Category Archives: writing

Too Beat to Blog

Posted on July 30, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Last night Steven and I drove into Rome to meet some people I graduated high school with, roughly a hundred years ago.

It was not the official class reunion. That was last year and I missed it due to the DARE 5K. A classmate who is living overseas was coming to town and asked on the class Facebook page did anybody want to get together.

A select group met at the Savoy. We had a great time. Now, last Sunday I said I was too tired to write a proper blog post, and at the end of the post, Steven told me it was so a proper post. That will not be the case this week. I am really truly too tired to write a proper blog post.

I could do my Middle-aged Musings Monday a day early and lament how I am just too old to party like it’s 1999 (no, I’m not pretending I graduated in 1999, I’m quoting a Prince song) (as a matter of fact, I think I partied more in 1999 than I did in 1981; I was a pretty innocent teenager) (Stop laughing! It’s true!).

I did get out and go running this morning and took Tabby for a short walk a little later (in addition to our usual post-run cool down walk). So I was not completely ate up. I don’t feel I should write about my run, though, because that would make three running posts in a row. And the walk with Tabby was strictly uneventful.

So here we have it: yet another post about Why I Can’t Write a Blog Post Today. I can’t keep doing this! People will get disgusted and stop reading me. I have to admit, though, these silly posts are kind of fun to write. It is comforting when I feel that I can’t possibly pick up a pen to find that I actually can make words on a piece of paper (or directly on a computer screen in some cases).

I am over 400 posts now, all on consecutive days (although WordPress sometimes dates two on the same day and skips a day; go figure). That is more than four hundred days of writing every day. That makes me feel pretty damn good. Now I just have to work on writing something worth reading. Here’s hoping you’ll stay tuned.

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Funked Up Monday

Posted on June 26, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Why are Middle-aged Musings Mondays so much more difficult than Lame Post Fridays? And I’d also like to know why so many of my posts turn out to be about How I Can’t Write a Post Today.

I have seriously been trying. I’ve gotten a few paragraphs written, and they actually don’t seem too bad. But I can’t go on (said in a dramatic tone of voice, with one wrist to my forehead).

The point of this blog was NOT to be a forum for my personal problems. Not that there’s anything wrong with a blog like that. Some people find it very helpful to write out their problems. I’m sure some people even like to read about other people’s problems. They can say things like, “Ha! She thinks she’s got it bad!” or “And I thought I had it bad!” Probably they think of good solutions. It’s always easier to solve other people’s problems (hey! that was a middle-aged musing, wasn’t it?).

I just seem to be having an ongoing problem of being in a funk on Monday. Perhaps I overdo it on the weekends. Being middle-aged, I perhaps should not try to act like I did when I was in my 20s. Perhaps it would be helpful if I wrote Monday’s post on Saturday or Sunday, when I am not in such a funk. That’s not cheating. Stop shaking your finger at me!

Oh, you’re not shaking your finger at me because you think I’m cheating. You’re shaking your finger at me because you’ve been thinking for the past three Mondays that I ought to have written that post on Saturday or Sunday. Good idea.

OK, so in posts about running, I admitted to having conversations with various body parts. Now we see I am having conversations with imaginary readers. And if I keep doing ridiculous posts like this, I may be left with only imaginary readers. Say it ain’t so!

I will try very hard to find something better to write about tomorrow. Thank you for your patience.

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Sorry, St. Anthony

Posted on June 22, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I have to take Lame Post Friday a day early this week. I was writing about St. Anthony’s festival when I realized I did not remember much about it other than the sausage and pepper sandwich I ate and that the band and DJ were both awfully loud (then again, I always think the music is loud). Oh, and I remember a few nice people petting Tabby. But I don’t remember the name of the band or what all kinds of booths they had besides what we actually ate (there were even other food booths, I seem to recall).

I feel really stupid! I remember giving a shout-out to St. Anthony’s Festival last year and having no problem writing the post. I know, I should go back and read that post, then look for the festival program we picked up this year, THEN write the post. But I’m at work (on a break, of course), so I can’t check these things now. And later I will not have time, because I must prepare to meet Steven for today’s Mohawk Valley adventure. And since that adventure may involve beer and staying out till 8 p.m. or later, I can’t count on writing the post afterwards. So you see my problem.

If ever there was a time for random observations and half-baked philosophy, this is it. So do you think I can come up with anything. NO!!! It’s a wrist to forehead situation.

Actually, we can extrapolate a number of observations just from the situation I described. First observation: I care more about sausage and pepper sandwiches than festival booths and band names. Second observation: I have a cute dog that nice people like to pet. Third observation: I can almost always get a post about not being able to write a post.

I can work up some half-baked philosophy around my exclamation of “I feel really stupid!” First of all (and this is also a not-so-random observation): nobody is perfect. It is counter-productive to leap to insulting global statements based upon one’s inability to recall specific details (I rather like that last sentence). Then again, I didn’t say I am stupid. I said I felt stupid. And sometimes you just have to feel a certain way until you don’t feel that way any more.

How I feel right now is that I have done wrong in writing a Lame Post on a Thursday. Fridays are for Lame Posts. Then again, this week my Friday may not be a Friday, because I might have to work on Saturday. And astute readers (if any) will have picked up on the fact that I have a Mohawk Valley adventure planned for tonight. I can write about that on Friday. Or even refresh my memory and write about St. Anthony’s Festival. The possibilities are endless!

Today, however, I’m on a time budget. What you see is what you get. Happy Thursday, everyone.

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The Lame Lingers On

Posted on June 3, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Yesterday I made a post just to make one, which is now what I have done both times I gave blood. In my defense, apparently they took the whole pint out of my brain. Actually, I think out of my legs too, because they got pretty wobbly (but I wasn’t woozy; see last post). All this by way of saying, I’m still feeling pretty damn lame.

I ran this morning, a good long run. Nothing blogworthy happened, but since when does that stop me? I had a couple of authentic Mohawk Valley adventures before the morning was over. And I patronized a couple of Mohawk Valley businesses. I’ve been Mohawk Valley busy! (Yeah, that was a kind of a lame thing to say. Don’t judge.)

I actually started to write a post earlier, hand writing it in a notebook before typing it into the computer, as I like to do. I couldn’t do it. Seriously, I could. Not. Make. Myself. Write. I tried! I would start a sentence, know in my head how I was going to finish it and it was just too much effort to move the pen. It was weird. I gave it up before I freaked out. This was in between my Mohawk Valley adventures and patronizing of local businesses.

That isn’t supposed to happen. When one has something to write about, shouldn’t one be able to write? I ask this rhetorically. It is rare that I have pen in hand and can’t actually put words on paper. Maybe not the words I had intended to write, but, you know, something. Right now I’m sitting here at the computer, making this up as I go along and I must say it is flowing pretty well. I may read it back to myself and reach for the backspace button. That is a recurring problem with composing at the computer.

It may be a good idea to re-think this whole Mohawk Valley Girl blog thing. After all, I have been at it for over a year now. That was my deal: I was going to post something every day for one year. I don’t know what I expected to happen after a year. Something magical, I suppose. It seems all that has happened is… I continue to post every day. I fear I shall tax the patience of my readers (I used to say “both of them” at this point, but WordPress informs me I have over 50 subscribers; that is so cool) with all these lame posts.

Then again, I always say, go with your strengths. And as another blogger observed (or was it someone commenting on her blog? Must look it up sometime), writing about not writing is still writing (it was Marble Hill Press, another WordPress blogger and a fine poet).

So I apologize if you didn’t like today’s lame post. I will attempt to be more substantial tomorrow. Hope your Saturday is going well.

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Monday Morning Muse

Posted on May 22, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I have a couple of Mohawk Valley adventures to relate, but I’m afraid today I’m going to hide behind Middle-aged Musings Monday.

I actually wrote three paragraphs on our visit to the Herkimer Home, and I may still be able to use them Tuesday or Wednesday. However, when I started to write the fourth paragraph, what happened (I’m not asking rhetorically; I honestly don’t know)? Not Writer’s Block or even Writer’s Blank. I just realized I was about to start the third paragraph in a row with the word “We,” didn’t want to do that, and could not think of a damn other thing to write. It’s all very well to say, “Just put ‘We’ for now and change it later.” That’s not how I roll.

I am just about at my year’s anniversary of being Mohawk Valley Girl. I challenged myself to post every day for one year. I may be subconsciously sabotaging myself. Why would I do such a thing?

This is probably a mere case of the Monday Blahs. I had a very tiring weekend. I worked Saturday then scrubbed the deck. Sunday I ran for 45 minutes, pulled weeds, then spent time walking around in the direct sunlight. Sunlight always does me dirt. In all I had what I thought was a respectable combination of ambition and fun. Now I am not only exhausted and ravenously hungry, but I don’t like a damn thing that comes out of my pen.

I’m thinking we all get in these moods (stand by for today’s musing). For example, in Shelley Winters’ second autobiography (Shelley II: The Middle of My Century, Pocket Books, New York, NY, 1989; excellent book), she talks about how she gets the three a.m. dooms and asks, “what if…” For heavens’ sake, Shelley Winters? A respected professional whose career spanned decades in a field NOT known for career longevity? She won two Oscars! She was in many wonderful movies and plays. She made significant contributions to causes she believed in. She had a lot of steamy romances with some majorly hot men. I could go on, but I’m getting jealous.

Before I segue into my own case the dooms, I point out to myself: you see, nobody does everything they would like to do. Does that thought make me feel better? Not really. I’m still looking at Shelley Winters and wondering why I didn’t do some of the same stuff she’s done. Maybe not win an Oscar (not even one?) and I guess my husband would have a problem with the majorly hot men, but significant contributions to causes I could do.

And this is the way the Monday Blahs work: as I wrote that this morning on a break at work, I only felt more blah and, truth be known, was a little amused by myself at doing such a thorough job of it. As I type this into my computer Monday evening, I’m thinking, let’s see, what could I do? Let’s make a plan…

But as I said, this ambitious thought did not occur to me as I was actually musing on a Monday morning. At that point, all I could think was I’d like to go home and watch A Place in the Sun. Shelley didn’t win an Oscar for that, but she’s very good.

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Flustered Friday

Posted on March 24, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Oh Friday, sweet Friday. What a cliche to be so happy it’s Friday.

I’ve felt flustered all week, and I believe it has shown in my blog posts, most notably in a digression on time management and missing my turn onto Washington Street. What is flustering me about that today is that such silliness would have been perfect for Lame Post Friday. But I wrote them during the week and left them in willy nilly as written (I do like the term willy nilly. For one thing, it rhymes with silly). That’s what I get for not editing. I should say, for not editing sufficiently. One can’t help but do some editing between between page and screen (um, computer screen. I don’t write for the cinema screen. Or even the screened in porch).

That leads me to ponder writing in general and writing for blogs in particular. There is a prominent school of thought in writing that says our first inspiration is usually the best. Keep that inner critic quiet; write exactly what you think at the time. The ultimate expression in this school of thought is free writing. You just write. Don’t stop the pen for any reason.

I have never been able to do free writing, not for one day ever in my life. Sometimes I start writing and my pen does not stop moving for some length of time. But if I say to myself, “Don’t stop,” my brain dries up. I can’t think of a thing to say.

I think I’ve talked about this in a blog post before. Probably one day when I was writing about not writing. It’s all very well to say that writing about not writing is still writing, but apparently I do not have much to say about not writing.

But I digress.

Wait a minute, how do I digress on Lame Post Friday? This is the day my mind is allowed to flutter hither and thither (is it thither or tither? Or is the proper expression hither and yon?). Random observations, remember?

What I was about to observe about blog writing is that willy nilly spontaneity seems to fit right in. Many bloggers just write what they feel, composing at the keyboard and letting it go. It’s a great form of self expression. Of course, it doesn’t have to be that way. Other blogs are thought out, tinkered with and polished. That’s a great form of self expression, too.

I don’t really know where I was going with this.

But I wrote it on my break at work, and after work I am typing it into my computer. I’m busy and flustered and 80 to 90 percent whelmed, so I’m letting it stand. It may be ridiculous, but this is my post for today. Thank you for playing.

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Back in the Lame

Posted on March 3, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Lame Post Friday is back!

At least, I wish it were back. I sat in front of my notebook during three breaks at work and did not write a damn thing worth typing in here. Mostly I stared at a blank sheet of paper and said, “Oh dear” (a favorite saying of mine and my mother’s). I wrote a paragraph, then crossed it out with a giant X. Then a sentence. Same thing. The next break I turned the page, wrote a paragraph, then drew a careful line through it. Then a sentence. Same thing.

All day I had been alternately thinking of things I could write about and trying not to listen to the stupid voice in my head saying, “It’s too hard to post every day! Why did you say you’d post every day!” We’ve been through the post every day trauma. The bottom line is I said I’d do it for a year and I’m trying my best. I must say, it’s not usually too difficult to write SOMETHING, especially on a Lame Post Friday. And yet, today, thoughts eluded me.

In desperation I turned to a previous section of the notebook and continued writing notes on a murder mystery I’ve been moodling around with. I made a minor spectacle of myself in the break room by asking what digitalis is used for. I know it is a drug some people take for something and other people steal it and use it to poison people, but I can’t remember what it is prescribed for. Naturally I thought most people read Agatha Christie and might remember such a detail. I did not mention all that about poison and Agatha Christie, though; I just asked about digitalis.

One fellow said he thought it might make you fall asleep. “Anything with “alice” in it,” he said. “You know, like Alice in Wonderland.”

“It’s spelled differently,” I said, spelling it for him.

Somebody else suggested it was something to make your fingers fall asleep, a reasonable extrapolation, I thought. I said I’d look it up, and the subject was dropped. I have not looked it up yet, although that would probably be a good thing to include in this post. Ah, it is a cardiac stimulant made from foxglove (Steven keeps a dictionary by the computer).

I guess that is my story for Friday. Suitably lame, I suppose. So that makes my headline not a lie (I thought up the headline before I wrote the piece). I’ll write another post tomorrow, and I’ll try to have a Mohawk Valley adventure for the occasion.

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But Blake Said to Punch the Guy!

Posted on February 28, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Middle-aged Musings Monday is back!

OK, that was all I had written in my head so far. I thought that once I put the pen to the paper, words would magically come out. They sometimes do, you know. Oh well, somebody once said writing about not writing is still writing.

Speaking of not writing, since I was in search of inspiration I began re-reading the divine If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland (Graywolf Press, St. Paul, 1987) (originally published in 1938). And I have been musing lately on a quote in that book from William Blake: “Sooner strangle an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires.”

At first glance, it seems that Blake is giving us permission to do whatever the hell we want to do as soon as we feel like doing it. I have to say, that doesn’t really sit well with me. But on looking again, I see the word “nurse.” Maybe Blake meant you don’t have to act on any desire, but if you’re not going to act on it, don’t dwell on it. I like that better. (Just a side note: my computer keeps telling me “unacted” is not a word, and I don’t see it in the dictionary, but that is the quote.)

I’ll give an example. Suppose I want to punch some guy right in the face (I’ll use myself in the example, because I get the impression Blake was not the sort to go around punching people) (um, neither am I, of course) (you do believe me, don’t you?). My experience and common sense tells me that this is probably not a good idea. But the devil on my shoulder says, “Blake says to do it! Don’t nurse unacted desires!” The angel on the other shoulder (a much more soft-spoken creature) repeats, “Don’t nurse unacted desires,” putting a little more emphasis on “nurse.”

In other words, don’t sit there wishing and wanting to do something you don’t intend to do. Decide not to do it and move on.

I have to confess, I do not always heed this advice. I don’t usually punch sons of bitches in the face, however appropriate it may seen (OK, I’ve never punched a son of a bitch in the face). But I nurse the desire.

I think about the crunching sound as the cartilage in his nose crumbles under my fist (shut up, this is my fantasy). I picture the blood spurting, the startled look on his face. I anticipate the feeling of utter satisfaction.

Ahem. This is obviously not a very good thing to do. It will lead to utter dissatisfaction that I did not punch the guy, or I will punch the guy and no doubt find the satisfaction is short-lived, if at all.

Full disclosure: I have not read much Blake. And by not much, I mean I’ve read quotes by him in other books. Well, there are a lot of books in the world. If I’m going to have time for Regency romances and murder mysteries, I’m going to miss a few classics.

Be that as it may. I’ve covered one musing, ironically enough on a quote I found while searching for my muse. Is that an irony or merely a play on words? A musing for another day. Happy Monday.

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Bear with Me

Posted on January 14, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

This has been a kind of a Week of Lame. I even called a post Mid-Week Lame, and, come on, a post about my drive into work? But now it’s Friday when I’m allowed to be lame. Some might argue that I have used up my weekly allotment. To that person, I would explain, “Shut up” (with thanks to SJ Perelman and if you don’t know that one, ask me and I will give you a polite explanation).

Wow, it’s easy to write! Look how much I just now sat down and wrote. Why do I sometimes have problems with these blog posts? But I digress.

I thought of the title “Bear with Me” earlier in the week when I had nary an idea for a blog post. Then I thought, “I could even say I saw a bear on the way home from work. Get it? Bear with me!” And that made me think of the Dr. Seuss book To Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street.

“That’s the ticket,” I thought. “I can come up with all kinds of things. I’ll never lack a blog post again!”

Then I thought about how the story ended and I thought, “Never mind.” I won’t expound on that, though, in case you haven’t read the story. I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you. By the way, if you haven’t read it, what are you thinking? Get yourself to your local library and read every Dr. Seuss story they have. You won’t be sorry.

I can talk about how the story begins. The narrator, walking home from school, observes a not very exciting horse and wagon on Mulberry Street. Well, here is where I differ from that young man. I think a horse and wagon is a fine thing to notice and talk about, even if you might see one every day (not so usual these days, of course, although I do see the occasional Amish buggy). Or for example a pick up truck and little red car, which I in fact did talk about yesterday.

So no bears on the way home. I believe they are not indigenous to the Mohawk Valley. No horse and wagon either, nor yet an Amish buggy. In other words, I’m low on random observations. What’s the other component of Lame Post Friday? Ah yes, half baked philosophy. Well, I think I covered that with my contention that a plain horse and wagon is a fine thing to blog about.

I think that’s that. As soon as I type this in and hit “publish,” it’s wine o’clock. Happy Friday, everyone.

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Mid-Week Lame

Posted on January 11, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I’ve said that I don’t get Writer’s Block so much as Writer’s Blank. That is, I sit staring at the page or computer screen and think, “I got nuthin’.” Well, now I have something new and I don’t have a name for it.

I sit down and write a paragraph. Bing, no problem. Then I look at it and say, “That’s dumb. Nobody wants to read that. Erase that and write something else.”

This can go on for several paragraphs. Sometimes I erase it (or cross it out if I’m writing). Sometimes I let it stand, because if you read these things later, they often don’t look so bad.

The problem is, while it is standing there, I don’t feel like writing anything else. It’s like I just ate something that didn’t taste good and I don’t want to take another bite. If I erase it, I can usually write another paragraph which I immediately erase. I really don’t like doing that. Suppose the paragraph was perfectly all right? Now I’ll never know.

I must say, I’m not having a very good time writing this, and that is sad, because usually I enjoy the act of writing. Usually, once I get over the Blank and write a paragraph, I write another paragraph and so on till I have a blog post. Today I’m writing another paragraph and trying really really hard not to erase it.

Oh, it is a bad day for Mohawk Valley Girl.

I feel really bad making this post today (Tuesday) because I feel it is really lame, and we all know Friday is the day for lame posts. All I can do is (once again) apologize, and try again tomorrow. My reasoning (once again) is that if I’m going to make a blog post every day, some of them are bound to be lame.

Hit publish quick before I erase this whole thing!

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