Writing while sick

It was sort of funny — one of the scenes I had to write yesterday was about someone getting quite sick — feverish, delusional.  I could quite closely examine my own symptoms as I write — ah, yes, that’s precisely the kind of chills that this character would be suffering. See, the raspiness in the throat?  I can use that.  (Writers are ghouls; we use everything.)

Yesterday I was fairly exhausted and spend most of the day in bed, not eating much — the scale thinks I lost two pounds, but I suspect that’s mostly fluids.  Hopefully not muscle, not in just a day!  How quickly does one lose muscle, anyway?  Am feeling better today, so I’m going to try to stay seated rather than prone, as I work on the other half of the chapter.  And eating normally, and maybe, if I am very ambitious, taking a walk?  I miss swimming, but I am clearly not up to it yet.

There was a moment last night when I thought I might need to cancel the WorldCon trip, but I seem to be on the upswing of this cold, so I’ll probably still go.  Now, I’m still coughing, and if past experience is any guide, I may well be coughing for weeks.  But as long as I don’t feel like I’m going to fall over, that’s tolerable.

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