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.
Good luck!!! I hope your hands get to feeling better soon and fingers crossed the dictating gets even better and easier with time!
Thank you so much for twitch, your many books (I just read and reread them as I wait.), and your wonderful blog. I hope your hands heal completely and quickly Mrs. Ilona. I love the excerpts from your POV Mr. Andrews. You are both so great. Thank you for my much need ‘scapecation.
+1. Perfectly said Lora! ?
+1!!
Our main concern is that you take care of yourself!! Yes we want the next installment of the innkeeper, but we want you well and able to continue writing for a long time, so please take care of yourself!!!
Exactly! If you both were to drop from the face of the earth for a whole year and not write a single peep, leading to delays in your whole publishing schedule, I would of course be a little sad but ultimately very supportive of your decision and very, VERY glad that you’re taking care of yourselves. Because I’m grateful to you for your work and you deserve to be happy and healthy. And if you want to keep writing, then it needs to be at a rate your bodies can keep up with so that it can go on for as long as you want it to. We obviously will always devour everything you write, don’t break yourselves trying to feed the horde! 🙂
Please take care of your hands. I know you will have some relief its not a disease, but its sounds like you have a major repetitive strain injury as well. Please rest. I appreciate your books, but nothing is more important than your health. Take care both of you and best wishes to your family.
This. Please just try to get better. We can all wait. Happy healing!
I totally agree. Best wishes to both of you!
Yay! a solution found! But that means you have to stick to the ‘no typing’ edict. No cheating! Hopefully your husband makes a good secretary. I am now picturing a film noir scene with Ilona playing the private eye and Gordon playing the secretary taking notes on a flip pad (or the one who walks into the office with the mysterious problem to solve…)
I am so ecstatic for your good news Ilona.
I’m sure your even more so.
Would you please consider the continual use of Dragon Naturally Speaking after the 2 weeks of hand/finger rest.
The reason I ask is the amount of typing you apparently do.
Maybe you could do a combination of typing and dictation, possibly one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.
You may have already thought of this yourselves, just throwing it out there.
+1.. good to know that your typing alternatives are working out.. prayers for your complete recovery!
This is good news-with limits. I know it’s a relief when you find out it’s not disease. Rest your hands, entertain Gordon, have a glass of wine. Ignore the trolls. Y’all are truly treasures and so very generous to your fans.
+1
+1
If I remember correctly, Ilona promised on this very blog that she would take two weeks off after she was done with Hugh’s book. Of course, this was before the Hidden Legacy/Diamond Fire announcement. Ilona, please take the time to rest once Diamond Fire is off. Take a restful vacation, too. Btw, how was NYC? Did you get to do any of the touristy things the BDH recommended?
PLEASE take care of your hands!!! Just because it’s an injury and not a disease is no reason to be blase about it. It’s taking me 5 years plus to START to recover feeling in my feet after chemo caused severe neuropathy. If you injure your hands severely enough, the symptoms will be similar even if the cause is different. Don’t let it get to that point!
Heal well, and take some time off. We CAN wait patiently for you (trolls’ opinions notwithstanding!).
+5
Amen. I hope whatever course of action you take, the hand injuries don’t haunt you in the future.
This time around I have not had the time available to read all the comments. However, I really wanted to post something, so all – please forgive me if I inadvertently restate something already posted by someone else previously.
Ilona, I am so happy that your fears of diabetes or a pre-diabetic diagnosis were not realized!! I am sorry to hear though about the level of physical stress and abuse your hands, wrists, and fingers have endured – especially re ently and after they were already injured from overuse. I am glad that you found a dictation program that seems to work fairly well for you, and that you have Gordon’s help and support – albeit with a healthy helping of humor! I hope you allow yourself the time to truly and completely heal, so you don’t cause further and even worse damage to yourself. I would not dream of trying to tell you what to do or how to go about your business (you are a full-grown, and demonstrably capable woman), but I hope you do not feel pressured in anyway to resume the Innkeeper postings unless and until you and Gordon can enjoy doing so. I simply LOVE all your works, am enjoying SOTB immensely and am dying to know what happens next, but would much rather have you abandon it than continue what was a labor or love and gift to your fans as something that has become unpleasant chore. I am pretty sure that the majority of the BDH feels the same. There doesn’t seem to be anyway I can truly repay your and Gordon’s generosity to your fans. All I can think to do is buy all of your works, highly recommend them to all, and write what I hope you take to be a positive and encouraging post every now and then. I would feel horrible if you suffered for your kindness!
Please, rest and allow your body the time it needs to heal, let Gordon help you (and get a good laugh from the situation), and don’t resume Innkeeper until it is on YOUR schedule!
Thank you Gordon and Ilona for all you give freely of yourselves to your fans! ?
+100
I agree. Anything you write is a gift to us. You and Gordon were the first UF books I read and I have been hooked ever since. Take care of yourself first. Ignore all the trolls and keep doing what you love.
I’m glad your diagnoses was what you needed to here, I suffer from Rhuematoid Arthritis so I know how painful hands can get even after surgery, so take care of your hands and not just rest them even though you use them for your livelihood you need them for so much more as I’m sure you have realised over the last few weeks. So pamper them as often as you can, hot wax baths are great for easing pain, having had steroid injections I don’t blame you for not having them as the pain of the injections can last a couple of days before the relief kicks in and in my case at least didn’t last too long, hence surgery. Hope you are getting some help with the hands we can wait for the books no matter how people moan about the wait your health comes first!
My mother-in-law looooves her hot wax baths too. 🙂
I use hot wax baths for my feet in winter when my arthritis is so bad. Feels wonderful
Great to hear that it’s not a diabetes problem! Sad to hear that it’s damage; take care of it. Follow the doctor’s orders, please.
Pfui; I find myself wanting to fill this space with platitudes about taking enough time to heal, which is ridiculous. I’ll just say again that I hope you do.
Am I the only one who now badly wants to read, “Ottoman Magic – Roland,the early years”? these April fools titles and now dragon naturally speaking mistakes really fuel our desires for more. Although, we are the horde, we do devour so more is always good.
I used dragon many years ago when it was really new I’m glad it is helping you out. And really what other dictation program would a fantasy writer want.
Hoping things become more comfortable for you after a good rest. Does the rest stop you from doing things like knitting too? although who can knit when it’s 100 +
I want to read Ottoman Magic, in whatever form that takes.
…when did Roland wake up?
Oh Ottoman Magic! That sounds like glorious fun! Although, I think I should go to bed now, because in my head all I can see is D’jinn teaching shifter babies about the Ottoman empire while they sit on ottomans staring at the magic map on the wall with big anime eyes.
+1
I think that your Treatment plan should include”no dish washing”, because, typing and dish washing are hard on the hands. Seriously, rest the hands. I can say, from personal experience, that steroid injections do help decrease the pain and inflammation. It doesn’t mean that you can go back to typing immediately. Your body does heal better when it isn’t fighting the injuries and the pain. Rest and be kind to your body.
I have been told, that Dragon Speak gets used to your speech patterns. I don’t know for sure because I don’t have enough patience to find out. At least you are entertaining your husband. I hear laughter is good for your health…Take care and thank you for the update on your hands.
So glad to hear that you don’t have diabetes as you feared. Please rest for as long as you need to. I really enjoy the Innkeeper books; they were the first books of yours I read and after that I read all the Kate Daniels books. And I really appreciate authors who blog; many of the authors whose blogs I have followed are more into social media these days. I am grateful for you attention to us, your readers.
I don’t think that you really need my input about your hands. Once the bugs are worked out, dictation just might become your best friend. But then I prefer audio books. I can’t wait for your next books to come out in that format. Anything that you publish needs to be in my library.
Mainly, I just want to say to have a happy Fourth. I am happy to hear that your health fears were not realized.
Take as much time as your hands need. We’ll all be here when you’re better. And don’t forget that you > any story we want. No matter how whiny we get.
Yay for no diabetes, but OW for the hands. I’ve been there (radial tunnel, yay 🙁 ) and it was absolutely NO fun. They still give me issues if I type more than a couple thousand words a day. Really really hope they heal and heal well! I can wait till whenever for new books/Innkeeper. Health is more important!
So glad to hear it’s not diabetes, but am sorry what you’re going through with your hands. I know both how painful and frustrating it is. Take care of yourself and wishing those hands a speedy recovery!
I have never posted before and likely won’t again because I am a cowardly lurker, but:
Over ten years ago, I was slaving away in a miserable job managing a corporate bookstore in the CNN building atrium, and one day my new stock included this interesting debut author (I didn’t know Ilona Andrew’s was a combo package yet!) who had chosen Atlanta as her setting, so I gave it a try.
I was hooked the minute I discovered where the vampires were nesting.
I pushed the Kate Daniels series on literally every fantasy junkie I knew (“The writing is so GOOD! The characters are amazing! The world building is completely unique!”). In more recent years I worked at an independent bookstore and there came a point at which, when I suggested Ilona Andrews, my customer had already read your books and loved them too.
Every book y’all publish, every Innkeeper chapter y’all post, makes that day a good one for me. I’m in a new job now, in a completely different field. It’s a great position and very fulfilling (I work for a clinic that makes orthotic braces, funny enough) but it’s a steep learning curve and I’m terrified of failing. I had an awful day last week, couldn’t get anything right and just felt drained at the end of it, but then Iron and Magic was on my kindle when I got home and all of my miserable mood just drained away. Y’all are wonderful, and I wish that in some tiny way I could improve your day the way your books have so many of mine, for a decade now.
In deepest sincerity, thank you both for sharing your stories.
+100
well said.
Take care of yourselves and have a great 4th of July.
Pls get well soon. Cant wait to read more postings on innkeeper next chapter. But then your health should come first.. take care..
Good call resting and not getting steroid shots. I had one once for a problem ankle and I’ll need to be near death to ever allow anyone to give me one again.
Best of luck recovering well and having the discipline to be kind enough to yourself to stay so.
I am so glad about the diagnosis regarding your hands. You both are two of my favorite authors. Not only for your books for the generosity of your time and talent. Can’t wait for Kate’s book. Again my thanks for the hours and days of enjoyment. Marcelline
Sounds like the best possible result with the doctor….but now you have to follow the rules and keep those hands “quiet” !!! Here’s sending best possible vibes and prayers your way for some serious healing.
Supposedly Dragon speak is supposed to get better the more you use it. It learns how you speak. I hope this is true so you can rest your hands. You need to take care of yourself first. You don’t want it to effect your future use of your hands. Good luck and thanks for all of your hard work. Love your books!
Gordon just needs to hold your hands ? and kiss ? them better while you dictate.
I just can not help myself with this visual. You dictating, your wonderful hubby kissing your hands. I think this would be an entirely different series, which of course I would definitely read, but I do not think it would be a part of the Innkeeper series. LOL!
So glad your biggest fear was not realized. Take care of yourself as we worry about you. I know you are getting a lot of advice. Allow me to offer some old fashion remedies. Rest is first, of course, but consider ice baths of 5-10 minutes (no heating pads yet). You might want to find a massage therapist that does hands and arms as it really does help. Arnica oil with the massage may help. If you can a find therapist that does both ultrasound (which increases blood to the swollen and aggravated tissue – this was a huge relief for me) and, later, electrical muscle stimulation, even better. I hope the Dr. prescribed anti-inflammatory meds like etodolac or take over the counter aleve.
Please rest and keep using the dictation software. You give us so many gifts. Give yourself the gift of time and rest.
I am SO glad that the diagnosis was “just” overuse trauma – I had looked up splinter haemorrhages on reputable medical sites, and became extremely worried that you might manifest some of the more serious underlying causes. I wonder, would epsom salt soaks help Ilona’s hands? In any case, **both** of you take good care of yourselves and take however long you need to get to optimal health… and that includes consigning those ignorant buttheads to the virtual rubbish bin to maintain your mental health! The adults among us will wait patiently until you give us the green light. Vaya con Díos 🙂
Take good care!!! I’m rehabbing shoulder tendonitis and basically can’t use my arm for anything; it is beyond frustrating to have activities reduced. Especially when your stress-relieving hobbies (e.g. KNITTING!!!) end up also being banned. Hang in there.
Yay!!! I’m so glad it wasn’t something worse and there’s an end in sight for your hands 😀 Whew. The pianist comparison makes sense :). Don’t lose you’re choice with all of that new dictating though 🙂 Hot honey lemonade is very soothing if it gets too be too much. After all, one can’t tell they’ve overdone it until they already have. Good luck and I’m so glad you have a great husband to work with you during the healing process. The thing about him laughing about you being told not to type by the Dr… after he had probably already said the same thing… sounds like just what my husband does when he’s proven right and then I have to take his advice from the Dr :). I about it is funny :D. Good luck with getting better and also getting Diamond Fire finished up in however long it takes and thanks to both of you!
-Virginia
Get well soon ans thank you both for all the great work!
I have such a mixed bag of emotions. 1) very happy to hear that the problem with your hands is not diabetic related. 2) very unhappy to hear that the joy and happy I get from your books has caused such trauma and 3) exceptionally happy to hear a dictation program could help you two continue to publish the stories that bring me the joy and happy. Thank you both for your dedication to these series. It is greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the update, and wishing you all the best!
You’re like those young gymnasts whose coaches push them so hard, they land somersaults on broken ankles — only the one pushing you is yourself! Take better care of yourself; you’re valuable in many ways, not just to those of us in the BDH! <3
I type a lot daily at work and had similar issues at some point. The secret, I learned, is in the keyboard and typing method. Laptop keyboard works best as it is compact. With regard to typing, once I managed to rest my hands on the table while writing and not throw them on the keyboard from a great height, as well as not applying much force when touching the keys solved my problems entirely.
I dont know about you, but because I was used to think while typing it was very hard for me to be creative and find a flow while dictating.
Good health to you both!
At one point, Dragon released a medical dictation suite that a former employer bought for us to use to dictate our surgical records during the (veterinary ) surgeries. It was a real circus act… it started out promising but quickly devolved into an object lesson in frustration and a verbal record of everyone’s cursing skills. Let’s just say that the program could not get “ovary” right but had a better understanding of cursing creativity than Patricia Briggs’ werewolf Ben… Obviously, a LOT of doctors and veterinarians spent a good deal if time cursing at the program… it lasted 3 days, before the practice manager threatened to wash our mouths out with soap, set us each in a corner for a time out, and set fire to the dictation headsets. The vet techs gave out creativity awards at the next office luncheon.
Hopefully, they have improved over the years.
Squee!
Glad tidings and welcome news about your projected recovery!!
((Snoopy Dance!))
I love your books, i just finished iron and magic, had so much fun,.. Im a fan and im waiting for the next innkeeper, looking forward to magic triumph and diamond fire, but please dont force yourself so you dont damage your fingers permanently, it would be a loss for us all if you’re no longer able to type, btw im from philippines and it was an honor that you used tikbalang, i would suggest you take your typing prohibition seriously… Your books are great.. Please take care..
Great news on the health front! Let Gordon pamper and make a little fun of you for the next few weeks, the girls need their pampering from time to time.
Also, and this is just a thought, most of us don’t know how to type correctly, as in we have never taken proper courses for it and type in odd ways with often weird numbers of fingers, I’m looking at me right now and I type with 6….. So if that is the case for you both, (yes I’m including Mr Andrews here) maybe, once your hands get better, learning how to type properly with all ten digits and proper positioning of the body could help get some strain off your hands. When you think of the secretary that types all day long every day, she has had proper training and probably doesn’t feel as much strain as people like me, who can’t type properly, do…
As for the Innkeeper, as we say: “good things come to those wo wait”…. I’ll gladly wait…..
Oooo rest up and get well soon!
Great news. Take care of yourself and your hands.
We will happily wait any Innkeeper installment you can write.
All the best.
Hi Ilona & Gordon. I started out reading fantasy with authors like Anne Mcafferty ‘Dragons of Pern’ series and Marion Zimmer Bradley books. A voracious reader from early childhood, I’m now 50 years old and I can say without a doubt that your books have been the most enjoyable I’ve read ‘hands down’! The characters, world building & story lines are so good that my family knows that ‘mum’ is unavailable for the day while I devour the eagerly awaited new gem of a book (I make no apologies for these occasional selfish days either, it’s ‘my precious’). You both are such talented and imaginative writers. When you and Gordon give so much of yourselves & make yourself accessible to your fans, it is unfortunately inevitable that a few negative types are scattered among your multitude of hugely admiring and appreciative fans. I sincerely hope that these handful of trolls do not sound more loudly to you than the majority of the rest of us. You and Gordon are truly wonderfully generous people and I just wanted to say ‘thank you’ and that I am in awe of your prolific rate of publishing while still maintaining the exquisite level of quality writing.
Ditto for me – only I’m 60 (better late than never, eh?) blessings to you both.
I have you both beat I’ll be 75 in September. I am a voracious reader ! My husband says that I’m a dedicated bookaholic. I love all your books and have re-read all of them multiple times! I was shocked to discover that you actually made me like Hugh ! Shock of the century!! Please take care of yourselves the BDH will still be here no matter how long it takes for you to recover your health. We love you both and do not want you to jeopordize any portion of physical, mental, emotional, health, just remember, you have to put each other and #1 & #2 first. Creator Bless
I waited years for the next book of the wheel of time series. You take however long you need, damn it, and just ban anyone who complains. We love you and your work and can wait!
+1 on the banning!
Thank you for the update. Too bad that knitting while dictating would be self-defeating! Good luck to both of you working in this new mode. I can’t believe how many fun things you are creating and how lucky we are to get to read them.
I have used Dragon Dictate. It’s a little frustrating at first but gets better the more it learns. I found I had to do a lot of correcting, and when I wanted to go two paragraphs up and add, or change something it was a pain in the butt. I adore your books, and like I’ve said before, I will read a grocery list if you write it, but please don’t let our greed destroy your hands. Take a break if you need it. Maybe record you words then have some one type it up for you?
First and probably last comment here, but hello from across the pond. I’m so glad you haven’t got the nasties you were worrying about, there’s little worse that seeing all those things on the horizon, poised to roll over you and make your life miserable.
Your books, if they were in dead tree format, would be so well read by now they would be in tatters; you guys are the bright spot at the end of the day, especially when it’s been a bad day and it’s a new book! I am sooo looking forward to the new stuff… I will only have read Hugh’s book about twenty times by then.
Anyhoo, I write because I’m a DSE assessor. A big part of my job for twenty plus years has been looking at how people are hurting themselves in the office and putting it as right as possible. If I could make a suggestion, one which of you may already be very well aware (as you are the authorlords and therefore, omniscient), quite often problems with hands/arms/shoulders stem from the height at which you are sitting. If you sit high enough so that your hands are above the keyboard, like a concert pianist, it takes away a lot of the stresses. If as you say, you pound the keyboard, there are a pile of them out there which are good for that as it’s a problem I have: apparently my typing is loud enough to wake the dead. There will be a soft touch, ergonomic keyboard that is right for you. I could suggest a couple to try, some of which are truly freaky, but at the end of the day it is often position that helps in concert with other adjustments.
I wish you both well and happy, and I look forward to the next opus!
So glad that you are taking a break. We will happily read your next series, Ottoman Rising.
Glucose levels are not the only thing one should check when looking for signs of diabetes. If it’s possible check your insulin levels as if they are high it could be a sign of metabolic syndrome or prediabetes. High insulin levels can make it nearly implossible to loose weight as it affects how the body stores and uses fat for energy. When you have hyperinsulinemia your glucose levels can be perfectly normal..
Happy dance, happy dance!! Diabetes is scary and I’m so glad its not a stress factor anymore. Shake the haters off because us true fans want you to be healthy even if that means we reread your old work over and over. Shoot, I do that on the regular anyways!! 🙂
Best wishes for your recovery Ilona – it sounds like both good news in that it’s not a major illness, but recovery is a pain no matter what!
Maybe you should treat yourself to a decent therapeutic massage – if you’ve done that much damage to your hands, your shoulders and neck will be tense as well. It’s that joyful meeting of personal pampering and actual physical benefit.
Phew! Glad to hear it’s not diabetes. Good luck with the Dragon program. Of course in my head I’m now thinking that the Authorlords now have a dragon secretary.
So glad tests results are ok. Take care to heal your hands well otherwise it will keep recuring. Really enjoyed Iron and Magic it was awesome?✌
Please feel better! So sorry about your hands! Maybe your editor should spring for a personal typist :). Thank you again for the wonderful writing, love everything you do. Iron and Magic was incredible. Inn Keeper is incredible. You are incredible. Thank you thank you!
And please take care of yourself!