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Title: Spic-And-Span! Lillian Gilbreth’s Wonder Kitchen Written by: Monica Kulling Illustrated by: David Parkins Published by: Tundra Books, 2014 Themes/Topics: women industrial engineers, inventor, psychologist, Lilian Moller Gilbreth Suitable for ages: 7-11 Biography, 32 pages Series: Great Idea Series Opening:  The first page is a beautiful … Continue reading →

My visits to the physio therapist continue, and my collection of torture devices wrist and elbow braces seems to be growing by the week. The latest?



This saucy little number. (Note my lovely "Plugged in Plum" nails - I went to a high school reunion on Saturday night so I had my nails done for the first time in like, forever.) What you can't see, is that embedded under my wrist going all the way up to the palm of my hand is a metal bar:



which, as I'm sure you can imagine, makes it an absolute JOY to type! And I have Major Freaking Revisions on WANT TO GO PRIVATE? to do this Month. MaFreReMo. Uh huh.

One thing about an injury affecting your livelihood is that it makes you take it very VERY seriously. I've been doing everything the physio tells me, including researching laptop ergonomics on the web, because after talking to the hand specialist at the physio place, we think perhaps my elbow tendon was weakened by my poor laptop habits on a repetitive basis and then it was all the tennis playing that just was the last straw.

So getting a new chair wasn't enough. On Friday I bit the bullet and went out and bought a wireless keyboard, mouse, and a laptop stand, so now my keyboard can be at the proper height for my wrists, but the screen is at a height were I don't have to bend my neck to look at it. Then I went and bought a proper foot rest, so that my arms and legs are now at 90 degree angles when I work.

Here's what it looks like:



The keyboard tray is still kind of messy because I was using it as a drawer before and I haven't figured out where to put all the stuff yet.

But take it from this injured Word Warrior. We writers spend a LOT of time on our butts in front of a computer screen, making the same repetitive motions. Take a good look at your writing situation and make sure that it's safe.

Because trying to do Major Freaking Revisions with a big piece of metal sticking in the palm of your hand is NO FUN AT ALL!

On a more fun note: I'm trying to think of a good competition to give away a LIFE, AFTER arc. Any ideas?

My friend June English once wrote a book about the world’s most dangerous jobs. Not surprising, writer and editor were not on the list. I always figured these were jobs I could do my whole life with no threat of occupational injury, except maybe from my adventures as an intrepid researcher. But lo-and-behold, I had surgery last Friday for a threesome of injuries that were very much the result of my years at the computer: carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, and trigger thumb.

As surgery goes, it wasn’t so bad. Half an hour in the O.R., followed by a few days of fatigue, and 10 days with a bandaged hand that I’m supposed to keep dry and use gingerly. There’s only fleeting pain when I move my hand the wrong way, but hopefully that will disappear once the incisions have healed. Likely to be more long-lasting is my diminished sense of invincibility. Suddenly I’m human just like everyone else. Despite 15 years of steady gym workouts, my 50+-year-old body is beginning to need tune-ups and replacement parts.

My hand really started bothering me in February, after I painted my dining room and spent hours polishing the long-ignored brass light fixture, but I’d been experiencing numbness and weakness in my grip for years. Once the problems were diagnosed, I invited my friend Robyn over to examine my work station. Robyn is an occupational safety and health expert who spends her career educating people about how to avoid work-related injuries. She took one look at me seated at my desk and shook her head. “This is all wrong,” she said. “The keyboard should be lower. The monitor should be higher. When you sit in your desk chair, you should sit up straight with your spine against the back of the chair. You need to change your set-up or the carpal tunnel will come back.”

It was a traumatic visit. I wrote close to a dozen books at my stylish oak and brass desk, but there’s no way it could be fitted with a computer tray and therefore, no way it would be up to Robyn’s standards. So I went shopping. I bought a Herman Miller ergonomic Mirra chair and an L-shaped desk with an articulating keyboard/mouse shelf. The Mirra does encourage me to sit up straight and fits me much better than my previous large, cushioned chair, though I’m almost sure it won’t be as comfortable to fall asleep in. The desk just came yesterday, so I haven’t tested it yet for comfort and functionality. My folks, who helped pick it out, certainly have high hopes. My mom already told me that with such a nice, new, large, expensive desk, I should be able to win a Newbery. (I told her a Sibert might be a more appropriate goal.) In the meantime, I just hope I can continue to write without re-injuring my hand. But just in case my new, ergonomic desk is more practical than inspirational, I’m hanging onto my old desk as well. It sits across the room, relegated to holding my fax machine and copier, a symbol of the reckless days of my youth.