This post is being brought to you by the “hunt and peck” method of typing, as today my right hand is out of commission. RSI easily puts The Fear into people who rely on their hands to make a living, and I’m no exception. It is crucial, in times like these, to neither panic nor give up. My RSI is flaring up something fierce these days, but I’m the fool who thought she could get away with using a tiny travel mouse (which is headed straight for the bin) while on holiday. I was wrong.

RSI is painful and annoying, but it also provides me with the interesting challenge of learning to do some things with my left hand so as to preserve the right for the most important business of cutting things up. One thing I will not do is wield a scalpel or other blades with an untrained hand. Other things, like using a mouse and opening jars, are easily transferable from hand to hand. It’s just a matter of overcoming habit. There is usually a way to get the job done, even if it’s a way that isn’t entirely comfortable. The next obvious step is to install some dictation software. One of my personal philosophies is the borrowed “by any means necessary”. I’m glad for that today.

For the moment, as long as I keep the mouse on the left side of the computer, (or better yet, turn the bloody things off altogether), I’ll be fine by Monday, but there’s a few fantastic things on the web that I want to share and I’m too impatient to wait.

Theodora Goss has a wonderful post up on living in Two Worlds, with some hilarious quotes from another post called How to Tell if You’re a Writer.

“There is only one writer’s motto that matters. ‘I can use that.’” (Which is exactly what I thought this morning when I spied my left hand doing its usual whole lot of nothing.)

And Terri Windling pointed out in her Friday’s Recommendations that the Royal de Luxe is back with la Petite Géante et le Xolo. Having just flown back to the UK from Nantes, I’m very sad to have been so close and yet missed this, but I’m also so happy to see their magic remains undimmed.

I also can’t help but mention again the incredible corset created by Anita Allen, fashioned out of the pages of The Honey Month. I’ll send you over to Papaveria Press to have a look at what must be one of the finest pieces of book-fabric-bead-art out there. Thanks to Anita for her vision and hard work in making this crazy idea we had come true.

Enjoy the weekend, everyone! I’m off to make another crazy idea come true — chili, by any means necessary, even if I have to toss the tomatoes and onions in whole.