Life imitating art

So, there I was, beginning to write a book about a severely injured guy desperately trying to get rid of his carpal tunnel syndrome (a story which has been in my head forever. Now I finally have a lot to do and not enough time to write - so of course I'm finally able to write again).

I have a lot to do in my day jobs at the moment, some of it graphic design. Graphic design is not my friend. Yes, I love doing it and would love to do even more of it - but my hands really, really hate it.

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Apparently working with graphic design is different from any other kind of computer use, at least to my body. I have to be extremely careful, using the computer mouse sparingly and sometimes with my left hand.

It sounds like I knew what to watch out for, doesn't it? But I still found myself researching all of the CTS symptoms for the story and suddenly thinking "uh... oops." Because even though I've been injured for months at a time during the last fifteen years, I never took the time to do any research. If I had, I'd have known that those "it doesn't hurt yet, it just feels weird" sensations are really the beginning of an injury.

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But, well, at least I have a lot of experience in dealing with CTS - at least in theory. The only thing you can do is rest, basically. And that's not easy when you've got two jobs - not to mention books you want to write. It's a pain in the biggest part of your body! I want to write...
It did give me a reminder of just how much CTS can hurt, though, and I immediately incorporated that into my story (yes, the story I'm not supposed to write because I'm supposed to rest).
And instead of moaning (all right, during a brief break from my moaning), I went into my garden and took some very nice photos. I should probably have another lens for my camera, but I still think they came out pretty well. And, uh, at least you have something nice to look at while you're reading my moaning:).

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