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Friday, June 23, 2023

Early Experiment Results

Still feeling generally better than I have been over the last couple years, if a sore and beat up generally better.  My first attempt at typing was on my back in bed with a detachable keyboard, first completely horizontal and then on my left side.  Managed 1000 words that way and finally finished a scene that had remained in statis for over a year, but I was very uncomfortable the whole time and couldn't walk at all the next day.  Well...I could stagger to the bathroom and the microwave, nothing else.  Followed by zombie shuffling the day after that and my 80-year-old-man impersonation the day after that.  Spiked my pain like 4 points at least.

Experiment #1:  Failure!

1k every five days while I'm in tons of pain in-between just isn't going to cut it or is a situation I'm willing to enter into.

So last Friday when I no longer felt like one of the walking dead, I tried another idea I'd had, which was to lounge in bed and just text everything out on my smart phone's note app.  It's slower than the real deal, obviously, its going to take more editing once it hits the word processor, but...it seems to be sustainable pain wise.  I've written 4000 words this way in the last week, Ceinwyn and Plutarch are currently having quite the conversation with King Henry Jerry Spingering on the sidelines...is this the first time they've really had a scene together?  Can't remember, might have to look it up.

It's not 100% (and Mad Scientist Mode is impossible), but it's closer than anything I've felt since before I hurt my back.  I'm rusty and my writer's mind is struggling to return and War to End All Wars is still an indulgent monster, but...

Experiment #2:  Progress!

Going to keep with this for now and see how it goes.  Been staying away from the computer (either reddit scrolling or card gaming) and just reading a ton of books in bed as my main form of entertainment just to save my back. (btw totally recommend Naomi Novik's Scholomance Trilogy, especially for fans of the magic school aspect in the KHT.  One warning I would give is that the inner monologuing is A LOT...and that's coming from ME.  But I'm loving it so far halfway through the last novel, does a lot of the same things I'm trying to accomplish theme-wise with the KHT, granted in a very different way, also the main character El has aspects of KH and Val thrown together into one person that makes me smile for...reasons...)

Tramadol order is still fubar and still weeks until we know about when the next burnination can take place, so that's where we are for now.  But, ya know...4k words a week or more as I get back into what groove I can manage...that's something.  Still have the dictating setup to try out too and I want to give a go at rigging the detachable keyboard up so it's almost like a vertical triangle where I don't have to turn my shoulders and wrists to type and see how that works.  That's really one of the main differences between texting and typing outside of finger-usage, so it's an idea...

But for now, going with what we got and finally some progress!*

*remember that progress can implode along with my spine at any moment and temper your expectations accordingly!

June 28th Edit:  wrote 5k more and then the back imploded. :(  Did finish the scene.  Will move on to the next when my joints chill out, hopefully in a few days.  This novel continues to vex me for reasons beyond my ills and pains...each session/chapter is averaging about 20k so far.  By my outline I have at least 6 left to write...math is not on my side...

6 comments:

  1. Considering how difficult I find reading while lying in bed this days (the arm position gets tiring/painful in a hurry), I can't imagine trying to type, even on a wireless keyboard. I mean, it would pretty much require some kind of custom "hamster wheel" rig to hold all the computer components, and even then, there is STILL the unsupported arms issue.

    So good for you, thinking of a non-trauma-inducing workaround that does not involve hiring an amanuensis, like John Milton....

    A combination of Val and KH? The mind boggles....

    Anyway, I am 30k words in to the 4th book of my project- (yay?) and can only envy and admire you being able to get 4000 words under unimaginable conditions. As far as implosions--- please do whatever you need in order to make that less likely. Pain sucks. Best wishes to you and lighting candles/sacrificing old Smith-Corona ribbons/whatever it takes to ensure your continued improvement.

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  2. Try dragon software, I find it very helpful.

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  3. "El has aspects of KH and Val thrown together into one person that makes me smile for...reasons..." - this makes me more concerned than I will ever admit.

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  4. More words are better- except when you are having to fight your body to get them where you want them. But, if this is supposed to be "The End," well... yeah. That means getting to a bunch of material. Rest, recover, ruminate. Your loyal readers will still be waiting- more or less patiently. And we will go out and convert others to the cause. The only thing better than reading a KH story for the first time is watching someone to whom you have introduced KH reading one for the first time...

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  5. I read the Naomi Novik series as per your recommendation. Very enjoyable, especially the way the 'big picture' comes together in the third novel. Thank you! May you not melt in the Fresno heat - England has decided to only do summer one Tuesday in June this year, so it's been and gone.

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