Gulp… wince
A really quick update…
I thought I had the flu, but it turns out I don’t. I have tonsillitis instead. Jesu, joy of man’s desiring!
At least it explains why my throat hurts like hell. Fortunately, the doc gave me a shot in the office (well, that’s not really where he stuck me, but you get the picture), and a prescription for oral antibiotics.
Except for the general fever/chills and achiness of my body fighting an infection (oh yeah, and did I mention that my throat hurts like hell?), I feel pretty good. I don’t have energy to do shit, but at least I’m not congested and snuffly too. Isn’t that grand? But I digress…
So that’s the current reason I haven’t written much lately. The other reasons are work and motivation. When I’m in the mood to write, I don’t have time. And when I have time, I’m not in the mood.
I finished Ch16 a while ago and sent it to my alpha reader. He came back with lots of comments, which means I need to add several scenes. I have them worked out in my head, I think, but see the previous paragraph about why I haven’t committed them to electrons.
Anyway, the antibiotic shot and the pills should clear up my lovely infection, and I’ll get my strength back as soon as I feel like eating again. (Although I gotta say, there’s something gloriously sinful about making a meal out of a chocolate and cherry milkshake. You know? And if it weren’t for the damned peanut butter salmonella thing, I’d be having a peanut butter and banana milkshake right now. But again, I digress…)
So that’s the quick update. I’ll feel like writing again soon. Actually, I’ll feel like swallowing again soon. The rest with happen when it happens.
And remember, folks, I serve no whine before its time. 
- Nick
Nick,
having been down that road several, I wish you a speedy recovery. Ice Cream is a wonderful thing.
feel better soon.
Go for the peanut butter and nanner shake Nick, it’s peanut butter paste that’s contaminated, not peanut butter. Just make the shake with the real thing!
Jer
Most definately go with the shake but with a few madicinal additives: Honey, lemon juice, and a chaser of Grande Mariner (heated to just less than you drink coffee) for a throat numbing warm up after that shake. Works better than cough syrup and it’s cheaper.
When my dad was 13, he had tonsillitis. They put him under to remove them. When he woke up, JFK was dead.
So look on the bright side: It may make your readers grumpy to wait, but it’s not going to kill anyone.
PS. Whenever people start their “I’ll always remember where I was….” stories, Dad loves to say, “I won’t.”
I’ll echo what Jer said — jars of PB are okay, it’s just PB in crackers and cookies that you want to avoid. Indulge while you can.
Hope you feel better, Nick!
Feel better soon, Nick!
Bourbon + ginger beer is nice for sore throats (and tonsilitis…if only I’d had that when I had tonsilitis…)
Thanks for the update. Anxiously awaiting the next addition to the saga. Feel better soon.
Nick, you’re missing the boat here. Now is the time to get some ’special treatment’ from your very understanding wife. You still do the man things around the house inspite of what you have. You still work and try to do more. Maybe she could help you act out some scenes to get over the writers block. (HINT HINT) I know being sick can slow down the thought process; just trying to help MY favorite writer. Hope You feel better soon, or not so soon as the case may be. (VBG)
Thank You for Your Time and Effort.
Hurry up and get well, Nick. Trying to write when you’re feeling sick doesn’t really work all that well, even if you *did* get time and motivation.
Steve.
all the best. – get well soon.
also, a cold (as in 5 minutes in the freezer), slightly wet towel (thin, like those for dishes) around the neck, and the a thicker, normal dry towel around that 3-5 times a day for 20-30 minutes each.
The sensation might give you slight dizzyness, the first time you do it, so you might want to sit down before.
Reason: Some “temperature control centre” is located near the throat, so the low temperature will “sound an alarm”; lots of blood gets ordered to pass by to raise the temp; therefore lots of T-cells pass by to and help fight the infection.
I got this tip from my doctor many years ago and it always help me fight a simple “sore throat”, buty you might want to run that advice past your doc.
Anyway, this is the kind of lo-tec / lifehack medicine I like.
hey nick sorry to hear your under the weather cant wait for the next installment, by the way try ribena mixed with boiled water from the kettle the heat is great for the nose and the scalding liquid desenseitises the throat. thats asuming you guys have ribena in the states
I for one, think you should write as much as possible to capture that fevered surrealism
. Paul could take a Poe-esque ”Fall of the House of ‘Usher or Tell Tale Heart turn!’
Get well!
Nick:
Hope you get better soon… after all, those of us addicted to SC are not getting any younger, ya know!
Seriously, take care of yourself. And here’s hoping that you get better quickly… at least enough to enjoy the finer things in life again.
Get well soon! Make sure you check in every now and then, your faithful readers worry when we don’t hear from you for 3 months…
Nick,
Sorry to hear that you are crook, (Australian for not well. At the same time I am glad to hear from you after the long break
On the home remedy front try warm lemon juice sweetened with honey, and throw in a couple of aspirin, sip it and it will reduce the soreness of the throat. I also like to add a couple of shots of good dark rum It doesn’t help but it can be mood altering
Get well!
Paul
Snowy mountains
Australia
ugh. I’m jealous. I’m sick too, but the clogged up kind. Hope you’re better in some semblance of soon. Can’t wait for the next chapter.
@ Doug
Don’t be so quick to be jealous. My throat is still store, which means it hurts to swallow or talk.
When I’ve had a cold before, I pretty much lived my life as usual (except for the drugs and Kleenex). This tonsillitis thing is a major pain in the ass… er… throat.
- Nick
Hey Nick –
I checked in to see if you had posted the next chapter and discovered you were sick. I was really sick a couple weeks ago (missed a whole week of work – unusual for me). My wife tired to *cheer* me up, but I was too exhausted to appreciate it. Hope you feel better soon! Being sick sucks (and not in a good way).
If Chapter 15 is done, why don’t you just post it? What is the purpose of a buffer, other than you’ll be able to post the last three chapters or so simultaneously? If you actually have a good rationale for the necessity of a buffer, then I’ll shut up and call myself a fuckwit. Otherwise, why not just post the chapter that you’ve already finished?
Ted you need to read the faq on the story page it explains why a buffer is needed.
Nick hope you are get well soon. Your tonsillitis reminds me of when I got mine out at 15. While the pain and surgery aren’t worth remembering, the cute blonde nurse I had with big ummm eyes certainly is.
Ted a good tip for a peaceful life my friend …
Learn when to STFU ok?
Nick,
I hope you’re feeling better soon.
You mentioned a while ago (last year?) that you might have a book or two in print soon. Any chance you can let us know how that’s going? I want to get it pre-ordered if it’s on they way!
Thanks
Mark
Nick,
Best wishes with the tonsils…I got in a pretty nasty fight with mine ~12 years back and ended up having to give them the boot. Life got a whole lot better from there out. =)
If you end up having to have them out, remember popsicles are your friend!
- Subverted
Bummer, dude. Feel better soon!
Hang in there Nick, get lots of rest!
It seems to be going around, pretty much everyone in my family got it around the same time as you (the fact, though, that we’re in Central Canada and you’re down in, what, Georgia?, makes it stranger that we get it at the same time, and I’m seeing it go around here too.) Right now I’m the one battling it (well, don’t know if it’s tonsilitis like my daughter, I think I had my tonsils out when I was a kid). Don’t take the fact that I’m on the computer reading your blog as a sign you have to write – I’m stupid, you’re not.
in the spirit of unsolicited medical advice, here’s my 2 cents…
Hot lemonade & bourbon – one of the greater
inventions of mankind
Honey, lemon & bourbon – a close second
in both recipes, the more bourbon consumed
per unit time, the sooner you feel better (or
at least care a whole lot less)
get well soon
cheers
Ouch! I get tonsilitis every year or so. So I know precisely how you feel. They may suck to take but the antibiotics will take care of it. Get better soon.
Now have your dentist find the low-level abcessed tooth that caused it in the first place…
That was my problem for years…
The suspense is terrible . . .!
I hope it lasts!
this is to the guy above who said some crap about the meaning of a buffer? use your brain man and you’ll figure it out, sure the wait is frustrating but if we wait this 2 and a half / 3 months for this chapter and nick manages to grow a buffer then it wont be another 3 months till the next chapter. think about it jerkoff
hope your getting well nick
Nick,
Sorry to hear you have been sick, hope you get well and start writing more soon – (Hell what do you expect us dedicated reader to say?).
Hey, as you said Chapter 14 was harder to write than read; but it left many of us very bummed out. But you state you have finished 15 and well into 16, while leaving us down. We know you want some kind of a buffer, but please don’t leave us so down and out for so long!
I am sure a passive aggressive comment like that will guilt Nick into posting Chapter 15 right away.
NOT!
There is 1000’s of other stories out there.. I for one have moved on. See you on the flip side in 2012. Good Luck
I love how every time anyone here posts a comment mentioning how it’s been a while since a chapter was posted, there’s always some brown-noser here to quickly bash that person, in fear that Nick might read their complaint and use it to hold us all hostage by refusing to post more chapters.
All of you on both sides need to grow a sack of nuts.
PS – CJ in SC, your comment was much more passive aggressive than the one you replied to.
Jim Bob
Fuck off. He writes for free, it takes as long as it takes. That is not brown nosing you arsehole, its stating a fact. The dicks on here who whine about the gaps in the chapters deserve everything they get on here. Don’t defend them.
I wasn’t defending anybody; way to not read what I wrote. My point was that I don’t see how they are any worse than people like you who immediately attack someone who whines about Nick’s pace. On top of that you attacked me, who WASN’T whining about Nick’s pace at all.
Nick is obviously free to take however long he wants to do whatever he wants. But what gives you the right to call people names and tell them to leave in an impolite manner?
Nick, if you read this I hope that you don’t take offense to the “conversation” that is currently going on. Personally, if I were you, I would be ashamed to have someone like Alan considered as a fan/supporter of mine. His blatant disrespect for other people tarnishes the reputation of people who consider themselves to be Nick’s fans.
Your true supporters aren’t the ones who feel the need to act as your personal anti-complaint army. Your true supporters are the ones who ignore the whiners, knowing that if there’s one person who has the right to say anything bad about them, it’s you, though I have mentioned before ( http://nickscipio.com/blog/2008/05/23/and-you-wonder-why-i-chew-the-furniture-sometimes/#comment-2678 ) that I don’t always feel your responses are “phrased” in the best possible way.
Best of luck to you all.
Jim Bob,
You obviously didn’t you take into account that my comment might have been intended to be over the top passive aggressive sarcastic humor?
As for you not attacking anyone? I can’t speak for everyone on both sides, but I would appreciate it if you would leave my brown nose and my newly grown sack of nuts out of the discussion please.
Have a Nice Day!
I did not attack anyone. I attacked everyone.
If you’d appreciate me leaving out your brown nose and new nutsack out of the discussion, perhaps I myself (as well as previous individuals who have been ripped apart by overzealous Nick “fans” or unnecessarily angry whiners) would appreciate not being told to “fuck off” or being called an “arsehole” or a “dick.”
I regret making my “sack of nuts” remark earlier. It apparently has given you ammunition to respond to me without actually disputing any of my points.
Happy sailing.
looks like it´s about time to mention nazis and concentration camps, if you get my drift.
I win.
cheers
matt
sigh….. must be sc redrawals …… i starting to get them too lately and i’m not even on here so long .
i hope you get back intoo the rithem soon nick for all our sakes i guess
Jim Bob
I see, you get to act as judge and jury for us all. Wow it must be fantastic on that moral highground as a ‘true supporter’ of Nick.
I’ll reserve my right, it is after all free speech, to criticise the impatient arseholes who continue to plague this blog. Just like you can continue to sit on your plateau.
If you are a ‘true supporter’ then why bother to comment at all.
It’s Nick’s story, his blog, he is free in respond in way he feels. Doesn’t mean I like it all the time, but I respect his right, and the rights of others to call out the whiners. If they don’t like the wait then leave the story behind.
We not quite so true supporters wouldn’t then feel the need to maybe respond so vociferously.
Every defense you gave of your own actions can be said for every whiner who has ever complained here, as well as myself.
Until you come up with an actual argument besides hiding behind free speech, I will not concede that I am the least bit wrong.
Unless that’s your point, in which case this entire discussion serves no purpose. If that’s so, then perhaps I’ll start criticizing every person who attacks anyone here, thus perpetuating this endless cycle of stupidity.