Several months ago, around the time I started this blog, I was recovering from a concussion. I was out of work for two full months. I have spent a small fortune's worth of electronic ink describing my fun with the feds that happened by my hospital while I was out on leave. And, quite frankly, concussions suck donkey balls.
But was that knock on the noggin a proverbial blessing in disguise?
I have been a pharmacist for sixteen and half years. Before that was three years of year round pharamcy school. The year before I went into pharmacy school, I worked at Disneyland nearly full-time. Before that was five years of undergrad where I worked full time during the summers in between semesters. So, you have to go back to the summer of my high school graduation, before I started college, to find anything close to two straight months of doing nothing.
What did I get out of that two months off with a constant (literal) headache and a pending (figurative) headache from the feds? I got two months to sit in front of a computer and write. When I sat down during that time, I was on chapter seventeen of this manuscript. A manuscript that saw me dabble with it on and off for the better part of four years (at least one file is listed as 2007!). But in that two months, I wrote THIRTY FIVE more chapters. I doubled my output of five years in eight weeks. Why? Because I had the time. Because I wasn't distracted.
Because I caught the bug.
Work is hard. Getting up and going to the hospital every day, dealing with rules, regulations and employees can be a grind. I like being a pharmacist. I am very good at what I do. But its a 45+ hour a week job on the good weeks (and a blackberry hardwired into my lower spinal column for constant contact). It is draining. I think all of us have felt that at some point or another. But since that two months, I come home and I can't stay away from the computer and Word and editing that next chapter. It should feel like more work. After all, if you are an author, writing IS your job. But it doesn't. It doesn't feel like work at all. It feels like I have to do it. I have to get through that next chapter. I have to finish the editing. I can't let it sit. I'm OCD with this writing thing.
Like I said...a bug, or maybe a disease. But for once, I am glad I got sick. Because writing, even with its own frustrations, makes me happy. It almost makes it worth the concussion.
Wow what a cool story. Okay the concussion is not so cool, but I'm glad it led to writing :) I find it's so much easier to write when I have dedicated time and have a schedule and a rhythm for it. And I think those two months off helped you discover that love of writing as well as find your rhythm. I've recently gotten out of mine due to life, and it kills me. Getting back into it has been difficult but I know once I do I'll be back to my productive writing self. I hope the bug sticks with you :)
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