Reflux

You talk about everything in your life centering around your writing, and I believe that's true. Somehow I believe that even my acid reflux is rooted in my writing and I'm afraid that I'll ultimately be forced to give up writing in order to cure it.

That's because all my stomach problems started shortly after I implemented the new writing schedule of getting up at 3:30 in the morning, writing until 5:30, and then going back to bed. In order to give myself some juice at that ungodly hour, I was drinking a cup of super-strong coffee and eating a square of two of extremely dark chocolate. On an empty stomach. Then lying back down in two hours.

If you know anything about reflux (and I didn't), that's pretty much a recipe for disaster, which is precisely what I got. Approx. two weeks into my regimen, I developed awful stomach cramps, etc. and things just sort of got worse from there. Now I've gone to the doctor and am on Nexium but my gut is still as touchy and wildly reactive as a menstruating wife.

So the reflux has its origins (not its absolute origins but more when it became so painful that I sought medical help) in the writing and I fear that the only solution is to give up writing. As if writing equals Jonah and my reflux is the terrible storm. So who are the superstitious sailors? I don't know. But someone is going to throw the writing overboard.

And then of course, I can't let that happen. There are lots of things I could give up (and have) in this world but don't ask me to stop writing, please. When it's even suggested, even when it's only me suggesting it, I react like the handgun psychos..."You can have my writing when you pry it from my cold dead fingers."