Handle with Care

Hello, all!

It would seem that my overactive mind is not the only thing rejecting this “just editing, no writing” phase that I’m in. My body is, as well. Lol.

For those of you who don’t know, I work in a factory. I operate a machine the size of a small house to produce tires. Now, apart from the occasional breaks to go load more material into the machine (which means pushing things, by hand, which weigh anywhere from 200 lbs to 2500 lbs), I do the same 75 second cycle over and over again. It involves a great deal of repetitive hand movements, and a lot of walking in circles from one part of the machine to another.

Repetitive hand movements tend to cause problems, and my wrists have started this blasted aching…possibly tendinitis.

Well, this week, I was off an extra day (because anniversary). My wrists felt so much better. I chalked it up to a combination of being off work an extra day and not typing (because editing is mostly staring at the words, and agonizing over whether or not they’re correct). But now, after working only 32 hours this week, my wrists feel even worse than they did before.

I think the typing involved in actively writing a book may have actually been helping me. I think it was stretching my hands and wrists in a different way, easing the tension/inflammation from work. And now that I’m just editing, that stretching isn’t happening. And it’s worse.

By the way, I do the recommended stretches at the beginning of each shift for my wrists. I also do them throughout the shift, as the ache progresses.

I just really hope I don’t end up having to have surgery or something. Carpal tunnel surgery is a pretty common thing where I work, and it would basically put me out of commission for typing for a while, or at least relegate me to the slow hunt-and-peck method of one handed typing.

Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Anyway, I’ve made really good progress on the initial edit of Salt and Silver, and I think The Gem of Meruna is shorter. So, the final revisions for it should be quicker. But I may have to start writing alongside my edits.

Ya know.

For my health. Lol.

*shakes head*

Factory work is so hard on the body. Steel toes on concrete floors for 8 to 12 hours is bad enough. Then, there’s the repetition…

And my body is stupid enough on its own.

I never have enough iron, vitamin d, b12, or calcium. I have eczema, so my skin is fucking dumb, picking random patches to just suddenly become unbearably itchy when I’m stressed. I have a circulatory issue called Raynaud’s Syndrome. Basically, the arteries in my wrists and ankles overreact to cold and stress. They constrict, cutting off blood to my hands and feet. Super fun. As is the ice bath test used to diagnose the damn thing.

(They measured the temperature of my hands, submerged them in ice water for 10 minutes, then measured the temperature once a minute for the following 20 minutes. Those numbers were compared to the warm up of a normal person’s hands. It was absolutely agonizing.)

Minor scoliosis (super minor) and early onset arthritis top it all off quite nicely.

Though, the factory work, and the muscle I had to build up to do my job, actually helped the arthritis. Mine is mostly in my knees. Since I have to use my legs to push all the super heavy shit, my legs are quite a bit stronger. The extra muscles have stabilized my knees, and taken some of the burden off the joints.

So, I guess it isn’t all bad for me. Lol.

But, apparently, just editing and not writing is bad for my health. Lol.

So, though I’m two thirds of the way through my first edit of Salt and Silver, I’m going to have to write alongside it, and see if my theory pans out. Not that I’m at all disappointed by this. Lol. I already miss writing, and it’s only been a couple weeks. Maybe a week and a half.

Anyway, stay tuned for more complaining and ranting next week. Lol. In the meantime, I’m just gonna push on through. As usual.

Because I have shit to do, and no one’s gonna do it for me.

So, in a similar vein, do what you gotta do, and get your shit done. Lol.

And, as usual…

Keep reading. Keep writing.

Later.