apolz

[adelaidesean]

A quick note to apologise to anyone waiting for an e-mail from me, or for something of substace to appear in this particular forum.  For once it's not a case of deadlines, although they have contributed to the problem.  I'm suffering RSI and undergoing treatment for the same, and therefore exploring a variety of options like fancy keyboards and voice recognition software (not "oyster commission software" as the programme originally understood it to be)  to see things right.

But it's not all bad, not by a long chalk.  When not editing or coming up with ideas or future series, I've been watching Doctor Who DVDs, catching up on Carnivale, and seeing the odd circus act at the Adelaide Fringe.  Loving the cooler weather.  Reading some great books.  Eating chocolate.  And so on.

Oh, it's wonderful not to have to write 3 1/2 thousand words a day any more.  (Never again ...)

Comments

[karenmiller.livejournal.com]

Deary deary me. Fingers crossed for a fast recovery.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

thanks, Karen. Was a certain franchise what done it. :-/

I'm also late congratulating you on your deal. such awesome news, and very well deserved. Fantastic!

[karenmiller.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly. It's a bittersweet thing, the new deal, but I'm also very excited and a little bit scared.

And yeah -- that certain franchise, all that last minute typing! You take good care.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

Success and security are double-edged swords. :-) I'm sure that you'll be fine. Better than fine. You are amazing.

Things improved at my end. Am in the process of rebuilding my study, to make more RSI-friendly. Hopefully that will fix the problem in the long run. Just have to finish re-writing these two novels in the certain franchise, and then I can relax!

[karenmiller.livejournal.com]

Vote of confidence much appreciated!

With the RSI, I gave myself a problem years ago using a laptop with a keyboard that was too small for prolonged bouts of typing. Do they make oversized keyboards that you can plug in, so your hands aren't cramped up with the typing? You know the volume of work I'm stuck with right now and I'm not having any issues, but my keyboards are pretty roomy. Of course, you've probably thought of that already. *g*

[drew-bowie.livejournal.com]

Geez, RSI? Do not let that screw with you dude, do what you can to rest and recover.

(btw, formerly Sithmagician)

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

somehow I knew that. The Force, maybe. :-)

[shadowsandice.livejournal.com]

Hey Sean, I've been struggling with an RSI for about a year also. Thinking of you. Take care of those paws.

(I'm not game to try voice recognition - writing for me is about writing, forgive my pretentiousness, heh.)

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

I'll be using Dragon for e-mail and blogging, mainly, because I am like you: writing IS about writing. And besides, judging by my experience so far, Dragon just isn't good enough to make writing prose worth the effort.

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

Get a secretary who can take dictation.

[albogdan.livejournal.com]

Enjoy the downtime! Sounds like a nice way to recover from overworking to me.

I had RSI long ago. I switched to a split keyboard at the time (the original split MS keyboard), mounted a height adjustable tray on my desk, and stopped using the tilt legs on the back of the keyboard so it would lay flat. The goal was to keep the wrist straight and relaxed while typing. I had to focus on not bending the wrist up or to the right/left while typing until it became habit. That worked for me.

Hopefully just slowing down and removing the stress load will be enough. I can't remember how long it took before it stopped bothering me, but luckily I've been able to keep it from ever happening again.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

thanks, Al. I've been taking preventative measures for some years now, but there's only so much abuse my hands can take. :-) downtime is all relative. I'm still working seven days a week, but I'm hopeful that things will slow down in the near future.

I hope life is treating you well the moment. How's the writing coming along?

[albogdan.livejournal.com]

Life is pretty good right now. Last year was definitely my least productive year in the past decade, but this year I'm finally back to writing every day again.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

I'm increasingly a big believer in productivity that isn't reflected in wordcount. You know, like quality rather than quantity, that kind of thing. That's how I reassure myself when I'm having a quiet month or two, anyway. :-)

[ashamel.livejournal.com]

I have used Dragon Dictate in the past, and it worked pretty well for me. Since that was about 5 years ago, I assume things have improved further.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

I'm deep in the training phase at the moment, which is proving pretty frustrating, but I'm hopeful ...

voice operated software

[(Anonymous)]

Keep at it with the software, sean. It's really frustrating at first, but it gets better. I write fantasy, and it copes reasonably well with unusual names etc once you train it.
J-A Brock

[deborahkalin.livejournal.com]

argh! everyone's being struck down with this plague! fingers crossed for swift recovery - and i'd love to hear about your experience with aforesaid fancy software when things settle down.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

thanks! It's hard work so far, maybe because I talk too fast ...

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

I've had it(small dose). Too much cataloguing....best wishes for revocery.
All I have to worry about now is arthritis.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

Ouch. I hope that's a long way off for both of us!

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately not for me. In the last month, it has started to become an issue. I have to see my doctor to confirm, butI'm pretty sure I'm starting to get it in the hands and feet. I'm lucky, this should have hit me years ago. According to several doctors, I should be riddled with it by now because of the bad accident when I was a kid. A few pangs and pain is okay. But the lost of power in my hands, and my grip failing from time to time is hard to take.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

ouch again. I'm sorry about that. hopefully the Jakobi complaining to the back of their heads isn't too far away now.

hmmm. What that should have said was: hopefully the jack connecting to the back of our heads ... :-)

[keris45.livejournal.com]

Yep. Got the same problem so you have my sympathies. Whom shall we sue??

Glenda

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

Beats me. The readers who want big fat books...the editors who want everything done yesterday...the economic system that makes it a necessity to write three books a year just to be able to survive...?

:-)

I hope yours improves soon. Are you having physio for it or undergoing any other kind of treatment?

[keris45.livejournal.com]

The first thing I did was buy a huge study table that was completely adjustable with an ergomonic adjustable chair. For the first time in my life I was actually seated at furniture the correct height for someone originally just scraping 5'2" - and now shrinking. At the same I got a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard and a larger monitor screen. (Ok, with all that, there went one book advance...)

Those changes made a wonderful difference. I still have the problem, I still have ulnar palsy as well as wrist problems, but they are all under control and not getting any worse. Only very rarely do I have to take NSAIDs in order to work.

About the only medical advice I could get was: don't do whatever it was you were doing to get yourself in this state.

Right.

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

That's like my doctor telling me not to stress. Fine. How do I get rid of my boss? I draw the line at murder.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

Yup, I'm getting that too. I've had the ergonomic chair and ergonomic keyboard for ages now, so all I can do is try voice recognition and physio and hope for the best. Oh, and slowing down, like that's ever to happen. :-)

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

And no mammoth book signing sessions. BTW are you going to Worldcon?

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

yeah, the signing thing is a bit nerve wracking. Will definitely be at WorldCon, and at comic con in july too plus a con in New Zealand in August. Might be time to start thinking about training a robotic arm, maybe even a whole robot body. :-)

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

Hopefully, ww'll see you there and say hi. Con fees paid, flights and accomodation booked. Our original plans of driving down have been changed because of my work (major, and I mean major, audit of hospital on the week BEFORE the con. Bugger them), so we are flying down and staying on after the con for some fun and shopping.

Me, I want an exoskeleton, with rocket launchers.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

with a jetpack!

it'll be great to see in Melbourne. Seems like years away but I'm sure it will come upon us very quickly ...

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

I'm really going to be relaxing when we get there. The next six months is going to be frantic at work, and the last month before the Audit will be hell. I will have deserved my break by then.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

I'll say!

Cons are weird, because they can be so exhausting but at the same time so energising. I think it took me a month to recover from the last WorldCon in Melbourne. :-)

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

Cons are very different experiences for you than for me. Let's put it this way, if I get bored, or annoyed, or need a break, I'm heading for the Art Gallery. I get on very well with paintings.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

:-) Sounds great. I tend to spend half my cons hiding in my hotel room doing work, or pretending to, in order to give me a break from people. I mean, I love people but I'm not so fond of crowds. Comic Con fills me with dread!

the Melbourne con will be full of friends that I haven't seen for a long time. I'm looking forward to it.

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

This is a club I wished I wasn't welcoming you to. The single biggest thing that helped me was a Plates program - Pilates helped me go from being told I'd be crippled for life (at that stage I couldn't brush my teeth or carry anything heavier than 1 kg and I needed to take a panadeine if I wanted to wash my hair and even then it hurt badly) to being told I had to be really careful and stop before things hurt. My problem, of course, in in the latter, but I'm still functional, which is the big thing. When I do my Plates exercsies, I'm even more functional .

Get over the worst soon and get over all the rest of it very soon after.

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

Yikes! That sounds terrible, apart from discovering Pilates, which somebody else has recommended to me as well. Thanks for the advice and the best wishes. I'm trying very hard to be good, but there are these deadlines, you see ...

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

Pilates helps with deadlines. When I have them, I make sure I do more Pilates exercises in my breaks (and I have breaks more often). It's only when i forget this that I get high pain. I forgot it when my life went curious and strange the last two months and I'm having to work hard at not hurting again, but it's only taken 3 days of the exercises to bring the pain down to manageable levels and last night I slept the whole night through and woke up with my hands still sensate. This is why I love Pilates - it helps with times when one is supremely stupid.

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

"it helps with times when one is supremely stupid"

I reckon I might need more than that. :-)

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

that's one good thing about using Dragon. I can always blame it for all my mistakes. :-)

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

a very small world indeed! with entirely too many Christians. (Christians there came out as questions via Dragon, which is ironic.)

How was the convention? All the reviews and wonderful. I wish I could've been there ...

[seanwilliams.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link. I'm even more jealous than ever now. Love the idea of Richard Dawkins and BZ Myers duking it out in a barroom brawl. :-)

Next time, for sure.

Spanish publisher requesting information

[(Anonymous)]

Dear Mr. Williams,

Forgive me for writing directly to the blog, I am a Spanish publisher interested in your work, I would like comment with you some details, I send you my mail address so you can get in touch with me because I do not have yours. I thank in advance your attention.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.

King regards,
Eva Díaz-Ceso
evadiazceso@hotmail.com

from kirsty

[(Anonymous)]

"Oh, it's wonderful not to have to write 3 1/2 thousand words a day any more. (Never again ...)"

Ha! I so don't beleive you Williams. After living with you writing more or less than that for about half a decade, I wonder you can't do it in your sleep. But sorry about your RSI, grandpa, there's a really cool girl who teaches at TAFE (In SF of course) who is a genius with the VRS and works on it all the time, she gave me a great lesson when my back was giving me grief (yes, equally aged, feeble and frail)

If you wanted advice on it. I'll find her details but I'm sure you're already hooked up to some machine that takes the text from your eyelids and downloads it through a portal behind your third hard drive/kneecap.
hope you got loads of chocolate for easter.
cheers, kb

Try a slate/ tablet

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Sean. So sorry to hear about your RSI problems - must be such a pain for you, literally and figuratively! I have an RSI-type-thing from writing at work, mostly due to the mouse. To get around this, for my creative writing at home I've bought a HP TM2 touchsmart computer. I can use the pen or the touch screen instead of the mouse. I can also write directly on the screen and the mostly-accurate handwriting recognition software converts it to typing. Writing uses different tendons and muscles than typing, so I thought this might be an alternative for you?
Best of luck with it
Katrina