‘Fess Up Friday coming up just as soon as I . . . a – A – ACH-OO!
The week started out productively enough. I restarted this blog, I did some work on my work-in-progress, I finished up a couple of critiques, and I read like a fiend. By Wednesday I was happily trucking along, making big plans for the rest of the week. I could easily churn out another 1,000 words on my WIP. I could finally sit down and polish my query. But then on Wednesday night, I was sniffling and coughing. By Thursday afternoon, I was zombiefied and wondering, do writers get sick days?
I’ve always wondered this. At my corporate job, it wasn’t even a question. If I felt bad or the least bit contagious, I’d call in, maybe check my email, and spend the rest of the day recuperating on the couch with my kitties and a healthy dose of reality television. It’s a sick day, right? It’s meant to be spent vegging out and melting your brain. But since I quit corporate to write full time, I don’t know how to handle these days, as evidenced by the crushing guilt I felt flipping between Netflixed episodes of 30 Rock and Arrested Development. (Okay, maybe the guilt wasn’t crushing, but every once in a while I definitely felt like I should be writing.) At the same time, my brain was definitely switched to Off. Reading didn’t hold my concentration and my one attempt at the WIP resulted in just moving a couple of articles around.
I’m curious about how other writers handle sick days. Do you write through the headache/fever/cold? Do you try to do something productive but not taxing, like visit blogs or do agent research? Do you just scrap it all and set up shop in front of the television?
For the record, I’m feeling better today. Definitely closer to 60% human, I’d say. Unfortunately, I lost a morning to de-germifying the sheets and house even though Hubs seems to have it, too. I see more Lysol in my future, I’m sure.
Okay, now for the fun stuff. It’s Friday, what is Chicklit…
Reading:
- Room by Emma Donoghue
- Bras & Broomsticks by Sarah Mlynowski
- After the Kiss by Terra Elan McVoy
Watching:
- Mad Men, “Hands and Knees”
- American Teen
- The Greatest
- Iron Man 2
Happy Writing!
Shellie Faught 
Depends on how I feel really – I wrote a contest winning short story bundled up and feverish once, but usually I just wander through blogs, watch Doctor Who and allow myself to rest until I feel better again 🙂
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You know, I’ve been stuck at home all weekend and I haven’t watched a single episode of Doctor Who. Time to fix that. I did, however, find a BBC series called ShakespeaRe-Told with Billie Piper. Not quite the same, but it’s been fun to watch.
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Ooh, see I don’t even know that! Sounds fun!
How about Hamlet?! That’s three hours of pure genius ❤
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Wish I had the answer. Do writers get holidays? Weekends? Meal breaks?
For me writing falls somewhere between hobby/compulsion/act of love and work. I think if I start to earn money from it it will fall more squarely into the ‘work’ category, but right now I just don’t see it that way. I do it because I want to, I’m driven to…and sad as it is I’d choose to spend my holidays writing too if only my husband would agree!
Hope you’re feeling better soon, and remember that watching a good movie or two while rugged up on the sofa definitely counts as research and inspiration for later writing.
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