Writing! A Physically Risky Profession.

As I finish a productive day of writing,  I was made painfully  aware of the health hazards associated with writing.  I'm not talking about muscle atrophy or cardiovascular risk associated with a sedentary lifestyle.   I'm talking about physical disability that could cause you mental distress because you  are staking your entire future on your ability to use your fingers.

Piano players must know what I'm talking about.  Your very LIFE is based on your ability to manipulate your fingers to punch certain keys.   And so, any seemingly trivial  hand injury could cause your career to be in jeopardy.   How did I come to realize this?   Let me explain...

As a welcome distraction from writing for long periods,  I often play with the cat.   Today,  Hiro's  claw found it's way into the tendon of my index finger's knuckle.   The pain....was almost unbearable!  But the shock that my life as a writer could be over was the truly terrifying part.   If I could not write...What else could I possibly do?   Manual labor is out.  Any physical demands on the rest of my body would be unthinkable.

I could use my brain.   I DO have a rather expensive education that I'm STILL paying for.   But until someone can find a use for a Fisheries Biologist with an additional degree in  Elementary Education,  I'd be stuck teaching aquarium  maintenance to children at Petco  for $7.50 an hour.
My brain is worth more than that....Even as a case study for neurosurgeons.

Luckily,  they did not have to amputate the finger.   And I could get back to my writing after a few bouts of physical therapy and finger stretches.  I could go on and live a fruitless life as a working, unpublished author.  Cheryl knows the feeling as well.  She just got back to running, but we are back to 9 minute miles over 4 miles.  ( We added an extra mile!)   At one time we may have thought that anything sub-ten minute and any distance over 3 miles was heroic!  But now, Cheryl looks at her life as a grand culmination of wasted effort and tedium.  Ah what to do....?

On a brighter note:  I'm up to 54,929 words.   I guess I have been a writing machine as of late.  Possibly because I have neglected the blogs and focused on the story.  Maybe my newly healed finger has developed a super power.   Like Spiderman!
Only instead of clinging to buildings and shooting webs, I grow an extra hairy pair of fingers and type really, really fast.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.   The weather is supposed to be warmer over the next couple of days.  

 Cheryl will probably want to run farther and hurt herself again.   As for me,  I'll continue my pointless endeavor to chip away at a carving that will never find a home.   And learn to wear heavy leather gloves next time I play with a cat.