The Human Factor

I've fallen behind. Far behind. It started on Tuesday. My friend Jennie came for a visit, and we drank Riesling and Chardonnay until ten o'clock. I tried. I really tried to write after she left. But I'm a mother, people. I'm tired! It's no excuse. I know. I nearly caught up Wednesday. I quit while I was only about 500 words behind. I was sure that I could catch up on Thursday. But on Thursday I got some freak stomach bug. It came out of nowhere. I was fine. I was queasy. Then I was laid out in the middle of the den with a baby sleeping on my face, unable to move or breath. Jennie saved me when she got off work. She fed the kid, played with him, put him to sleep with a few bedtime stories, while I lay in bed moaning. Knowing that I was sliding farther and farther from the quota made me feel sicker. I thought that I could regain some ground yesterday, having convinced myself sometime during the last year that illness can only last one day. I was wrong. My head was throbbing, and I couldn't stomach any food other than loaf bread. Fortunately, my little curtain climber never showed any signs of being sick.

But here I am completely behind. And I wasn't at a great place last time I sat down to write. I think that I'm at a critical point. I may be near breaking and giving up. I can feel the little Germans in my head building up a gray wall, establishing the despotic Writer's Block. Help me! I don't want to quit.