Confessions of a sick writer

I wrote a few days ago that I was near the final editing stages of my novel for children.

Now I have another hurdle has come my way: illness. Sure, it’s only a head cold with lots of sneezing, a dry throat and the beginnings of a nose like a tap that cannot be turned off. It is the season for colds and flu here in Australia, and we’ve had some bitterly cold weather of late but that doesn’t bring much comfort in the midst of the discomfort.

I am trying to edit my novel for children, now in its 7th draft. Concentrating on the editing process is challenging enough; having a head that feels like it’s stuffed full of wool doesn’t help the process. I guess I should sit back, relax and get better as quickly as I can. Then I’ll be able to fully concentrate on the task in hand.

Can’t help wishing for someone to take over for a few days so I can relax and recover. In another life – when I was a classroom teacher – I wouldn’t hesitate to get a relief teacher in to take my place, knowing that would not only hasten my recovery but also be fairer to the children in my class. They deserved to have a teacher who was least willing to be there, be reasonably competent and certainly not sneezing all over them. Where are the relief writers? Never mind.

One thing about blogging is that you can write posts ahead of time, scheduling them to appear over a period of days or even weeks. I often write blogs in blocks of time, writing 5 – 10 in one day and scheduling them to appear at set intervals. During that time I can then go on with other writing tasks. This time however, I don’t have any scheduled to appear here. Sigh. (I do have some on my other blogs – see sidebar for links to them.)

I’d better get back to that editing.

Good writing – and good health.