Writing when sick...

...is hard to do.

I mean. it's hard enough to write when you feel good, let alone when you feel like a wad of gum that someone stepped on after walking through dog poop.

I am feeling better now, though my nose is still stuffed and I don't think enough oxygen is getting to my brain. Every so often, I say something and it comes out backwards and my daughter falls on her butt laughing.

I also forgot how I maintain my different versions of the draft of my manuscript while I was sick, and I have two versions, each with a different set of edits and additions. So, while I thought that writing while sick and my brain was oxygen deprived was a good idea, I am realizing that I may have just created more work for myself.

So, my advice? When sick, refrain from writing and concentrate on getting well. Or if you do write, try something to just stir the juices, like a short story or a poem. Something that won't be detrimental to a long-term project when you realize you hosed it up.

Has anyone else hosed up a manuscript and been stuck fixing it? Any ideas on an easy way to confront the situation? I'm just spending time sitting and staring at the two files wondering how to tackle it.

Maybe I need to wait for the oxygen to hit my brain.

Platforms...

.... and I am not talking shoes.

According to June Clark, former agent and now owner of Get There Media, a platform is everything. At the HRW Conference last month, she told attendees that who you are is often more important than how well you write. Get There Media is in business to help authors "build their brand". Check out their web site: www.gettheremedia.com.

She had a lot of good suggestions (blogging is one - so I can put a check in that box - though I have to work on getting followers. She told us how to do that: comment on other bloggers sites that are similar and leave a link back to your own blog.)

Another suggestion was to get a web site, or at least register the name. That way you can make sure that it matches whatever name you are going to write under. She also suggested doing an internet search for the name you want to write under to see what else pops up. You may decide to use another name.

Or, you may go the other route; she mentioned a writer who uses the name Norma Roberts. Guess why?

Other suggestions were to use social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, and to check out and use Writer or Reader Social Networks, like Goodreads, and RedRoom and Amazon.

In a nutshell, we aspiring authors need to get our names out there, and dvelop a following before we ever even try to get published. We need to be able to show a publisher that we are able to write and network to sell books.

So, has anyone found success after doing any of this?

I'm finding that it is a lot harder than it looks.