opening or carrying things, doing dishes, dude… I even needed help cutting a piece of chicken one night at dinner. Frustrating, maddening, temper tantrum-inducing! 🙂

Hopefully I’ve now turned the corner and things will only continue to get better both for my health and for my sanity (because not being able to write has been a real test my patience, my sanity, and a blow to my sense of self). I feel like I lost a month of my life and without writing, like I haven’t really been “me” these past weeks without it.

I started the Million Word Challenge at the beginning of the year with a group of other writers, and it’s been really hard seeing how they are progressing so well and I’m sitting here unable to do the same.

But now that the pain isn’t so bad, at least I’m able to sit at the computer and do some work even if it’s slower than I normally would be. I am really utilizing my voice recognition software now to save my hands (even though it can be kind of slow for editing, but I can’t afford to upgrade to the newer version).

Either way, at least I’m a bit better than I was a few weeks ago and hopefully it will all be behind me soon. and I finally managed a decent word count yesterday, which felt pretty good.