IWSG - The A-Z Edition, and A is for Allopathy

It's time for another monthly installment of the Insecure Writers' Support Group founded by Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh (who's got a very busy month ahead). The purpose of the group is to support each other in all our writerly woes without fear of ridicule.

Today marks the opening of the A-Z Challenge for 2015 and I imagine many might be posting on the insecurity of undertaking such a Herculean task. Before we get to the first post of the Challenge I'd like to offer a survival guide based on two years participating.

• Have fun! This has to be the number one. Don't get bogged down in keeping up with visitors or getting to x amount of blogs. Blogging is meant to be fun first and foremost. Treat it as an opportunity to grow and learn - no negatives.
• Have goals. Goals can be fun! As long as you don't beat yourself up if you don't meet them every day. The official team suggest visiting five new blogs every day, but if you only manage one, that's still one more connection which has the potential to become a lifelong friend.
• Life is going to get in the way. Best we accept this now and realise this is how it should be. You still have a job, a family, a WIP, an adopted snow leopard during April. Don't neglect them and know they come before a month-long blog challenge.
• Keep on swinging. If you don't get to as many blogs as you'd like in one day, don't worry. It was probably just that pesky "life" thing again. You can try and make it up the next day, but see "Goals" above.
• Make friends. If you make good bonds with bloggers who've come back day after day and laughed and cried along with your posts (and vice versa), nurture the connection past April. That's what this month is about, not an exercise in higher numbers and traffic.

Hope you find these tips useful. Anything to add?

Check out the other IWSGers here.

And now, onto my A post for this first day of April.

I announced in my theme reveal that I would be picking a random word from the dictionary for each letter, and writing a story about it with a 100 word limit. I tweaked that slightly. I have selected words that are either unknown, or unfamiliar to me and saw what they sparked off. This makes it more fun and educational, for myself and hopefully others. All definitions are from the Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus 2007 Edition.

Today's word is Allopathy.

Allopathy: the conventional treatment of disease, using drugs that have effects opposite to the symptoms.

“He’s freezing.”

“Yes. I think the allopathy was rather too successful,” said the doctor.

“Well, what are you going to do?”

The doctor made no reply as Sarah touched her husband’s hand, wincing as ice particles adhered to her own skin. He’d been wrapped in several jumpers, a winter coat, hat, scarf and gloves. The fever he’d been admitted with was gone, for sure, but was this really better? How long before his extremities started to snap off?

“His temperature was over a hundred,” said the doctor. “Now it’s minus that. There’s got to be a happy medium somewhere…”