Monday, October 06, 2008

Sleepless in Arizona

I thought when my kids were older I'd be able to sleep through the night and foolishly looked forward to those wonderful evenings of relaxation.

And then my mind gave birth to characters. They're worse than babies! At least babies sometimes let you get a couple hours sleep between feedings. Characters keep you up for hours at a time and when you do close your eyes, it's only to have them play out their scenes beneath your eyelids.

I'm not looking forward to work today and hope I can make it through without falling asleep at my desk. On the upside, I've got some new scenes and revision ideas to work with.

Wait, that's the upside? More revision work? Yeah, I must be tired. *grin*

Hopefully I'll enjoy a blissful, dreamless sleep tonight.

I didn't complete any writing this weekend, but I do have a pretty good excuse. Friday, after parking in the driveway at home, my youngest daughter informed me she had "important papers" from school. Now, understand "important papers" are the notes sent home from school and can range from flyers about upcoming events, sport sign-up announcements, or a real note from the teacher. I stepped out of the van (but not away from it), turned to get the papers from her, and the wind slammed the driver's door shut onto my left elbow.

Yeah, it hurt . . . you know just enough to bring me to my knees and make tears pool in my eyes (while trying not to scream and bawl so I wouldn't frighten my kids). I called hubby (he's an EMT) but he wasn't answering his phone. I thought my elbow might be broken as I was unable to move it and it was swelling nicely. Twelve years later, hubby came home.

Okay, it was more like fifteen minutes, but it felt like twelve years. His phone was experiencing technical difficulties. We went to the Urgent Care facility (it's less expensive than the ER) to have my elbow checked. They took x-rays and determined it was NOT broken. While this knowledge was a comfort, it didn't make it hurt any less. They told me it was badly bruised inside and out and would take a couple of weeks to heal.

A couple of weeks? I ignored the panic of not having the use of my left arm for two weeks and nodded. I think hubby must have seen that "writer's look" in my eyes for he piped up, "She does a lot of typing, will she be able to?"

Of course the doctor said I should refrain from typing at least for the weekend. I glared at hubby, smiled sweetly at the doctor and pretended I'd be an obedient patient. Upon arriving home, I took some Motrin and got out my computer. It only took a couple of keystrokes for me to realize I would NOT be able to type with my left hand. Did this stop me?

Well, yes, it sort of did. I still visited blogs, answered emails, visited Verla Kay's, and replied to comments . . . you know small postings where I could use one hand to fly across the keyboard. Well, perhaps fly isn't accurate . . . but it was faster than hunting and pecking by a bit. I'm pretty good with one hand. Anyway, I felt a bit better Saturday, but not enough for long posts. Sunday was more of the same.

Today I feel quite a bit better, though as I'm typing this, I'm feeling twinges of pain now and then. We'll see how it goes at work today . . . if I make it to work today.

Write on.

2 comments:

Bish Denham said...

Oh Joan! Sorry to hear about the elbow. What a...pain.

And don't you just love/hate it when those characters and scenes get in the way of sleeping?

Take care of yourself.

justJoan said...

LOL, yes it is a pain. hee hee hee

And I'm leaning more toward the hate side of the characters not allowing me to sleep . . . I'm TIRED!