Jay Lake (jaylake) wrote,
Jay Lake
jaylake

[writing|cancer] Back on the horse, sort of

Yesterday for the first time since the surgery, I was able to focus on writing tasks. I spent about an hour and a half reading the Worldcon writers' workshops manuscripts that have been entrusted to me. I'll need to spend more time before I'm done, as I have to formulate my critique after they've spent a few days marinating in my backbrain, but it was productive time.

This afternoon I'll be working with [info]kenscholes on the Hugo script some more. That will also be writing-driven, and surely needs to be done, as the ceremony is in slightly more than two weeks. (We have it mostly together, now we're working on read-through and timings, plus discussing what additional material to insert.)

The 900 pound gorilla for this month isn't the Hugos, though, it's needing to write the next 60-70,000 tranche of Sunspin by the end of the month. I hope to start that project Friday or Saturday. To that end, I'm going to knock off reading Iain Banks' Culture novels, as I've learned from long experience not to be reading whatever I'm writing while I'm writing it. Ie, when writing SF, read fantasy or nonfiction or something. And vice versa.

The post-op brain has been pretty functional since a few days after surgery, especially in terms of surface affect. But I haven't had much depth. I'm still sleeping 7-8 hours per night and napping during the day, which is ample supporting evidence of the obvious — that my body is busily healing the profound physical damage of surgery. But as I've noted before, when one is recovering from surgery, and specifically from anaesthesia, it happens in layers. You feel okay, then one day you realize you feel more okay, more alert, more capable.

That I was able to read manuscripts yesterday is evidence that my writing brain is about back online. Writing again will reduce my stress levels and increase my day-to-day life satisfaction. (I get tetchy when I don't write for a while.)

So, yes, I'm back on the horse. Sort of.

Tags: awards, books, cancer, convention, health, process, sunspin, writing
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