Category Archives: blogging

Random Thoughts at the Laundromat

Posted on August 31, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I really must get back to running on Saturday mornings and have my Saturday Running Commentary. This week it was better for me to do run on Friday and do laundry on Saturday (today). I suppose I could have written about Friday’s run and published it today. Only I did not write about it on Friday and today I don’t seem to remember that much about it. Ah, middle age.

In the meantime, Saturday is passing and I have no blog post. In desperation, I offer some nonsense I wrote while at the laundromat this morning (I’m not really desperate; I just like the prepositional phrase “in desperation”).

I have discovered that 50 Mystery Classics is not filled with the delightful cheesy nuggets I found in 50 Horror Classics. I’m sure there are some films I could write about. First I am seeking films I can sit through all the way. I tried and discarded two last weekend. As I often say, one must persevere in these things. Um, not necessarily to the end of a movie. In writing a blog post about a movie. Or anything. That is what I mean to persevere at.

A note to new readers, if any: 50 Horror Classics and 50 Mystery Classics are DVD collections I purchased for my husband Steven at the local big box store for a really quite reasonable price. I have written several blog posts about silly movies in the Horror collection.

So here I am writing Another Post About Why I Can’t Write a Post. This one is perhaps destined for my Drafts section, so I can haul it out and hit Publish in an emergency. Um, unless I don’t come up with something else to write about for today. Then this baby is right here for me. (And you see what happened, obviously, although full disclosure: I, for one, saw it coming.)

OK, what I am really doing is killing time in the laundromat while my clothes tumble in the drier. I’ve already folded the first little bunch (confession: some of the sock cuffs seemed a little damp. I hope they don’t mildew). I wrote a letter to a friend, stared at the last things I wrote on my novel, pondered a few other ideas, made a to-do list for the rest of the day. Why I don’t bring a book to the laundromat is beyond me.

I continue to sit here jotting down randoms thoughts and wondering how or if I will use them. Publish them as written? A kind of stream of consciousness patchwork, a sort of modern art, abstract deal. Or could I take each random thought, expend some actual thought on it and come up with several authentic blog posts? The possibility intrigues me.

I am tired of being here and want to get on with my day. I could sit here and list all the things I dislike about doing laundry. Then I could attempt to counteract my grouchiness by listing all the good things or at least the minor compensations.

Oh, but it’s time to stand in front of the drier and stare at the 1:00, waiting for the last sixty seconds to pass.

Hope to see you all on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, humor, personal and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

But I Don’t Like This Re-Run

Posted on August 29, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I have mentioned before how if I write at all, I can write more. For example, after I write my blog post I suddenly find myself writing more on my novel. So could somebody please explain to my WHY when I have written two pages on my novel each of the past two days, I sit here on wordpress.com completely blank. Yes, I did make a blog post yesterday. I wrote it on Tuesday.

I can’t feel too awful, because it is HUGE that I am working on my novel again. I’m writing scenes I didn’t even know I needed. In fact, how could I know I needed them, when I didn’t even know that character was going to die or even that she existed before she was dead. Or dear, I’ve said too much. Never share your plot secrets! What am I thinking?

The answer to that question is always: I’m not (it works with every pronoun) (I don’t need to go through that do I? What are you thinking? What was he thinking? You aren’t! He wasn’t! You get it). I’m not thinking because I am apparently incapable of logical thought. It certainly feels that way. So, yes, here we are right in the middle of a Post About Why I Can’t Write a Post.

Then again, it is Non-Sequitur Thursday. If only I could think of a punchy but not related headline, I could hit publish and return to my knitting and television. If only there was a better re-run of Snapped on, my life would be perfect.

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, humor, Non Sequitur Thursday, personal, Why I Cant Write a Post, writing and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

I Posted Something

Posted on August 25, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

So here I sit, my unwritten Blog Post hanging over my head. One could argue it is a Wrist to Forehead situation. How appropriate for Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

I had a few Mohawk Valley adventures on Saturday. I hope to write about them in the coming week. Today I am up to neither having more adventures nor writing about the ones I have had. I tried to watch two different old movies I thought might be cheesy and therefore suitable for a blog post. Well, I never thought I would write about either of them TODAY, so I don’t even know why I brought them up.

Oh let’s face it, I knew that on Sunday what I really like to do is just hang out with my husband and write some foolish bit of nonsense in the blog just to say I posted something.

But I do like to feel I have said something at least mildly entertaining. Hmmmm… nothing comes to mind.

I read today on Facebook that an FBF (Facebook Friend) of mine took a quiz that said she should be a writer. Unfortunately, she said, she lacked the “discipline.” I made a comment that discipline had nothing to do in the matter. That sounds like a ripe topic of half-baked philosophy I could pursue on Lame Post Friday. Doesn’t that give us something to look forward to?

For today, I’m afraid this nonsense will have to do.

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, humor, personal, Wrist to Forehead Sunday, writing and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Do You Feel Like Reading a Silly Post?

Posted on August 22, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

So there I was, writing about the DARE 5K. It was the third day I’d been working on it. My brain and my pen slowly came to a stop. Does anybody really want to read a blow by blow, er, step by step account of me running? Do I even feel like writing it?

Yes, yes, I know, don’t wait till you “feel like” writing. On the other hand, sometimes you don’t feel like writing something because it isn’t very good. As the saying goes, if it’s boring to you to write it, it will probably be boring to someone else to read it.

That is what I wrote before beginning work this morning. I did not get back to writing till lunch, at which time I could not think of anything to add to it, so I wrote another page on the DARE run. That post is getting pretty long. I think it will need some big time editing before I can publish it.

Now here’s the funny thing. Earlier this afternoon I came home from work and felt just awful. Mentally, I mean. I could not conceive of typing in ANYTHING for this blog. I could not type in things already written. I could not come up with something new. Whatever would I do?

I did what many of us do at times like these. I stalled. I piddled around on Facebook, I tried to take my dog for a walk (pre-empted by thunder), I took my shower. Finally I thought, I can at least type in the silliness I wrote earlier about not writing. It’ll fly for Non-Sequitur Thursday.

I typed it in. I should perhaps mention that I am on my desktop, which I have not been on in a couple of weeks. I have been making my posts on the little Acer netbook my sister nicely gave me (Full disclosure: she nicely gave me the desktop too). It may be the effect of the larger, more typewriterish keyboard, but I feel pretty darn good. I feel like I can so think of something to say for a post. I could probably even type in previously written stuff, long or not. In short, I can rock this blog!

I can’t really. For one reason, I think I am getting arthritis in my fingers and it is not so easy to type as it used to be. For another reason, my brain is not as spry and agile as I would like to think.

No matter. I see that I am over 400 words. Are they good words? Are they worth reading? I don’t know. Who am I to judge anyways? All I can do is hit Publish and hope for the best, as I always do.

I am so ready for Lame Post Friday.

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, humor, Non Sequitur Thursday, personal, writing and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Confessions of a Bad Blogger

Posted on August 19, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I blew through a red light this morning. It was a really boneheaded thing to do. I was looking ahead at the next light, thinking how I would be hitting that one red, and I completely forgot about the one I was approaching. I saw that it was red as I reached it. I could perhaps have slammed on my breaks at that point, making an unpleasant squealing noise with my tires and causing my bags to tumble off the seat. I did not react quickly enough. I just breezed through, much to the disgust, I am sure, of the motorists waiting sedately and legally to proceed in the opposite direction.

My question now is: Is this worthy of a blog post? And if I deem it unworthy, is that merely because of my reluctance to broadcast that I am an even worse driver than I am a blogger (after all, I have never done anything illegal in my blog)? Next I begin to wonder if this is half-baked philosophy more fit for Lame Post Friday or is it a legitimate Monday Middle-aged Musing?

Welcome to my life.

I bet my readers are now divided into two distinct groups. One group is saying, “Hey! I thought she was going to write about the DARE 5K!” The other group is saying, “Well, at least she isn’t still writing about that DARE 5K.” Still another group has by now stopped reading. We need not concern ourselves with that group.

Full disclosure: My husband Steven suggested that headline for an entirely different post. I did not use it then, but I thought it was too good to waste.

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, driving, humor, Middle-aged Musings Monday, personal and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Still Tired and Fuzzy

Posted on August 18, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I did say this would be Wrist to Forehead Sunday, didn’t I? Well it is. And this is another post about Why I Can’t Write a Post Today.

I’m still tired, and my brain is still fuzzy. I have an unholy urge to end my post right there. I mean, what else can I say? And how long will this obsession of posting every day continue? A little while longer, I guess. At least until tomorrow.

Can I plead I am still tired from my great effort on the DARE 5K? From partying heartily later in the day? From the fact that I am 50? All excellent excuses. I am more concerned right now with how I can possibly un-fuzz my brain. Hmmmmm…. Nope, too fuzzy to think of a way.

I have often observed, even recently, that if one can write at all, one can often segue over into writing something else. So here I am writing at all. And yet, all I can manage it seems is a Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

In fact, I do not feel particularly wrist to forehead about it. I’m sitting with my husband and dog, watching Murder on the Orient Express, an Agatha Christie adaptation with an all-star cast, one of my favorite kinds of movie. Perhaps I could write a blog post about it for tomorrow. After all, my wrist can only stay on my forehead for so long.

Can’t it?

2 Comments

Posted in blogging, humor, personal, Why I Cant Write a Post, Wrist to Forehead Sunday, writing and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Lame and Late

Posted on August 9, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

It is after 8 p.m. as I type this. I don’t know that I’ve ever written my blog post this late before, although perhaps I have. I knew earlier I would be late with this, but I wasn’t too worried. After all, it is Lame Post Friday. One might have thought I had a built-in title: Better Lame Than Never. That would have been good. Unfortunately, I already used it.

Just before I started typing, I looked it up, to be sure. Very instructive to read old posts. This one was from 2011. I felt encouraged at that time because I was approaching 200 blog posts. 200! What an amateur! Now I’m over 1100! Oh wait, I’m still an amateur. I’ve just written more blog posts.

Not that there is anything wrong with being an amateur. An amateur is one who does something for the love of it. I love writing my blog! Even when I can’t think of anything clever to say! Oh, I know, some people probably think I never say anything clever. Some people just gotta be that way.

I have been doing other writing today. I spent my lunch break writing a couple new scenes for my novel. I wrote more at the laundromat after work. Then I gave it up in a wave of lame. When I got home I worked on my article for Mohawk Valley Living. Oh, I don’t know if it will be good enough, but I will not bother you with my angst.

I see I am over 200 words. Time to come up with a punchy conclusion and dream about writing a better blog post tomorrow. Sad but true, I liked my post titled Better Lame Than Never better than this one. I should check back to this one 900 or so posts from now and see what I think then.

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, humor, Lame Post Friday, personal, writing and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

How I Roll

Posted on August 7, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

One thing I remember from Junior High School science is the law of inertia: an object at rest tends to remain at rest, an object in motion tends to remain in motion. I will add: a blogger writing silly posts tends to continue writing silly posts. Thus, Wuss-out Wednesday follows Tired Tuesday.

In my defense, the cold lingers, I was late getting home from work, and the writing problems continue. On the other hand, the cold seems to be on the way out, my dear husband fixed dinner when I did get home, and the writing does progress, at least by dribs and drabs. After all, it’s Wuss-out Wednesday, not Whiny Wednesday (although I’m sure some feel I whine all the time. I can’t help other people’s definitions).

I have never mentioned in this space my other writing gig. I write articles for my new favorite magazine: Mohawk Valley Living. One reason I have not mentioned it is that I was meaning to write a whole nice post about the magazine. It’s really cool, with all kinds of articles and information about the area. So I wanted to write a really good post about it, not just a brief shout-out. I bring it up now because it is part of my current writing angst. The deadline for the September issue is looming, and I’m having trouble getting anything down.

Odd thing about that. I can’t write, I can’t write, I can’t write. Then I sit down and write. Sometimes it seems that is just how I roll. I don’t exactly mind it, although it is a little nerve-wracking waiting for the time when I sit down and write. One would think it is a matter of just getting my butt into the chair and, you know, writing. Sometimes I try it and I find out, not so much. Today was one of those times. I put my butt in the chair. I opened the notebook. I put the pen on the page. I wrote.

And it just wasn’t very good. I persevered. I wrote a paragraph, then another paragraph. I felt happy when it was time to go to work so I could stop writing down these bad paragraphs. While I worked, I thought about that article and an idea for another article. At the next break, I sat down and very easily wrote a good page on the other article. What’s that all about?

So now I must assess what I have written, look up a few things, write some more, edit, etc. It should be fine. In the meantime, this is the best I can do for today’s blog post. Perhaps after I finish those articles, I can work on that good blog post about Mohawk Valley Living.

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, humor, personal, writing, Wuss Out Wednesday and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

You’ve Been There, Right?

Posted on August 6, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

Sorry, folks, but it’s Tired Tuesday. I do have a post on a cheesy movie mostly written in my notebook. But it is only MOSTLY written, and it’s running long, as these posts tend to do. I just don’t feel like typing in that many words and I am clearly incapable of coming up with any more. On that topic, anyways. Apparently I can come up with some for a Tired Tuesday post.

My heinous cold drags on. I am better but just not better enough. You know how it is, just when you think, “Oh yeah, I got this,” you go off into a huge coughing jag that give you a headache or a sore gut or, worst of all, incontinence (curse you, middle age!). And the lightheaded, macroni-legged, heavy, awful SICK feeling. I list these symptoms not so much in the spirit of whining (although I fully expect to be accused of same) but with an air of “We’ve all been there.” Um, you’ve been there, haven’t you?

Be all that as it may, my writing has once again stagnated. I don’t know if I should blame the cold, the Ann Rule book I still have not finished, or my own lack of oomph. I suppose I had better blame myself. After all, personal responsibility is an empowering thing.

Then again, why assign blame at all? What is it with this finger-pointing, anyways? Didn’t your mother ever tell you it was impolite to point? A better thing to do right now, I believe, is to never mind WHY I haven’t written, but to write right now.

And oh, look, I did. Over 200 words of a fairly silly blog post. We’ll try for that cheesy movie write-up again on Wednesday.

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, humor, personal, Tired Tuesday, writing and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Drive On

Posted on August 4, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I tried, I tried to turn over a new leaf and have fewer posts about Why I Can’t Write a Post Today, and I believe I have had some success. Why, I didn’t even have a Lame Post Friday this week (last week, according to the calendar, but I subscribe to the theory that the week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday). But today, there is no getting away from it, is Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

In my defense, what I thought was fall allergies making an early appearance has turned out to be a full-blown cold. A cold is arguably the worst disease that can befall one: it’s not bad enough that anybody feels sorry for you but it’s bad enough that you feel like you are going to die or at least not live very well for the foreseeable future. Even now, some readers are shaking their heads saying, “Oh, get over yourself! Have a cup of tea and DRIVE ON!”

Tea. Hmmm, that’s a good idea.

We interrupt this blog post while Mohawk Valley Girl brews a cup of green tea and adds lemon and honey.

OK, back with the tea and trying to think of something profound to say about the difficulty of writing with a bad cold (yeah, I know, when was the last time you had a good cold?). It’s the vague in the head feeling that troubles me most at these times (cue unkind remarks about how I suffer from a vague mind most of the time). But, getting back to the advice to get over myself, I have proved to myself on other occasions that I am capable of doing more than I think I am.

Most recently I proved it yesterday, when I ran for 45 minutes including a rather impressive hill at the beginning of my third day of feeling quite dreadful. And right now, I have written over 300 words of what I hope is a perfectly acceptable blog post. Or do I flatter myself?

I think next I’ll take another look at that novel I keep alluding to. Have a nice Sunday, everybody.

Leave a comment

Posted in blogging, humor, personal, Wrist to Forehead Sunday and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
← Older Posts
Newer Posts →