W is for Working in Bed

I'm coming down with something, and I hope a day in bed may stave it off. Sometimes this can work.

I'm not really sick, though- not in that legitimate, call-a-doctor way, so I do feel a bit guilty about it. So today, I've decided to investigate the possibility of working in bed.

Of course I have a laptop, and with the wireless internet it could be just like working at my desk - except for one thing. Whenever I switch to my laptop, I have to copy over all my files. It seems like a lot of work just for a lazy day, and I find myself wondering how necessary it really is. After all, there is Onedrive, if I had ever  got around to setting it up. But there, I haven't, and it seems too hard for today. It definitely goes on the list for the future, though.

There is certainly work I can do without transferring files. Right now I am writing this blog on my ipad. It's rather tedious and annoying using the virtual keyboard and poking stick, but the predictive text helps. A short article is manageable, although I wouldn't want to be working on a novel.

So, let's look at work that can be done using the ipad. It seems to me that the higher the read/write ratio, the more suitable for the ipad, with its very limited typing facilities. A further consideration is how many things need to be open concurrently, because the ipad isn't nearly as kind or as flexible in this regard.

So we want things with not much typing, that can be done on one site or screen at a time.

I consider the work I have on at the moment.

• The Bad Redhead marketing challenge, for eventual review.
• The worldbuild for my new book.
• Writing new material for Grammar Without Tears.

The first two things seem well enough suited - the worldbuild is still at the reading and making notes with a pencil stage, while the marketing challenge activity for today is to do following on Twitter, to acquire an appropriate target audience. GWT, not so much; I really want a keyboard for that.

Let's start with the marketing. That's for someone else, and with the step-by-step format of the book, I think it will be the easiest of the three.

The mission for today is to find a lot of people on Twitter who might like my books and follow them. I sign up for a free account at ManageFlitter, as Rachel recommends. It's an online service, so there's no messing about downloading stuff. With only a little angst I manage to find a lot of book bloggers and follow them. I can only use the service to follow 50 people every 24 hours, so after following 50, I check out Rachel's second suggestion, Twitter's own Advanced Search. Now I see the value of ManageFlitter; this is a terribly clunky way of doing it. I plough through a search on book reviewers. I have now got up to following 96 people and I have a raging headache. I'll call that a wrap for day 3 of the marketing challenge.

On to the worldbuild. This day is not being at all restful. My own thought is that it would have been far better just to get up and have my day as normal. Still, I have embarked on this experiment now and will see it through to the bitter end.

As I read, I find my mind returning to the original premise - to the fact I am staying in bed because I'm sick, and I start to question the value of the whole experiment. When your whole body is full of pain, when it is a physical effort just to hold the kindle and read, what will be the value of any creative or analytical work that you do in this state? Not much, I suspect, and with that I give over trying to work today. These observations may be of use to someone who's in bed with an injury, rather than systemic illness.