I did say that I thought I could be here as often as once or twice a month, right? Anyway, a progress report. The enforced hours away from the computer help a lot. Also, I park the wireless mouse on the left side of the computer. Arm’s improving.
I had meant to include the following in the original post. It’s a passage from Stephen King’s ON WRITING that reminds me that I don’t know what pain is.
“That first writing session lasted an hour and forty minutes, by far the longest period I’d spent sitting upright since being struck by Smith’s van. When it was over, I was dripping with sweat and almost too exhausted to sit up straight in my wheelchair. The pain in my hip was just short of apocalyptic . . . There was no miraculous breakthrough that afternoon, unless it was the ordinary miracle that comes with any attemp to create something . . . My hip still hurt, my back still hurt, my leg, too, but those hurts began to seem a little farther away.”
(c) Stephen King
I don’t know about you, but when a writer such as King uses the word “apocalyptic” to describe pain, I’m inclined to take him seriously.
I wrote 2,700 words yesterday on a flight to Florida with nary a pain. I can write all I want. I just can’t click all I want. And given that we’re still trying to resolve some pesky Internet issues around the house because of this $#(*^@!!! phone that was given to us, it turns out that I have only 30 minutes of connectivity before I lose my server. (I then have to walk down two flights and do a quick on-off on the router.) What’s the old saying? Man plans, God laughs.
I’m with Sandra, I’ve been using a trackball for about 4 years now and there is no way I could ever go back to a mouse that you have to move around to do things. Once you get used to how to use it you will wonder why you didn’t do it long ago. Good luck with your healing and as is true of everyone else, I’m very glad you’re writing but make it easier on yourself.
Trackballs don’t work for me, but I do wonder whether a Wacom tablet might do the trick. It’s all pen motions.
We have a saying around my house: It’s the bad craftsman who blames his tools. Or something like that. The problem is not in the mouse, dear friends, but in myself that I am . . . well, not an underling, but a mouse-hugger/hoverer. And when I had trackball, I misued it, too. The problem is that, Frankie be damned, I simply cannot relax.
I’m currently working with a trainer who stretches me out post-workout. He takes my leg by the ankle — let’s pause here and note that I am glad that I am much, much older than this very young man and without Mrs. Robinson tendencies, because it is very, very odd to have someone doing this to you and it’s better if there’s not a speck of confusion about what the point is — and I’m supposed to let my leg go limp and weightless, and this is almost impossible for me. I basically live my life in one big isometric clenching.
Meanwhile, let me point out that Karen is a Gumshoe nominee for best first novel, along with David Terrenoire, who’s also been known to frequent these parts. Oh, and Duane, too.
And I would like to point out that Laura is not tooting her own horn, so I’ll toot it for her. She’s also a Gumshoe nominee for Best Novel!
Big congratulations to all the Gumshoe nominees, and second what Cornelia said…..so glad you can write without pain….
I am so sorry it affects clicking, but oh so glad you are able to write without pain…
Laura, you really should try a trackball. I bought one years ago when my hand had become so painful that I could hardly bear to move it, and the change miraculously alleviated the pain and made the neurologist shut up about surgery. I’ve had several types of trackball since then, but they’ve all been equally good for my hand and wrist. Right now I’m using a Logitech Marble Mouse. When I have to do anything on a computer with a mouse — at the library, say — my hand quickly begins to feel uncomfortable.
Sandy
I’m very glad to hear you’re writing with no pain. Am really glad you’re writing period!
You know, your posts are convincing me that perhaps my dial-up isn’t so bad after all.
I completely understand the mouse issue, though. We just got InDesign and InCopy at work and are now using that instead of Quark and Word. We have to use the mouse more with InDesign and InCopy and I can definitely feel it.
Congrats to the nominees, and I am also happy that Laura can write with less pain. Laura, I know what you mean about not relaxing. When I was doing PT (physical therapry, or more accurately pain & torture) for my neck and hands, I had a really hard time relaxing so they could untie the bigger knots in my back.
The Stephen King snippet is great. In fact, I recommend that everyone read that particular section of ON WRITING. The section (part?) is entitled “On Living: A Postscript” and is a telling of his accident from heading out for his walk and being struck by the van, through the initial surgeries and rehab, and finally the way his writing brought him back and essetially saved him. All told in classic Stephen King prose.
I’ve read ON WRITING three times, and have listened to it probably a dozen more times.
I am a private investigator and researcher in San Francisco and spend a lot of time on the computer. I have a suggestion for a device that might help your wrist improve – it helped me anyway. It’s called a “track mouse”, You hold it in one hand and rotate a small ball with your thumb to move the cursor, then click with a trigger on the front using your index finger. This requires no wrist motion whatsoever. I recently ordered one from http://www.bixnet.com/fintracmousp/html, but you can probably find them elsewhere.
I also want to say that “The Power of Three” was one of the best novels I have read in years, and I read A LOT! I would have loved to see the staged version!