Hi, guys.
I am writing this by dictating to Dragon Naturally Speaking. Wheee.
For those of you who missed the twitch chat, I got my doctor results back. The good news is that I’m neither diabetic nor pre-diabetic, which was my biggest fear. My glucose level is normal. In fact, it was so ordinary, my doctor hadn’t even mentioned it when discussing lab results with me before, because he didn’t realize it was a concern. Yay, super restrictive diet. The bad news is because I type upward of 500,000 words a year my hands are beat up. The doctor compared my injuries to that of a veteran pianist.
I have to tell you, dictating is really weird.
Basically, I have injured my hands, and the first time it happened I should’ve stopped typing. Instead I kept typing, reinjuring them further and further. I know exactly how it happened, to0. When we were finishing Magic Triumphs and Iron and Magic (Dragon typed this as Ottoman magic, hehe), we pulled marathon typing sessions both times. I think it was something ridiculous like 8,000 or 9,000 words in one day for Magic Triumphs. It was just too much.
So my prescription is not typing for two weeks. Gordon is sitting next to me and cackling, and he laughs every time he hears this. They offered me steroid shots into my fingers and I said no.
So right now, I’m dictating my parts of Diamond Fire to Gordon, who has been amazingly patient. We’re hoping to finish Diamond Fire this week and then we will resume the Innkeeper.
If you are waiting for the twitch session upload, it will be posted sometime today.
Thank you for all of the lovely emails you sent us. We really appreciate it.
Well, that’s all my news for now. I’m going to go back to the house and try to dictate like the wind.
So sorry got your precious hands, but pleased it wasn’t the diagnosis you feared. Get well soon and take your time.
Genuine offer here, but I’m a touch typist and more than happy to type from dictation if you are inclined to ask/need it.
*for NOT got! That was autocorrect, not my touch typing (blush).
Glad to hear there’s a dictation software that might work for you. Hope it works out and your hands get better.
Love your writing.
-C
I agree. I loved Iron and Magic and am waiting with baited breath for the next installment of Innkeeper. I hope your hands are better soon.
Would it help you to recover if you did lots of piano technique – like scales, broken chords, arpeggios? I love your books and greatly enjoy your (plural) imaginations, so I wish you both all the best. Please get better soon, and enjoy the dictation software.
So glad your fingers will heal! Just finished reading Iron and Magic … it was fantastic! Like others have said, I’m surprised at how sympathetic Hugh became! A whole new perspective on him.. Your writing is wonderful, I love all your books! Thank you for sharing your talent with us. So said Kate is coming to an end. Would love if you could write some more about Andrea and Raphael. Take care of those fingers! Thanks again!!
Were there instructions on how to sign on to Twitch?
I am not a fan of social media and am completely clueless here.
Help?
Please!!!! Preserve Your Precious Digits!!!! Take whatever time is necessary and IGNORE the Pitiful Whiners.
Yes, your fans are important but we aren’t more important than your Health!!
BE WELL
YOUR BDH will be here when you are ready. ?
+1
Agreed. Feel better, your health comes first.
You might try a Gold Touch keyboard. I broke my wrist this past January and the new keyboard has saved me.
Illona – Glad that nothing’s seriously wrong.
It sounds like you may be typing with your fingers vertical on the keyboard so it’s the tips of you fingers that hit the keys. Try typing with your fingers almost horizontal (about 30 degrees) to the keyboard so you’re using the soft pad of your fingers to hit the keys. And only use the minimum pressure necessary on the keys. I’m talking from getting on 40 years of typing experience. I used to type hundreds of pages a day at over 90wpm for years. Never had the slightest problem with that method, which I still use.
Hope your hands get better soon!
Thank you for all your extra efforts for your fans. It’s time for me to reread the series so I will be ready when the last book releases
I hope your hands get better. I look forward to the twitch videos as I missed them live.
I’m glad you are working with the voice recognition software. It is also very relieving to hear that your health concern on the diabetes front did not come to fruition.
Carpal tunnel is no joke. I got it with both of my pregnancies and had to wear braces at night. You might consider hand physical therapy. I don’t know if your health insurance covers it, but I did it and they did both paraffin wax therapy. Looking into it now it looks like ultrasound is another possibility for treatment. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28785810 and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4256823/
Please continue to take it easy on your hands!
I agree that Physical Therapy is needed for your hands. Physical therapist here. Ultrasound and paraffin wax aren’t going to help though, they’re not really effective. Massage, cupping, rest, stretching, and progressive loading of your wrist and hand muscles. Stretching your entire chest, spine and shoulders are also necessary, like lying on top of a foam roller for a few minutes everyday. Carpal tunnel doesn’t just involve hands. It’s the whole extremity and neck. Typing plus being hunched in front of the computer does a number on you. Nerve damage is serious. As a person who works with her hands hunched over people all day, I can attest to this.
Hope you get help and take care of yourself.
Hope your hands are beginning to recover and the dictation software is the answer to a healthy path forward. Please know that the majority of your fans don’t fall into the rankly ungrateful category. The majority of us are grateful for anything you guys dig out of your imaginations. Fans are cannibals and they will eat you alive if you let them so do whatever you have to do to keep writing your fantastic books. Thanks for letting me travel with you on the adventures!
I very much agree with Tee!
I do have a complaint with those “supersmart” Geeks who boast of all the things they can do!
Well, why don’t they invent a, sort of, “printer machine” that you speak into – and voila! it spits out the printed sheet?? 😉
Do take care of your health – fingers included!
So glad to hear your hands will get better. Please so take care of yourself!
Hello, not a doctor, but have you researched Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? lot of typist suffer with it.
Love your work x
Glad to hear you got the diagnoses sorted and a decent dictation software that works for you. Might have to try that myself.
Hope Dragon works I tried an early version many moons ago and it was OKish as long as I did not pause, it hated pauses and would fill in with whatever it thought. Will be sad to see the end of the KD stories its like losing an old friend.
So happy to hear there is no diabetes ❤️❤️❤️ It’s a very evil disease. Please rest your hands like they have said. They are the only two you have. You should just sit around like a princess and let someone take care of you. Two whole weeks?
So glad your hands were not a sign of something more serious than over use. Your books are so important to a lot of people, most of whom appreciate you and your awesome skill sets. It’s too bad a few people are too into their own wants and needs to take you for granted. As far as I’m concerned (my wants and needs, of course!) you can take as much time as you want and need to have a life full of family, fun, friendships, and a successful career. We,your fans, benefit greatly from that. If you only wrote one book every 5 years, it would still fill a spot in my life. So thank you, thank you for doing such a wonderful, creative thing to take me to places never imagined and outside my own life and daily stress. You’ve been one of my favorite authors for 20 years.
I was so glad to hear it wasn’t the diabetes you were dreading. Not so great that you injured yourself so that you have to completely rest your hands for so long. That has got to be frustrating for you. Please take care of yourself and let Gordan type away. Hope the two weeks flashes by!
How about a half cast that can be taken off when you shower? With your arm our and thumb pointing to ceiling they build the cast from palm to halfway to elbow. You can lift it off and on over the thumb.
Ilona,
If you take the time to really learn the Dragon software, it can be very effective. It can also learn to spell the creative words unique to your novels. Dedicating time to teaching the software your words, and learning to use the verbal commands and retraining features, will save you a ton of frustration in the long run.
I discovered that submerging my hands in cold water several times a day also helped. It reduces inflammation and is extremely refreshing. A popcorn sized bowl with water and ice works wonders.
Wishing you a speedy recovery! I come to your site often (obsessed with Innkeeper) and have never commented before but wanted to share that I have read everything you and your husband have written and love your work. Please take care of those hands! While your books are a lifeline for me your health is so much more important. xo
I too hope your hands are healing and that they recover swiftly. ♥️
So glad you do not have any endocrine disease!
Be prepared to develop typing -limiting discipline, and exercise routines for the long haul, i.e., forever. Actively mine your physical therapist’s expertise and keep a log book of your sessions, prescribed exercises, how you feel as you complete your homework and any modifications you make.
From my own experiences w hand surgery and carpal tunnel, a lot of the suggestions in the blog have some merit. Do discuss w PT to see what is appropriate and when it is.
I hope you have significant relief very soon.
I am really glad that you are OK! You guys have been a part of my life since the first book 11 years ago! I feel like you are family! I can’t believe that we have been together that long and that I am just as excited to read your books, free fiction, newsletters, comments etc… as the very first time I read Kate! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve re-read everything – just because. I will tell you this, I am an avid reader and I do read books from many authors, however, I do not wait anxiously for any book like I do for yours! You guys are magic! Thank you for all the years of laughter, adventures and pure joy! I wish you all the very best of everything! BTW, if you need someone to type for you, I’d be ecstatic to type for you! LOL
+1
Save the hands, save the author.!
Take care of yourself! We all love you lots and you’re writing is one of the high points of our literary/fiction/addiction life.
I’m glad your Gordon is doing all of this with you.
It’s great news that you have no sugar problems. I deal with being pre-diabetic and it’s a pain.
Congratulations on that… Keep healing. We’ll keep reading and sending good wishes.
Thank you for letting us know your main health is in good shape.
Sorry to hear that in giving us such enjoyment you have injured yourself.
I am glad that a break (and it may need to be longer as YOU come first) will help with the hands.
I can only imagine the joint laughter and frustration of using Dragon. At least there will have been laughter, that great medicine.
We look forward to more stories when you aren’t putting yourself at risk. We will wait.
You might be writing a book with diamond in the title…but you’re a couple of diamonds too.
Does this make you…a dictator? Muwahaha.
Glad to hear that your sugar levels are normal. Rest up those hands so they heal properly
Please rest those hands! We want more stories from both of you long term! 🙂
Take care of yourself! The big question, tho, is can you still knit? Or are your hands on complete bedrest? (if I couldn’t knit they’d have to lock me in a closet or something. I knit so I don’t have to kill people. It’s a form of meditation.)
Ilona
As you decided to skip the injections which by the way I have had in my hands years ago ( hurt like hell)
Ask your Dr. if you can use Voltaren Gel, ( if you are not doing so already)
You will need a prescription or a trip to Canada or Mexico….
This stuff ,another spin off to humans from Equine Veterinary Med .
Surpass…takes the pain away quite well, rums into fingers …good stuff.
Sounds like your typing to put in piano language needs to be less fortissimo..
Best Wishes
Juni
Thinking Happy Healing Thoughts for your hands! Good luck with the Dragon Speak thingy. BTW…Iron and Magic was awesome! Thank you both!
Hey, spoiler I’m about to give you unsolicited advice!! Our local health food store sells a hemp salve. I tried it and was surprised that in a very short time (5-10 mins), my feet felt 70% better. I did not expect such dramatic results. Check it out if you want to. I hope you are fully mended soon