Wednesday, October 12, 2011

This time 6 months ago I was in the final stretches of finishing up my fourth novel, writing an average of 2k per day and generally not knowing how good I had it. 

These days I write 2k, but it's all in the form of nursing notes, care plans, interventions, or papers. 

I've actually been continuing to work on my latest WIP, but since school started I think I've eeked out what? 2 chapters? 3? And each one is taking me at least 2 weeks to write, just a few bursts at a time. Since I finished the last chapter almost 2 weeks ago, I've managed to write about 300 words, and it was the night before my second nursing exam. I was so wired from studying all day that I couldn't quiet my brain for sleep, so I pulled out my netbook and wrote an introduction for the next chapter. Of course, as soon as I started that, I got sleepy. 

I got so used to having time to write that now that I'm lucky to squeeze in 30 minutes every few weeks, I'm cranky. It makes me resent nursing school, housework, laundry, dishes (let's be honest--I resented those anyway.) 

I have irrational fears that the more I stuff into my brain about muscle anatomy and the stages of infection (for example), the more writing stuff is dribbling out. I'm afraid that at the end of these two years, my fiction writing will read like a textbook. 

I had my hospital orientation this morning. Have I mentioned how ridiculous our scrub uniforms are? I attend a military university, and our scrubs are very retro-military-esque. PURE white, and I mean WHITE. Zip-up collared smocks with patches and bars on the sleeves. The nursing students are called the "marshmallow crew" by the hospital employees. You can certainly spot us from a distance, that's for sure. 

Anyway, I'm assigned one of the big hospitals in the region. And whoa, is it nice! I'm going to be on the ortho/neuro floor for the year (sweet!), and you wouldn't believe the technology that's in these places. Even the toilets are smart. 

I'm afraid I won't be able to talk much about my clinical experiences (HIPPA and all that), other than in vague terms. But I'll certainly share anything extra exciting! 

So. I have two nursing exams down (A's on both!), two plus the final to go. One final big paper, my dietary analysis for nutrition and a teaching plan on lactose intolerance. My next A&P exam is in a week, and my cadaver lab is next Tuesday! (I also can't talk much about that, because the cadavers are still considered patients with HIPPA rights.) 

The semester has absolutely FLOWN by. Seriously, I feel like every time I wake up, three more weeks have passed. 

I'm living for December 6th. 

13 comments:

leegomez said...

Agh, the all white scrubbs. The nursing students at my university wear them as well, and I can't imagine keeping them clean for more than three seconds.

But take heart, December sixth is closer than you think. I'm struggling to keep writing on my WIPs too (I'm in graduate school), but even small stretches of words are progress--hang in there!

leegomez said...

and that's scrubs with only one b.
/writerfail. *sigh*

Linda G. said...

It's really whizzing by, isn't it? You're going to be done before you know it, and all that knowledge will be on tap for future fiction writing. :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Less than two months away!

Old Kitty said...

Hang on in there Summer!!! At least you are getting some writing in - even if it's 10 or a 1000 words, you're getting something down - so big pat on the back for you!! Yay!!

Awwww I think marshmallow crew sounds too cute!! :-) Take care
x

Saumya said...

Wow, I relate to this post so much. Medical school makes me so scared for my writing. When I have the time to write (every few weeks, at best) I don't have the energy and I need to catch up on other things. I try to explain it to people but nobody else seems to understand. It often comes down to deciding to write or washing the dishes/doing laundry/catching up with friends/studying ahead. School is the hard part. We will get through it, though! Good luck with everything :)

Saumya said...

P.S. I used to like scrubs and now hate them a little...okay, a lot.

Jon Paul said...

Sounds like some good progress--and congrats on those tests!

December 6th is just around the corner! :D

Teri Anne Stanley said...

the trapezius is connected to the arm bone, the arm bone is connected to the biceps brachii...

You can do eet!

Luna said...

Congratulations on all your success! Your fears about writing make perfect sense, but I'm sure you'll be fine. You've got a great imagination and could never lose that writing voice. Your posts don't sound textbookish.

Good luck with all your exams and everything! You rock...:)

Sweet Lily said...

Excellent! Congrats!

Toyin O. said...

That is awesome, praying you do well on your exams.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Huh. I didn't know cadavers were covered under HIPAA. I learned something today