Hello, friends! Welcome to this month’s meeting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! If you’re a writer, and if you feel in any way insecure about your writing life, click here to learn more about this amazingly supportive group!
They say write what you know. Sometimes writers follow that advice without intending to. There’s a recurring theme in my writing. I never noticed it was there until my editor pointed it out. That theme is illness.
In the epic, sprawling Sci-Fi universe I’m creating for Tomorrow News Network, a lot of people get sick. There are lots of space viruses and space parasites floating around out there, some of them natural, others manmade (or rather, alien-made). I also tend to use disease as a metaphor for other things. When my editor pointed this out to me, my reaction was basically: “Oh, that makes sense.”
It’s become something of a running joke among my circle of friends. If there’s a big, scary disease in the news, James will probably catch it. I’ve had tuberculosis. I’ve had West Nile virus. I’ve had swine flu. To be honest, I’m surprised that I managed to dodge COVID-19 for as long as I have.
But last week, I found out that I’d been exposed to somebody who later tested positive for COVID. Shortly thereafter, I started experiencing COVID-like symptoms. I’m currently quarantined at home, waiting patiently for the results of my COVID test.
Needless to say: not a lot of writing is happening right now. Not a lot of anything is happening, except sleeping, chicken soup eating, and binge watching Carl Sagan videos on YouTube. But my muse assures me she will return as soon as I’m feeling better, and we’ll probably have another scary space plague to add to our epic Sci-Fi universe.
Planet Pailly 
Holy smokes. I’m sorry to hear all this. Good luck, and please please please get well soon.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks! It’s been a rough week, but I know it could be a whole lot worse.
LikeLiked by 1 person
May the odds be ever in your favor… oh, maybe not the best wish. But probabilities are on your side. Take care of yourself and I wish you a speedy recovery
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! I can’t be sure, of course, but I suspect that I’m already through the worst of it. If this really is COVID, then I was lucky to have a fairly mild case of it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
okay, I’m not going to like this post. I hope if you do have covid, you get a very mild case. Hugs, friend. Take care of yourself!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, friend. At a time like this, virtual hugs are very welcome!
LikeLike
Well wishes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, friend!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have a theme in a lot of mine, too…I write about characters who have experienced some kind of abuse.
I hope you’re okay. Sending well wishes. Take care!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a difficult thing to write about, I’m sure, but it’s so important to get those sorts of stories out there. People who’ve never faced serious abuse need to understand, and people who have need to know they’re not alone.
LikeLike
Get better soon. Let’s hope you fail your test. 🙂
Anna from elements of emaginette
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, let’s hope!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yikes! Hope the test comes back negative, or if positive you have a mild case. Take care of yourself.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, friend!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Praying for healing! I hope you are able to enjoy the holidays, and some writing time. Merry Christmas!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! I’m trying my best.
LikeLike
Oh, I hope that you are okay! I have to say that cartoon is hilarious. Good luck with the rest of the stories. The first one as I recall was quite entertaining!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh thank you! I’m glad you liked it! Getting back to writing T.N.N. is one of things I am most anxious to do once I’m better.
LikeLike
Sorry to hear you’re feeling sick, whether it’s Covid or not. That can really suck the writing energy out of you. We had to get tested when it turned out that the nurse who gave us our flu shots tested positive for Covid the next day. Yikes. Turned out everything was negative. Hopefully you can say the same. Enjoy the holidays as best you can.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, friend! To be honest, I almost don’t care anymore if this is or isn’t COVID. It’s bad, whatever it is. The important thing is it hasn’t gotten any worse, and I think it’s starting to get better.
LikeLike
Sorry to hear that, James. Make sure you take plenty of rest and don’t try to get any work done. Your job needs to be to take care of yourself and get better again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s my plan. Writing can wait.
LikeLiked by 1 person
OMG James! First & most important of all my very best wishes for a continued & rapid recovery with no long lasting impact. But I have to add, I’d no idea that you were some sort of typhoid Mary. Should we rechristen you Pandemic Pailly?
I’ll get my coat …
Serious though, take good care.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love that! Yes, you can call me Pandemic Pailly, catcher of diseases! Unlike typhoid Mary, though, I’m doing my very best to make sure I don’t spread this to anybody else.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And that’s because you are a responsible human being 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hope you feel better soon!
BTW Was it covid-19 ? Whatever it is, it sound pretty nasty
LikeLiked by 1 person
I got my test results back today (Monday, December 7th). It was not COVID. Just a bad flu, I guess.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I had something similar back in September. Fatigue, headaches, a high temperature, and a complete and sudden loss of smell and taste. I was convinced it was COVID, but tested negative. The false negative rate can be as high as 30%.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds a lot like my situation. The loss of taste was particularly alarming to me, because I’d never experienced that before.
I was tested fairly late in the process, though. Apparently the false negative rate is lower for people who get tested more than four days after symptoms emerge. So I’m fairly confident that my negative result is a true negative.
LikeLiked by 1 person