A few folks have noted in email that I've been kinda quiet here of late,
and I just wanted to note that there are two reasons for this:

1) Whenever something of mine is aired, or shown, as with "Midnight," I
tend to adopt a low profile in order to avoid influencing or directing the
conversation.

As for 2)...a word in the ear of every person reading this who uses the
keyboard incessantly: *BUY WRIST GUARDS*. For the last year or so, I've been
fighting carpal tunnel syndrome. The problem is that I write 10-12 hours a
day, and when I'm going at white-heat, I've been clocked at nearly 120 words
per minute...one person who listened noted that during one particular session
the click-click-click didn't pause, didn't slow for nearly twenty minutes
straight. I fall through the screen and come out somewhere else, hours later.

The downside of which being...I'm having *real* problems with CTS right
now. As we gear up for the last part of the season, I'm behind the keyboard
constantly, when I'm not in editing. During the Thanksgiving break, I was
averaging 20 pages a day. Early in that process, the CTS settled in bigtime.
The pain is nearly constant, all day, all night. To pick up a can of soda is
an exercise in profound discomfort. To *type* is beyond description. I'm
doing everything I can to minimize it, including sending for some new wrist
supports and wrist braces, but apparently this stuff is cumulative.

It's not stopping the writing, not by so much as a comma, but it makes me
more inclined to quick, short messages than my usual mini-novels.
I learned a long time ago how to burn through pain, so it's not a problem on
that level. Once the season's over, we'll evaluate where things stand, and
whether this can be ameliorated by exercises or surgery or whatever. But I'm
a *writer*, and that means I'll write if they cut off my arms and legs and I
have to type with my nose. Nor is this message intended for sympathy. No
sympathies are expected or requested. This is just one more challenge to B5.


My only thought at this moment is with those reading this: if you do lots
of work behind the computer, take breaks, wear wrist braces, get a support for
your keyboard, do wrist-hand exercises. You wouldn't like this. Trust me.

This show has been an act of sheer will now for nearly seven years. So
what else is new?

By Friday we finish shooting "Chrysalis," which looks *gorgeous*. Then
comes "Deathwalker," with Sarah Douglas and Robin Curtis. It's another of our
very tough episodes, written by Larry the D. With "Chrysalis" it's 12 down
and 10 to go. We're on the downward slide, and it's coming up fast.

Later.

jms