Holly Lisle: Writer

It’s been an awful week

So here I am on Friday night, haven’t managed a weblog entry, haven’t managed to write fiction all week.

I’ve been absolutely buried in Lesson 14 for HTRYN. Could not figure out how to show people what they need to do related to revising Simple Time in their novel. I had the whole lesson outlined, thought I knew how I was going to present it—and then my presentation didn’t work, and I re-outlined, did clusters, did bullet points, wrote things, deleted things.

My whole week I spent on JUST that lesson. In the end, I had a breakthrough, and HOW I needed to present the issues of Simple Time became clear, easy, obvious. Like falling off a log.

But it cost me the whole week, so here I am on Friday night, when I’m supposed to be done for the week and taking a break, and instead, the migraine that has plagued me much of the week is with me again, and I’m pushing through on the demo for Lesson 13.

The lesson wasn’t the only wreck in the week—but it magnified the several other wrecks.

I have not abandoned the writing diary, the newsletter, the TalysMana novel and weblog, or any of the other things I’m working on. This week, though, every just fell apart.

I’m sincerely hoping to sleep for two straight days once I get this demo done. But right at the moment, it’s looking like a long night.

And I had so many other things I wanted to talk about this week.

image_pdfDownload as PDFimage_printPrint Page

Posted

in

, ,

by

Holly

Tags:

Comments

13 responses to “It’s been an awful week”

  1. Meardaba Avatar
    Meardaba

    As a fellow migraine sufferer, and someone who gets headaches at the slightest provocation, can I make a quick suggestion?
    My migraines also pop up because of stress. I’m a student and I used to just grin and bear it once a week, but I finally went to a doctor a few months ago. Apparently that wasn’t normal (ha!) and he just told me to take some Riboflavin. It’s a vitamin, and you take between 200 mg and 400 mg a day along with some magnesium. Riboflavin is apparently a de-stress vitamin or something.
    I honestly haven’t had a migraine due to stress since December. (A migraine due to excessive alcohol, yes, but not stress)! I used to get them all the time. Just a thought, if you take vitamins already what’s one more?
    PS please go talk to a doctor before you do anything I suggested! Or a naturopath or whatever. Whomever you trust. A pharmacist?
    🙂

    Reply
  2. Anthony Avatar
    Anthony

    Woah… You definitely need to relax. Maybe a step back from everything will help you get things back on track. Consider taking time just for yourself.

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Something I’ll schedule for myself after this group of HTRYN students is through, and before I do the Guided Trek Through HTTS sometime in Mayish or Junish.

      Reply
  3. Kyralae Avatar
    Kyralae

    Holly,

    I can fully understand what you are going through. I retired and my old employer has brought me back to write the technical manual on how and why a government agency has to do a certain process. I know the process in and out, and most of the why but sometimes it just won’t go down on paper the way I want to say it. They didn’t make it easy with one of the criteria being it has to to be written at about 5th grade level of understanding. Oy, try talking legal and engineering at that level. I missed eating and sleeping to push one section through a deadline and kept hitting a wall – write, erase, write, etc. I finally got away from it completely for a day by doing house cleaning and then forced a good night sleep. Lo and behold I got up the next morning with it all in my head and wrote through the section in a few hours.

    Lesson learned – sleep and food will work miracles. I know you have deadlines you have set for yourself but the world won’t come to an end if HTRYN lessons are a day or two late when you have a sticky spot you are working through.

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      The world won’t come to an end. My mailbox, however, will fill up with several hundred e-mails from people asking where their next lesson is.

      Punishment by e-mail. If editors want writers to hit their deadlines, this is a technique that WILL WORK.

      Reply
      1. Kyralae Avatar
        Kyralae

        Good point Holly. Oh for the days without instant global communication called email. Sometimes it would be a nice escape.

        Maybe beat them to the emails with ‘Hold your horses – it’s coming!’ email of your own. I’ll tell you though, I really, really respect your dedication to your students. I’m one of them and have a deep respect for your skills and ability to teach!

        Reply
  4. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    There is something about February that seems to clobber me most years. Well, it’ll be over soon.

    The headache has been on-and-off, but I got sleep, and I’m writing tonight. Feeling much better.

    Thanks for the good wishes.

    Reply
  5. Danzier Avatar
    Danzier

    Holly, in some piece of your writing you once wrote that it’s illegal for anyone to make you work as long and as hard as you do for yourself. It’s breaking my heart that you’re working illegal-hard…for us. I can’t say thank you enough, but I can beg you to ease up a little. I’d rather have you around longer and wait for your insights than watch you go out in a blaze of glory…

    So Happy Valentine’s Day, from me and the rest of us. We love ya!

    Reply
  6. Joseph Brindley Avatar
    Joseph Brindley

    February as a whole has been kicking my hiney, so I totally understand that feeling. It’s just a matter of time before I stand on top of a car and throw my arms up in the air, shouting, “FEBRUARY!!!!” alla Hunchback of Notre Dame.

    I hope you get some rest and are able to get yourself recharged. You deserve it.

    Reply
  7. Joanna Penn Avatar
    Joanna Penn

    Have a good rest Holly. We all need your skills, but we can all wait as well. Please be well first 🙂

    Reply
  8. BeccaBooG Avatar
    BeccaBooG

    Every one has bad days (sucks you had a whole week of them). I hope you sleep well!!! Can’t wait to hear what you wanted to discuss 🙂

    Reply
  9. Deb Salisbury Avatar
    Deb Salisbury

    We will cheerfully wait until you feel well and are caught up on the other important things in life. I hope you are keeping notes on those other things you wanted to talk about.

    Lots of sleep may just kick that migraine out the door! 🙂

    Reply
  10. Wanders Nowhere Avatar
    Wanders Nowhere

    Yikes. I guess we all have those kinda weeks! I read somewhere lack of sleep can kill a person quicker than lack of food or water – sure explains why we burn ourselves out so quickly.
    Take it easy! Your fans are patient and respect your basic human need for sleep and headache recovery. If they don’t, kick ’em in the butt until they do 😀
    – Chris

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

13
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x