Once more with metrics

[la_marquise]

New words: 1095. (The year between the two failed invasions of North Wales by William Rufus.)
First line of the day: Yelena said, ‘Someone has to.’
The twins --- well, Yelena -- have had an Aha! moment. Jehan is impatient.

Skirt of the day: teal cord. It's possible I own too many teal skirts. (Three. All from the same place.)

My shoulders really hurt: I think the typing is getting to me. It may be back to dragons tomorrow.
But laundry has been done (take that, foul laundry!). Horus, meanwhile is shouting for his tea.
It's a good thing no-one is recording me as I wander about the house, though. Today, I surpassed myself in idiocy by saying, 'Yummy Bundle yummy-nums.' Or, in the normal tongue, 'Mooncat, here's your breakfast.' (Bundle is her spare name. It's short for Thunder-bundle, because she is sometimes incredibly noisy.) No wonder the cats look at me as if I'm daft. I'd better go and feed Horus before he rings Cats' Protection.

Comments

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Why has nobody written a major historical novel about William Rufus, anyway ?

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I don't know, although Parke Godwin's Robin Hood novels are set against his reign rather than Richard I's, as far as I remember.

[pennski.livejournal.com]

Three is not too many for a colour that works on you!

Snowy pretended to get stuck on the roof earlier, simply because I closed the window and then moved the bins out of the way.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I guess he felt you needed to be made aware of what he saw as a failing.

[ms-cataclysm.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, Panda also considers the bins to be cat climbing aids

[desperance.livejournal.com]

'Yummy Bundle yummy-nums.'

Tragically, I understood this instantly. Here we speak a northern dialect, of course, but common antecedents are clear.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

You've probably heard me say it, too.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

There is that, of course. But where oh where is the look of withering feline scorn that it deserves to precipitate? Lost, alas, in the swift duck of the feline head into the foodbowl. They should be ashamed...

[a-d-medievalist.livejournal.com]

Mr Soppy (not his real name) spent two days under the covers on the bed this week. There was much dialect spoken ...

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Oh, we have one of those. Spotty-cat wuvs us...

[molly-brown.livejournal.com]

> My shoulders really hurt: I think the typing is getting to me.

You need to be careful about that. Some years back, I was writing to several tight deadlines - basically I wrote three books in one year -and while hurrying to finish the third book, I began to notice some minor discomfort in a couple of my fingers, which gradually got worse and worse as the days went on, eventually reaching the point where putting any pressure on those particular fingers - such as typing with them - became agony.

I didn't dare *stop* typing because I had a deadline, so I just wrapped my fingers up in stiff bandages that acted as a kind of splint, and kept going until I'd made my deadline.

The end result of my "working through the pain" was that I'd messed up my body to such a degree I couldn't write *anything* for three or four years afterwards. (I was so bad, I couldn't even write in longhand; I had so little strength in my hands, the pen would just slip through my fingers.) I still have problems with typing to this day; if I do too much, I get pins and needles up and down my arms and lose control of my hands. (As in: they just won't work.)

Do you really *need* to compose at the keyboard? FWIW, these days what I do to minimize my time sitting in front of a computer is: I write a few pages in longhand, go to the computer to type up what I've just written, write a few more pages in longhand, then go back to the computer...

Though it took me a while to re-train myself to compose away from the keyboard, my brain eventually got used to the idea and I found that sitting in a comfy chair to scribble on a notepad puts a lot less stress on the neck and shoulders.

And - as I discovered way too late - continual stress on the neck and shoulders can eventually lead to problems with your arms and hands. (The nerves are all connected; they run from your neck down both arms, all the way to the tips of your fingers.)

I don't mean to be a scaremonger, I'm just suggesting you start taking steps to halt any damage you might inadvertently be doing to your body before it becomes irreversible.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

This is why I have Dragon Naturally Speaking, and use it as a relief. 20 years as an academic have done my shoulders no good at all. I see an osteopath, too.
Your experience sounds horrendous. I'm glad you're recovering.