Editing, Injury and heating pads oh my

[therosesword]

So, last night I crowed about finishing volume II of my series Bright Morn of Issareth.

It was hard to finish, really really hard. Not because of the writing but because last week (and yes, you're allowed to laugh at this, I actually am) I was choreographing a swordfight scene for it and my sword hooked on something (I thought I was in the clear) and my foot went one way (my fault, didn't have my fencing shoes on) and well... quite possibly a groin pull.

Anyway, I've gone through karate, body building and was a dancer and usually pain just means you're alive (plus I have an extremely high resistance to pain). So I just went on writing and working out until I quite literally couldn't.

Enter good friend ex-firefighter/EMT person and phone call. I will be editing, popping Tylenol and applying heat (too late for cold. Y'd think with credits in sports meds at the Uni here I would have started that but noooooo)

Who knows what kind of editing will be done.

How many of you use down time like this to get important stuff done?

Write hard, write true... and maybe write carefully, too.

(no need to extend sympathy, my own fault, better a good slap up side the head for being so stoooopid)

[skicoak]

Played football in my distant youth and was a professional wrestler on the indies for far too long...and now I am old.

So everyday is a fun little mystery where I am never sure which body parts aren't going to be working correctly, Lol.

Definitely have to schedule around it, my drawing hand gets numb when the bone chips in my elbow act up. So those are administrative/writing days. If it's the back that's uncooperative, catch up on reading. The brain damage/CTE stuff is the unpredictable one...if I sense it's going on, take the day off versus go back and fix everything later.

It's more and more of a dance the older you get.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I've drawn so much over the years, I had thought myself immune to drawing pain, because I never suffered it when working traditionally.
But...once I started using digital techniques, I've since learned that my 33 year old wrists are definitely NOT immune to overworking and muscle pain.

[therosesword]

It's that repetitive motion. Elbow problems sometimes too when writing because of mouse etc. The worst part (for me anyway) is trying to pace myself or take it easy. And voice to text sucks.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I kinda want to learn how to draw ambidextrously (not a word ? XD) just so if something ever happens to my right wrist, my left one can take over.

But yes, I've had to pace myself. Especially when doing really big projects. Speech bubbles in particular give me fits. The repeating motion of drawing circles drives me crazy, because I never get them to look the way I want on the first try.

[therosesword]

I'm fairly ambidextrous (my dad was too) with certain things. I can write with both hands but the less predominant gets sloppy if I don't keep it up. Drove a friend nuts at the driving range. I may not be able to hit a golf ball far but I never hook or slice and that's both left and right handed. Play squash the same way until an old boyfriend tied the racket to my hand (hahaha). Fence both handed, etc. still though, less predominant hand is weaker, it takes practice. I never thought about it until someone watched me pour coffee one day and remarked they didn't know I was left handed. Evidently I pour left handed... go figure!

But draw. I'm a fair sketcher, no great shakes but do it both handed. Never in a million years. If I were you I'd keep practicing though.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I hold my fork and spoon left handed. My mom retrained me at a young age. I had left handed tendencies but she purposefully taught me to be right handed.
So I think I could do it. And I probably should.

[ble]

Around 2018, i made the mistake of making comics, drawing other art, AND participate in inktober, all that really gave me wrist pain, so now i just stop whenever I start feeling some pain. Now my procrastination protects my wrist.

Write hard

Don't write hard. It will cause more pain and if its too hard it could destroy the notepad, pencil or keyboard. Write soft.

[ninjashira]

I luckily haven't had any trouble with my wrists, but I have truly awful pain in my shoulder if I'm drawing at my computer for more than six hours or so. I have an extra rib at the top of my rib cage that is right near a bundle of nerves and blood vessels in my shoulder, and it's normally not a problem, but after drawing for a while I think the muscle inflames just enough to nudge those nerves into that extra rib, and it's suuuuper painful. Then it's time to relax with a heating pad and a Tiger Balm patch and hope it goes away soon.

[therosesword]

Tiger Balm patch? Oooh, haven't seen those. Will have to look them up. Haven't used Tiger Balm since my old karate days.

An extra rib? I can see where that would cause multiple reactions. Do you compensate somehow posture-wise? I ask as I compensate for physical differences. You know how there's always that complaint about "manspreading" the way guys sit with their legs apart. I'm female but I sit that way. Sitting and crossing my legs like most women is the most painful thing ever. I sit usually with an ankle of one leg balanced on the knee of another. I also have a natural turn out when I walk (kind of duckish) It's the way I'm built, what can say. So I adjust posture etc.

[DiegoPalacios]

My brother had the same situation, born left handed and raised as a right handed, when he realized he was naturally left handed, he trained to become ambidexterous and that helped him in many ways, including fighting with 2 swords in kenjutsu.