This week’s antics, hip hop and fiction

An out of the ordinary week for me, as I got a new hip last Friday. Now six weeks to while away sitting on my bum, which shouldn’t be a challenge for a writer.

I pre-organised my marketing activites with a book promotion scheduled for the day of the operation. It was satisfying, in a weirdly macabre way, to know that while my physical self was under the knife virtual me was out there flogging books. Over 400 novels downloaded while I languished in groggy discomfort, and tracking the promo gave me amusment in my (few) wakeful moments.

The next challenge (aside from learning how to use crutches) is to get through the edits and re-writes on A Bed of Brambles. Frustratingly I can’t sit at my computer in it’s present set up, so I’ve set the Engineer and the Farmer to the task of resolving that. It’s a job that suits them better than nursing. My creativity still seems to be anaesthatised but I’m not going to panic – yet.

Any new experience, including surgery, delivers grist for the imagination. Hospitals host a world of stories. From the lives of the staff and the patients to the tragedies and miracles which play out inside their walls. Precious glimpses of other lives.

Even the frustration of awkward mobility is a useful insight. Thought provoking, empathy enducing. It reminds me how lucky I am that my troubles are temporary.