John M. Kahane <102664.773@compuserve.com> asks:
> Speaking of writing and the like, how is the carpal tunnel doing
> right now in your case?

Frankly, the carpal tunnel is not good right now. Yesterday it
shot up from my left elbow to wrist...it's hard to describe unless you
take a shishkabob skewer and drive it from your elbow to your wrist
real fast a few times. Mainly it's a dull but constant
weight/discomfort in the wrists, fingers and forearms; the ring finger
of my right hand is now constantly turned inward...I have to sleep on
it flat under my pillow at nights to straighten it out by morning.
(The left hand just started doing the same thing a few days ago.)

This is the worst part of the year for this, at this point in
the writing. Last year at this time, I had to write 20 minutes, then
ice my arms down for 20 minutes, then write 20, then ice 20. And so
on. The discomfort is pretty chronic now, but not always as acute,
because I'm doing the exercises, and wearing the wrist restraints, and
doing all the things I should be doing.

But the bottom line...to write this season means writing over
1,000 pages of scripts in less than 10 months. Not counting interim
drafts and the like. That's the equivilent of a novel every 5 months.
That's going to take a toll on you no matter what you do. (Dictating
or voice recog doesn't work for me; I write through my fingers.)

When these last two scripts are finished, though, I'll have a
fair amount of time to recuperate before doing it all over again.

jms