3 Ways to Write When You're Sick

Hello November and Nanowrimo!

I've done Nano for 9 years now, and if there's one thing I've learned, it that it's pretty darn hard to have to keep up the word count. No, 2K words isn't too hard, but finding the time and place to get the words out can be another story. Sometimes, everything is against you.

Including your body!

Oh crippling, unexpected illnesses! How do you always find me?

But you want to win at this Nano thing, don't you? You want to get to the 50K words and get that winner, winner chicken dinner feeling. You want to the see what's behind the veil of Winner Goodies.

I hear you! But as much as you WANT to win, nothing (nothing, nothing, nothing!) will get you to the finish line but writing.

But you have a fever, you say? You can't barely see out of your puffy eyes? You're asleep almost all day?

I hear you too! But you still want to win, right?

First and foremost, your health is FIRST AND FOREMOST! But, I'm not a doc. I can only attest to what I've done in the past 9 years to win.

1. Drink Fluids

2. Plan Ahead

3. Rest Frequently

1. Drink Fluids

You have probably heard around that you might need a little something called water? You've probably heard about 8 glasses that you need to drink, and then there's the 3 glasses of milk you're supposed to consume for optimum calcium and such.

While this is all seemingly true, bare in mind that you have other avenues of fluid intakes. I'm talking smoothies, soups, fruits, juices, and my favorite tea! These are all considered fluids. So, while there's a lot to be said about the benefits of water, keeping up any fluids is super important.

Why?

Great question! Again, you could probably talk to a doctor or a nutritionist to get an expert opinion, but the gist of it is, your body is mostly fluids. Fluids regulate your body temperature, provides nutrients, and helps clean out toxins from your body. All necessary to help you not be sick. Yah!

Also, there are many fluids that will help you maintain momentum. Yes, I'm talking coffees and teas - but NOT energy drinks. You have to be pretty careful with these, as they are packed with specific vitamins and extra caffeine, and you don't want too much either. If you're taking some kind of medications, your best bets would be water, soups and teas.

My mother always says that a warm drink is the best thing for a body, because then your body doesn't have to deal with the "shock" of cold.

I have no idea if your body actually shocks from the cold, but I have to agree with my mother - warm drinks are like a hug from the inside. (Hot chocolate, I'm talking specifically to you.)

Here are some other pretty interesting articles about the benefits of water/fluids:

13 Impressive Drinking Water Benefits (Organic Facts)

17 Best Benefits of Lemon Water (Organic Facts)

15 Big Benefits of Water (Health, Jennifer Goldstein)

What Are the Benefits of Electrolyte Water? (SFGate, Sandi Busch)

2. Plan Ahead

Okay, you can't plan when you're going to be sick. Who would actually plan to be sick? No one!

But, as you're stepping into the Nanowrimo novel writing world, you can plan a bit for your story.

I'm a Panster, you say? I like to start the story from nothing and find it along the way. That's pretty great! I'm mostly a panster too. The first four years of doing Nano, I was a complete panster. I had a working title, a handful of character names, and a generally idea of maybe two sentences about the story. That was it.

And, yeah, I managed to get to my end mark - but just barely. Also, you factor in the American holiday of Thanksgiving, my sister's birthday, and my niece was born at the end of October of my first Nano year. Her birth actually inspired me to just do it! I was in college and helping my sister out as best as I could, I had many sleepless nights and so many moments of doing nothing but cuddling and cuddling and kissing on this new little girl.

Needless to say, the first draft of THAT story is pretty horrific!

But since then, so many other things have fallen in my plate. Now I have a nephew as well, and I love spending time with those two little wonderful knuckleheads of awesome. I also love doing the whole Thanksgiving thing, but can easily turn in to a weeklong thing. I'm talking cookies, pies, cakes, stuffing, veggie sides, sweet potatoes, and ham, turkey, the works. (Sorry if I made you hungry!)

Time is the best teacher, they say. And time has taught me that time is precious. If I'm ill, I can't think write. And just like I plan out what I have to buy for the Thanksgiving menu, I can jot down the general idea of what a story needs.

If you're stuck in the muggy brain of illness, having a note to tell you that your character is on a way to a party that they're going to ditch when they realize that there's a villain on the prowl is a godsend. You won't have to read back into your writing and waste that time, or have to cringe at your many mistakes and have to fight over fixing them.

It's better to be a little prepared, then completely derailed. With something like the Basic Noveling Templates where you can get the bare bones of your characters, setting, and the inspiration that led you to the idea. These are the first things that I started doing after life got too hectic to pants along.

As the years have passed, I have gotten a bit more "plantser", or a planning basics but still allowing the stories to garner shapes and plots of their own. ew characters can pop up, settings can explode, and a secondary character can become a best friend. We need ways to keep track of all of these changes.

Basic Noveling Template (etsy, ThereIsMagic)

Story Plotting Worksheets (etsy, ThereIsMagic)

Character Creating Worksheets (etsy, ThereIsMagic)

3. Rest Frequently

You are ill. Telling yourself that you're not won't make you less ill. And it certainly won't make you feel better faster.

When you can no longer write, stop. When you're tired and need a nap, sleep. If you can't sleep, at least take a seat for a few minutes.

Yes, this is harder if you're at work or have kids, but overall, you can't really work or take care of your children very well if you're ill. You must make yourself a priority when you're feeling under the weather.

And if you can't write, don't. The challenge of getting to 50K is daunting from the beginning, but it's doable. I've had 10K days and no writing weekends. This year, I'm already 4 days behind! But, I have confidence in my ability to toss words at the screen and get my characters moving.

Will this be publishable at the end of the month? HECK NO! No one's Nano is that good. No one. NO ONE. Take a day or two to yourself and your body will be thankful for it.

Hope everyone stays healthy! Now, get to writing!

#Writing #3Ways