I’m still recovering from this dastardly little affliction called Guillian-Barre. It’s hard to be patient. I probably overdid it yesterday, which meant I didn’t sleep much last night and that meant I felt worse today than yesterday. At times the numbness in my hands makes it feel like I’ve got thick, woolen mittens on my hands, and thick socks / leg warmers on my legs. Not that they are hot… they feel stifled. It’s quite annoying to type this way.

I’ve spent much of the week on the couch watching documentaries, mainly Ken Burn’s series on The Civil War. I didn’t know much about the Civil War prior to watching this series. I knew far more about British history than US, and watching this series really went beyond filling in the gaps, to learning about very important events in US and World history. I had no idea of how horrific some of those battles were, and how many mistakes were made by the North’s leadership that could have ended the war years earlier. But the failure of the Union Generals forced Lincoln’s hand to emancipate the slaves, so in the end, those who failed to end the war sooner rather than later, probably ensured that the slavery issue was resolved by 1865 so as not to fester into the twentieth century. (My theory, not one presented in the series.)

After watching that series, I can honestly say I have no desire to become a Civil War buff or to visit those battlefields. It was, perhaps, the most brutal of all wars, and there were moments in the documentary that shocked and repulsed me. I could not immerse myself in the study of that without depressing myself. History has always fascinated me for cause and effect. Slaughter on that scale has no appeal.

For a couple of days, I spent a lot of time in dark rooms with my eyes closed to let my eye muscles rest. But my brain was on, and when I could type, I did. I plotted out two entirely new novels in short form (1000 words per outline). I don’t have any time or energy to work on these right now or in the foreseeable future, but I would easily give up evenings of watching TV to write them in some sort of word blitzkrieg when I get caught up after I regain my health.

I’m going to take it very easy this weekend, in the hopes that by Monday, I’ll at least be able to work part-time from home. Perhaps another novel idea will jump into my brain. I’ve found you can never have enough of those.