Richard Castle's Sick Day Survival Guide

Our favorite writer has published what he does to keep the creative flow going, even when he would be sick.

If you are sick, why not try to do what Richard Castle does?

Read here the Sick Day Survival Guide

If you intend to write as many novels as I have, you must master the art of efficiency. Admittedly, my ability to write while sleeping needs more work, but I do succeed in spending nearly all of my waking hours either writing or in some other creative pursuit.

However, when I fall ill, as my fair Alexis recently did, I come dangerously close to falling off of the productivity wagon. So, to ensure that I waste no time shivering and blowing my nose, I put together a sick day survival guide, which allows me to expand my creative horizons, even as my body slowly deteriorates.  

Illness: Allergies

Treatment: Suck it up and write (don’t be such a baby)

Illness: Appendicitis

Treatment: Study Frida Kahlo paintings (notice how much more you identify with her pain and suffering)

Illness: Bronchitis

Treatment: Watch Star Wars; Lord of The Rings (they hack each other with swords and light sabers while you hack up a lung)

Illness: Common Cold

Treatment: Read Raymond Chandler; Dashiell Hammett (when clouds fog your brain, beat them to a Pulp)

Illness: Fever

Treatment: Study surrealist art (fever dreams compliment melting clocks and apple headed businessmen nicely)

Illness: Gun Shot Wound

Treatment: Do lots and lots of pull ups, ala Demi Moore in G.I. Jane (I can only assume Beckett’s recovery time consisted of brutally aggressive workout regimes)

Illness: Migraine

Treatment: Close your eyes and wish you were somewhere else (strengthen those imagination muscles!)

Illness: Mono

Treatment: Consume Romeo And Juliet however you see fit (kissing loses its appeal when accompanied by certain death)

Illness: Stomach Flu

Treatment: Listen to The Grateful Dead bootlegs (let Jerry Garcia’s masterful chords guide you as you rush to the bathroom)

Illness: Strep Throat

Treatment: Watch The Godfather; Apocalypse Now (they’ll leave you speechless anyway)

Illness: Surgery Recovery

Treatment: Listen to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon while watching The Wizard of Oz on mute (the drugs are legal, make good use of them)