General Update and TEMPORARY Break From Writing (Due To Injury) · 3:54am Mar 15th, 2014
I'm tagging Rites so you all know what's up.
A while back I was burning rubber on writing. One day I hit 8,000 words. (As in, just for that day. Many of the days leading up to it I was doing 4,000!) But I was doing so much typing I wound up causing a Repetitive Stress Injury. This is likely because the kitchen table I was using was too high up for good posture when using my laptop. My hands were hurting like hell. First the thumb, then the opposite side, then the fingertips, and now the other hand... I definitely screwed myself a little bit.
As such, I need to take a break from writing, probably for the next week or two. Maybe even three or four. That's the bad news. The good news is that my wife and I got a cheap folding table that's a couple inches lower than the kitchen table I was using. Once I heal, I'm going to try using that and see if it's any better. If not, my wife can always take it to her work and take off another inch or so and then we can try that.
Some of the pain in my left hand is gone but my right hand is hurting now. I think the pain is moving to different spots as I heal. We'll see what happens. If the folding table idea works, fantastic. I'll go back up to 4k/day goal then. Maybe even higher if I can push it without burning out. If not, I'll try something else.
I plan on keeping up with editing if I can, though, even during the break. Most minor edits I can still do easily enough. I just can't re-write whole sections. ;)
I'll still be in chat most days but I won't be able to talk at length. Just an occasional bit of input from time to time. Feel free to join me and the other awesome people there. We're generally a pretty chill bunch. :)
Just wanted to let you all know that I AM still active, and I am NOT giving up. Not by a long shot. If not for this injury, I would still be burning rubber at over 4k per day. Seriously. I've written out clear through chapter 37 and the end of mission three (initial writing, no editing). I even started the beginning of mission four. I'm going to be using the break time to plan stuff out for Rites and DI. Mission five and six are already forming in my head rapidly. If nothing else, these off days allow me to think up a ton of story ideas, so I should have plenty to do once I'm ready to rock and roll again.
Oh, and very soon I'll be shaving some of those words per day away from Rites. Because I have an original book I want to write. But I will keep going on Rites even then, and the book is going to be a lot shorter than the epic that is RoA. Hopefully, though, it'll be the start of something just as grand!
Anyway, that's all folks! I thought you should all get an update on why stuff is taking so long. Hang in there, more Rites is to come!
In the meantime, have some music!
-Cv
Sucks to hear about the injury; I hope the table works out for you.
Now that's just not nice, telling us about all the Rites you've written that we don't get to read yet.
(I'm sorry to hear about your injury. Please don't make it worse. I'd really rather wait for more Rites than have you hurt yourself over it.)
I have some experience with this, actually. I used to have my pinky and ring finger go numb on my mousing hand if I used the computer too long (which was freaky and kind of terrifying). Having a wrist rest actually completely alleviated that problem.
I also got myself one of the Microsoft ergonomic keyboards a couple of months ago. This I also recommend heartily. It feels so much better to use. I generally recommend external keyboards for laptops, really.
Hope you get better soon
That got me thinking about some stories, such as Rites which I read here on FimFiction. Going my the guess that you're at least going to double your current wordcount in RoA and go beyond, that equates to around 260k-ish words, maybe 300-350k+ when you're done.
So I tried to equate it to something I knew, like the Harry Potter books that are sitting on my shelf four feet away from me. I looked up the word counts, and damn. Just going up the Chapter 36 estimate you've written the equivalent length of the first three Harry Potter books continually.
1926906 It will be longer than that. Significantly so.
get well soon but don't rush things.
Many many years ago I remember doing this to myself with Diablo II. The only thing I can say is even if the pain seems to be gone, don't be tempted to use the same place/elevation that caused it in the first originally, your body is tricking you and you are not healed yet.
Ouch! RSI that is something I know all too well. As Jordanis mentioned, an MS ergonomic keyboard is a good idea, if you can. The other thing that might help, and helps me dramatically, is to wear tube bandages whilst writing. You fold them over/inside out so you have a double layer, and about a centimeter in from the fold, cut a small hole for your thumb.
i.imgur.com/nDAgb6El.jpg?1
Good luck with your rest and recovery.
I hope you get better soon!
I didn't know you wanted to write a book! last time I grabbed a book written by an author here I was treated with an amazing story (I'm talking about The Demon of Cliffside by Daetrin) so I can confidently say that I really look forward to your book too!
Get well soon!
I hope that you recover soon.
Jeez you should've told me about your hands. I imagine having to respond to all my little chapter nitpicks doesn't help. Take it easy.