If you think you might ever, ever, ever make use of an ER, read this first!

Very sound advice from someone on the front lines…

Ever feel like your brain is just plain tuckered out? The writing goes stale, nothing you read is pulling you in….heck, even your fav authors aren’t engaging you, much less inspiring you to get back to work.

Try taking a break from processing words and switch gears to more visual pursuits. Grab some paints or crayons and create some art (no one has to see it except you). Or re-cycle those old magazines by cutting out photos and creating a collage. For those more computer savvy, make a video.

Think of your story as you work, use it as your inspiration. Relax. Have fun. After all, it’s not writing, it’s playtime.

You might be surprised by your results! I know I was.

I created this video that I posted on my MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/cjlyonswriter) as a way to think about my characters and I like it enough that I’m going to see if my editor can use it to give the sales staff a visual handle on my cross-genre book. I think it nicely captures the romance, suspense, medical elements and that this book focuses on the women characters.

Switch gears and return to your writing rejuvenated and refreshed!

Everyone’s probably heard about CNN’s Beck and his hemorrhoids surgery gone awry. For those who haven’t, basically he went in for an outpatient procedure, woke with uncontrollable pain that the surgeons weren’t able to control and ended up spending 5 days in the hospital.

Then he went home and produced a video tape about his experiences and how awful they were. His conclusion:

“The politicians are right that we have a health care crisis in this country,” he said. “Where they’re wrong is that it’s not going to be solved by government, it’s not going to be solved by getting the HMOs out, it’s not going to be solved by a new marbled-lobby health center,” he said. “It’s by hiring people that understand about caring for people.”

Right….we doctors spend four years in college, four years in med school (at the cost of $100,000 +), four to seven years in additional training working 80 hour weeks for peanuts, just so we can face the threat of malpractice suits, insurance company hassles, and patients like Beck who think they’re the only patients in the world….Why?

And what about the nurses–don’t even get me started on the long hours, low pay and crap they have to put up with.

Seriously who would want a job like this? Who would want to work every holiday that your family has off, nights/days/swing shifts, weekends, be on call to drop everything to answer a summons from a patient? Does that sound like the kind of job you would want?

Unless you cared…..which of course is why we do what we do.

And why, if Mr. Beck felt less than appreciated by the numerous medical personnel he was involved with, then he might want to either look in the mirror at his own actions and attitudes as well as what it is about our health care system (the system he says doesn’t need any government or HMO intervention to make constructive change) that has sucked the life and compassion from people who have sacrificed so much in the name of caring?

No, medical providers aren’t perfect. But we wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t care….