Doctors and Deadlines: Writing with Chronic Illness

I emailed my publisher from my hospital bed in a state of panic. It was unlikely that I would be able to turn in the edit of my novel by the deadline. The doctors did not know what was wrong with me. Initial tests were not providing any answers, and I didn’t know how long I would be hospitalised and away from my desk.

In truth, I should not have been panicking about the deadline. My health problems had landed me in hospital before and the publisher knew about it. We had even agreed together that deadlines to do with this second book would be fluid, to allow for such instances occurring again.

As always with writing, the pressure and panic came solely from me. It’s a situation that is quite common for many writers, chronically ill or not. We push ourselves to write a certain amount of that first draft every day. Then we have to edit a certain number of chapters. We force ourselves through nerve-wracking submission processes and finally, after all that, once publication has been achieved, there’s the marketing. And that can feel like it’s never enough, no matter how much we do.

My tips for staying well while writing:

• Prioritise your health over writing. If your health goes, everything else does too.
• Stay hydrated. Keep water on your desk. Drink it. This may sound very basic, but it’s so easy to get lost in that scene for hours and end up dehydrated like a prune.
• Sleep. Sleep well and long. Make yourself stop thinking about writing a while before bedtime. If you have a brilliant idea in the night, write it down and let it go. Do not lie there for hours going over every little nuance that you’re going to perfect the next day, and then cry for your characters because of what you’re about to put them through. You’ll be far better placed to do terrible things to them if you’re well rested.
• Eat well. Do not forget to have lunch because you’re writing. Set an alarm if you have to. Stay nourished.
• Exercise. Get up from your desk every so often and move. Exercise in whatever way is right for you, but don’t push yourself too hard in this either.
• Relax. Breathe deeply. Meditate. Go out in nature. Try relaxation techniques like EFT (tapping through acupressure points). Drink camomile tea. Stress makes everything worse. Literally everything: health, writing, sleeping… If you have health problems already, stress could exacerbate them. If you don’t, it could cause them to develop. Relax and stay calm, as much as possible.

Strangely I find these tips easier to adhere to when I’m not well. When all I can do is lie on the sofa in pain, relying on other people to bring me food and water, I do rest and drink and sleep if I can. But as healing comes, I get excited to do things again. To write everything: books and blogs and articles. To cook and garden, and go to the shops. To walk in the woods and on the beach. Yoga! Ballet! I have a tendency to do far too much and slow the healing.

Once I’ve been well for a while, fear creeps in. How long will this wellness last? Hadn’t I better get really busy to make up for an imagined time when I can’t do anything? I go places and stock up on shopping. I write and write and write. I exhaust myself and then despair that I might actually be making myself ill. I force myself to calm down and let ‘rest, eat, hydrate, relax,’ become a little mantra in my mind.

I find it helps to remember that most things turn out alright in the end, whatever you did or didn’t do, on time or not. I spent four weeks in that hospital bed mystifying the doctors. They scratched their heads, pointed at me and called to each other in incredulous voices: “Steve, have you seen this?” Eventually, Steve and the other medics diagnosed me with two autoimmune conditions. There are treatments and various things I can do for myself. I did miss that deadline though. I turned in the edited manuscript much later than had been planned. But the book came out on time. The publisher released it on the scheduled day of publication like a miracle. 

My latest book, Sisters at the Edge of the World, took seven years to complete due to the interruptions of illness and then the editing of other books as they got published. And that’s okay. It’s been through a lot of fixing and editing and cleaning up and deleting and rewriting. As, it feels, have I. And I think we’re both the better for it.

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Ailish Sinclair trained as a dancer and taught dance for many years, before working in schools to help children with special needs. A short stint as a housekeeper in a castle fired her already keen interest in untold stories of the past and she sat down to research and write.

She now lives beside a loch with her husband and two children where she writes, and dances (medical conditions allowing) and eats rather too much chocolate.

Author Links

Website: https://ailishsinclair.com/

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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/AilishSinclair 

Amazon author page: http://author.to/mermaid

SISTERS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

When Morragh speaks to another person for the very first time, she has no idea that he is an invader in her land. 

What she does next constitutes a huge betrayal of her people, threatening her closest relationships and even her way of life itself.

As the conflict between the Caledonian tribes and the Roman Sons of Mars intensifies, can she use her high status in the community to lessen the coming death toll or even prevent outright war?

Set in 1st century Northern Scotland, SISTERS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD is a story of chosen sisters, fierce warriors, divided loyalties and, ultimately, love.

 

 

Sisters at the Edge of the World releases on the 21st of September 2022. The kindle version is available to pre-order: https://mybook.to/sistersedge

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: How To and Tips