The Pain Reliever That Gave Me a Publishing Schedule

My doctor recently gave me a sample of Journavx, a new pain reliever—enough for four and a half days. I assiduously read the information provided: the trial size and demographics, the percentage who completed the trial, the major and minor side effects, the warnings, and, of course, the dosage recommendations.

The pain relief itself was fine. Very good, in fact. I felt better than I had in weeks. I was taken completely by surprise, though, by my sudden lack of any particular interest in sleep. I would sleep for three or four hours, wake up completely alert, and immediately start thinking. My mind would be buzzing with ideas, usually about whatever I was writing, and once that started there was very little chance I was going back to bed.

So I went to my desk and worked for hours.

I had started on one book, which was great. Then I watched an interview with one of my favorite authors, and she mentioned that publishers always want to know about the next book. More specifically, they want a three-book series. So, obviously, I needed to plan two more.

That would have been fine if the second book had stayed politely in the planning stage. It did not. It became interesting enough that I started writing it. Then, after spending a while immersed in serious novels, I decided I needed a break and started writing a comedy.

Days and about seven hours of sleep later, I had one book in editing, two books halfway through first drafts, and another sitting there in the fully formed idea stage. I never sat down and decided that what I really needed was several books happening at once. They simply, well, manifested.

The strangest part was how irritating ordinary bodily requirements became. I would be deeply involved in something and realize I needed food, or water, or the toilet, and my first reaction was annoyance.

Come on, body—don't you see that my brain and hands are busy? Stop bothering me!

Sleep, meanwhile, had apparently become optional. Three or four hours would pass, I would wake up, and there my brain was again, ready to go. No grogginess. No lying there wishing I could get back to sleep. Just ideas. I would look at the clock, realize what time it was, and think that I ought to sleep more. Then another thought would arrive, and that would be the end of that.

The information that came with Journavx gave no indication that it affects anyone else this way. This is simply what happened to me during my four-and-a-half-day experiment with it. But by the end, I had to agree with their recommendation that it be for “short-term use.”

There are probably only so many books one person should begin at once.