Being Sick - Writing Update by Greg Luti
- Greg Luti
- 9 hours ago
- 5 min read
Being Sick and Falling Behind
I have been sick the past week or so and have not really gotten to my writing as much as I would like. I basically did some social media stuff and then took some medicine and went to bed instead of spending time on the blog posts or the books. I don’t know about you, but I am one of those people who really likes to get better as soon as possible when I am sick. Yeah, I don’t just go to work and say, “I am fine, I will get better.” I take a bottle’s worth of medicine a day (not recommended) and sleep as much as I can. I take the extra day off just to get better.
My Approach to Getting Better
I will never understand people who walk around and say, “Yeah, I am sick.” Like bro, go home and get better. No one wants to be around a sick person, mostly because people don’t like to be sick themselves.
So yeah, not much on the inspiration train this past week, aside from a bunch of tissues and medicine. I even tried to write up an advice piece the other day, but I just wasn’t feeling it.
The Power of Having a Routine
The good news is that I am just about over my sickness, and I am starting to feel better. I learned that the reason you want a good routine and schedule in place is to have something to go back on when you are sick and miss a few days. I told you I was working on the writing routine, and now that I have that down, missing a few days because of sickness is not that bad, since I can pick up right where I left off.
How We Romanticize Writers
Writing is interesting when it comes to being sick. I honestly don’t know if I have ever heard about writers discussing sickness in regard to their career. I mean, when was the last time you heard about a writer, literally any writer, write up something when they were sick? I guess we have this idea of what a writer looks like when they are actually writing up something, and that image does not include them taking pills and feeling down. If you want to go a step further, you can even say that we do this with writers so much that those who take drugs are never even suspected of doing anything while they write. We never talk about a writer writing when drunk, or when on something, as though every writer is just away in a freaking corner, frantically typing that great novel. I think the image of Shakespeare sitting by his desk with his quill pen or Hemingway staring at a typewriter are what people think of when they think about writers, and those images don’t include any hint of drugs, or any other substance, aside from the writer’s own wit.
That gets me to two things I want to say, and then I may just wrap up this update. Yeah, I am not completely over being sick.
Ill or Sick?
The first is a funny line I like to think about when I am sick. It is from a song. The guy said he is ill, not sick. Because ill can be used as a synonym for very talented, I find that funny, and I like it when words are used in that sort of way. I once asked a student I was teaching if he was ill or sick. He didn’t get the joke and just asked me where the tissue paper is.
The Mysterious Disappearing Tissues
Also, is it me, or does no one know where the tissue paper ever is? I mean, do we hide it from one another? Is there a night fairy that moves it? What is going on here? The first thing anyone ever asks when they need tissues is where the heck is the box of tissues? For something that we all use a lot, especially during certain parts of the year, none of us know where the hell this thing is.
The State of Modern Literature
The second thing I wanted to say is about the state of modern literature. Now, I am not going to pretend like I am up to date on it. I’m not. I am more concerned with my own books and stories than all of literature as a whole, but I just can’t help but wonder whether literature is not as popular as it thinks it is. I think we would call it a niche field now. Sure, you can make a living from it, but don’t expect everyone to know you. It is more like ballet or Broadway than TV and movies.
Although I am starting to think that all modern media is nothing more than a niche field.
I don’t know. I hear two things from modern literature. On the one hand, I hear people praising it and the authors and their books as though we are all supposed to reinvent the classics and forget about them. But then I hear that modern literature sucks and that you should read the classics. When casual people name an author or book, it is never a modern book, but a classic. I don’t know what is happening there. Does modern literature suck? Beats me. I have a hard enough time writing up these updates.
I am just trying to get back my energy and health so I can be 100 percent when I am doing this.
When Life Throws Curveballs
Let’s end this with something you can take with you. There are times in your life when you need to focus and pay attention a little more than usual. No, no, I am not talking about a freaking test that asks about sin. You can use a calculator for that too. I am talking about when life throws a curveball at you for no other reason than life has been throwing fastballs at you all night, and now wants to see if you can handle the breaking ball. You may get sick and be out for a week. You may have to deal with a death in the family. You may have an injury that takes time to get over. Whatever it is, that is when you'd better pay attention. That, that moment, that is the test. When you are in a moment like that, devote as much of your time to getting out of that hole. Take the medicine wisely. Plan the funeral accordingly. Go to physical therapy as you should. Because you have to learn to take care of yourself, and that involves the moments you are not expecting.
So next time something happens in your life that is bad and you were not ready for, don’t get mad or upset, get dialed in. Focus for that brief time to help yourself and others around you. And remember, all things must pass. Do yourself a favor while they are passing through.
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