Yesterday, I was sick. Really sick. Like, running a fever and wanting only to sleep most of the day sick. And I did sleep until about 2:30 pm. Then I dragged myself out of bed, and downstairs.

My cousin in law (or ex-cousin-in-law, I guess) posted that she didn’t know how I could be writing when I was sick at home with a fever. Well, that’s because if I don’t write, stuff doesn’t get written. Stuff that’s not written can’t be bought, either by an editor/agent, or by anyone if I choose to self-pub the work. And no one else can write the story that I’m working on. Not because I’m that damn good – I’m not that egotistical. Sure, someone else could take the same plot points, same characters, and write a good story. *Hey, that could be a cool idea for some time – an anthology, maybe. Remember this, Val.* But it wouldn’t be my story. It wouldn’t be the same story that I’m going to tell.

So unless I’m hallucinating (and sometimes not even then, because dude, I can write on just about anything, up to and including my shower wall with Sharpies when inspiration strikes while I’m washing my hair), I will be at least attempting to write. Now, what I wrote yesterday was basically brain dump. I got my 750 words on 750words.com and that’s about it. But the important thing is that I wrote. I’m getting into the habit of writing every day, and that doesn’t allow for sick days. Now, obviously, if I’m vomiting up my toenails, I’m probably not writing. And no one is going to get on my case right now if I don’t write every day, except me. (If I’m on deadline, that’s a different story.) It’s all about the discipline.

Whenever I get into feeling that I don’t want to write, I’m too sick to write, waah, waah, waah, I’m on fire, put me out (as my friend Kate would say), I look to writers like Jay Lake (who is still writing as he deals with recurring cancer), or Sir Terry Pratchett, as he deals with Alzheimer’s. Are these extreme cases? Absolutely. However, they are still both my heroes, simply because they are dealing with extreme cases.

The long and the short of it is, just because you don’t feel like writing because you’re sick, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t at least try to get words in. Even if you delete them all the next day. Or all you did was brain dump.

At least you wrote.