My writing has been somewhat sidetracked for the last month, but this has been a worse week. During the cold itself I wasn’t able to write much. Instead of words, I was creating random keyboard strikes while coughing.
One of the stories I’m co-writing I’ve had problems dredging up enthusiasm for. I was banging my head against a window. I could see where I wanted to go, but no matter how hard I pushed, I couldn’t break through the glass. I thought it had to do with the monster cold, but even as I felt better, I was still blocked. Julie and I had a talk about the plot and character motivations, and we seem to be back on track.
With that problem solved, my next goals were to get ready for Chaos Wolf’s developmental edit, outline the finish Lucy Harker, and begin setting research for a story. Thursday, I took Sherbert in for a possible tooth extraction and an ultrasound of a suspicious lump. Prior vets had told us it was just a fat pad, but that diagnosis never seemed to sit well.
Turns out we were right to be leery of that diagnosis. While she didn’t need her tooth extracted, the “fat pad” turned out to be an umbilical hernia. She had surgery the same day to fix it, which she came through with flying colors. The post surgery was less stellar.
We kept her separate per doctor’s instructions. Then she slipped out of Mom’s bedroom at 3:00 AM Friday. I spent the morning trying to figure out where Sherbert had slunk off to and keeping the other cats from harassing her too much. It turns out there’s a spot under the couch that I can’t reach that is just the perfect size for Sherbert to curl up in. I managed to get some sleep between the growling but had a hard time stringing words together.
Four AM Saturday Mom woke me up. We hadn’t seen Sherbert use the litter box, and Mom thought her belly felt big. So I threw on clothes and put her in the carrier and took her to the emergency vet clinic. The vet (a woman who was way too nice for it being 5:00 AM) said that since Sherbert’s bladder was small, she was probably using the litter box when we weren’t looking. So I paid for Sherbert’s visit and put her back in the car. Sherbert then proved that she could use the bathroom.
The stress and lack of sleep knocked me out for most of Saturday. I wrote with Julie Saturday night, but I’m not sure that it made any sense. I’ll go back and reread it. I’ve been staring at Chaos Wolf, trying to decide if I make a structural change to the chapters before I submit it for the edit. I haven’t even touched the other two stories that I wanted to start on.
It looks like July will be the month I spend getting things back on track. Fortunately, I don’t have any close, hard deadlines. The few deadlines I do have are cushioned by a healthy buffer. So after getting back to normal, it will be time to dive in again.