I was sick last week. It started Monday evening, when I felt a tickle in my throat. I thought nothing of it, though it did seem unusual. On Tuesday the tickle persisted, and I had to cough to relieve it. I told several people at work that it was just a tickle, and to not worry about my coughing.

Then, Wednesday morning I could feel the head cold starting. This is opposite of how my colds usually come. Usually I feel tiredness in the eyes a couple of days before the sinuses start working overtime. Sometimes those colds go to my chest after another couple of days, sometimes not. The last cold I had, back in October, I think, was mild and I didn’t miss any work.

This one came on strong Wednesday, mainly coughing but with some sinus drainage. Since some muscle pains later developed, I’ve concluded that I had a mild case of the flu. I left work early and mainly rested. Thursday and Friday I slept lots and lots. When I  wasn’t sleeping I was resting in my chair, reading in War Letters. I finished that, by the way, on Sunday, and wrote a review at my other blog. By Saturday I felt a little better, and was able to leave the house for a short while to pick up a computer from the techno doc. But I still took it easy for the most part. Stayed home Sunday, and left my Life Group without a teacher (since my co-teacher was out of town). I did arrange for someone from the class to lead the discussion in my absence. Now, on Monday, I’m at work, and running on 7 cylinders.

But throughout this period of sickness, I did get some writing work done.

• Completed my writing business tax calculations for 2011 tax year, and filled out the forms. I made a little over $1,500.oo dollars, but after subtracting my expenses, which were inflated by the trip to Chicago in June (half of which was writing related), and after subtracting my home office deduction (allowable since The Dungeon is a dedicated writing space), I made a profit of $1.36. Or, stated otherwise, my writing income paid fully for my writing habit and contributed about $530 to household expenses. Not bad.
• Added about 1,600 words to The Candy Store Generation, completing Chapter 3 and working on Chapter 4. The book now stands at around 16,000 words, or a few hundred less, on its way to 40,000 or so. I’m not sure that the words I wrote in the flu-induced stupor are any good. The editing process will determine that.
• Wrote a construction administration column due for Buildipedia.com. I wrote that yesterday evening, and typed and submitted it this morning. It was due last Friday, but I figure at the start of work Monday morning is about the same as midnight at the end of Friday, so I’m declaring it “on-time”. Not sure how the editor will see it.
• Uploaded my second short story, “Too Old To Play,” to Smashwords. It’s available for purchase there. Now waiting for the Smashword Meatgrinder to tell me if it qualifies for the Premium Catalogue, or if changes will be needed.
• Cleaned up a couple of piles of writing papers. These were mostly extra copies from critique group. I discovered two that had critical comments on In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People, and made those edits. This wasn’t hard work, and the living room is two piles cleaner.

I also balanced the checkbook, though that’s not writing related. Also washed some dishes.

So, despite the cold (or the flu), I made a little progress. Let’s see what a week of reasonably good health will bring.