Tag Archives: blog post

Hit Pause, Write Post, Hit Play

Posted on June 1, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

We’re having Femme Fatale Sunday. That is, we are watching movies with murderous dames (these are movies from the 1940s; I’m allowed to say “dames”). You probably guessed I was not vamping around in ankle-strap pumps myself. Although that might be fun sometime.

Usually when I write about movies in the blog, I prefer to stick with the cheesy variety. Today, however we are enjoying some classic films noir, Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice. Both are based on novels from James M. Cain, a notable writer of pulp fiction back in the day.

I love film noir, but I must confess I like it for the plots above all else. Other aficionados of the genre (doesn’t that phrase sound nice?) appreciate the cinematography, the play of shadows and the use of light and dark. I enjoy that too, but for me it is the story that keeps me coming back for more. Sometimes I’ll watch a picture that is advertised as a film noir only to be disappointed. The woman will be femme but not fatale, the movie as a whole will lack that moral ambiguity that I treasure.

There is probably a much better discussion to be had here, but right now I am having a lazy Sunday watching movies. I may pause to make some popcorn.

Just Another Scattered Saturday

Posted on May 31, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I pause in chopping vegetables to make a fast blog post (I just made a typo of calling it a blot post. As my friend Rachel likes to say, my Freudian slip is showing). Mostly this will be a post about things I could write a post about but am not (but may in the future).

This week I ignored my note to myself about not taking three days off running and reaped my just deserts (as in what I deserve, not strawberry shortcake, worse luck) on Friday. I ran again this morning (Saturday). I took mental notes each time and Saturday even ran a course I have not run in over a year.

Later this morning I went to the Baptist Church in Herkimer, NY for Coffee and Conversation with a Cop. They hold that every month but I have missed the last few months for one reason and another. I had a nice time and got a few answers that will help with the novel that I WILL finish, though probably not in May as previously advertised.

Leaving the Conversation in progress (they were doing fine without me), I went to the Herkimer County Humane Society Garage Sale. Fun and productive. Driving back into Herkimer, I made stops at T&J’s Fruits & Vegetables and Hannaford.

Coming home, I cleaned frantically. I don’t often do cleaning posts, but one never knows what will come off the pen (and out of the keyboard) of Mohawk Valley Girl.

Now I must go back to chopping vegetables, among other chores. I hope all readers are having an excellent Saturday.

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Posted in humor, personal, Preview of Coming Attractions, Scattered Saturday and tagged blog post, Coffee and Conversation with a Cop, Herkimer County Humane Society, herkimer ny, running, T and J Fruits and Vegetables. Bookmark the permalink.

Excuse Me, I’m Having a Lame Here

Posted on May 30, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I have two days left of Finish That Novel May. Earlier I was toying with the idea of denying I ever said that.

“No, no, what I said was, ‘I MAY Finish That Novel.’ You misheard me.”

The writing took a turn for the better since yesterday. I wrote and wrote. Maybe if I cancelled all my plans for the weekend and wrote non-stop… I think we all know that is not going to happen. For one reason, I have had weekends when I had no plans at all. I have not written non-stop. For another reason, my plans are important and not just for me. I have a life outside of this novel.

And there we have it. Am I allowed to have a life outside of being a writer? I’m sure there are people out there who would say (hear it in that squeaky, nyah-nyah voice we mimic people we hate in): “If writing is important to you, you’ll write.” And then they go on to list all the things THEY have given up to write. Which is nice, if it is the things they HAVE given up and not the things they would have given up if, in fact, they wrote and didn’t just go around telling others how to write.

Oh, OK, other writers do make sacrifices of things they might like to do in order to write. So do I. Sometimes. Perhaps I need to sacrifice a little more. The thing is, I have always been of the opinion that the more you experience, the more material you have to work with. That, and when I was younger, I really wanted to LIVE. I had spent a lot of time sitting at home reading or writing stories. Once I got older, I got out and DID things. I guess I kind of got in the habit of it.

Of course, going out and doing things is good for a writer of a daily blog. But we’re talking about a novel today. On the other hand, we are writing a blog post. A Lame Friday Post. And I declare it done. I am going back to my life. Maybe write a little more on that novel.

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

Non-Sequential Chores

Posted on May 29, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Sometimes you just have to do something, anything.

I know, this is under the heading of “Well, duh” advice. However, I have had it demonstrated for me three different times today. Four if you count the library. This being Non-Sequitur Thursday, I think it will be appropriate to tell three small but differing stories with a common theme. Think of it like Love Boat or Fantasy Island (if you don’t get the reference, consider that another non sequitur).

Finish That Novel May is not going well. I seem to spend a lot of time looking at what I have and asking, “What is this? Where do I go now? Oh crap!” Well, today at lunch I just started writing a scene. And it was good! It was important! And dramatic! I finished that scene and I wanted to pump my fists in the air and shout, “Yes! THAT was a scene!” I started another scene during the two o’clock break, wrote a little more of it just before going home, and I walked out of that place wanting to sing.

I went to the library and worked on another chore that needs must be done, but feel less triumph over that so shall not count it as proof of today’s opening sentence. However, I was fortunate enough to find a few good books at their ongoing book sale before I left.

At home I was hit with a huge wave of I Can’t Do ANYTHING! I felt down, dumpy and sad. Then about ten or fifteen minutes before Steven was due to arrive home I said to myself, “Just clean till he gets home.” I couldn’t believe how much I got done. Not everything, of course, because my house is kind of a sty. But I felt much better and was able to greet my husband with a big smile.

Till I confessed all the stuff I had not gotten done, then I felt a little sad again. One thing I had been going to do was to make a tossed salad for tomorrow’s lunch, including hard-boiled egg.

“Do you want me to start the eggs for you?” Steven asked. I said OK, because if I couldn’t manage to make the salad I could always eat the eggs for breakfast.

Full disclosure: I forgot to check on the eggs to see when they started boiling. Luckily Steven remembered before the water had boiled away. I made the salad. The eggs were just right.

And that made me feel good enough to tackle the other chore I had been putting off for today: writing my blog post.

4 Comments

Posted in humor, Non Sequitur Thursday, personal and tagged blog post, blogging, chores, Finish That Novel May, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

In My Defense, It’s Wuss-out Wednesday

Posted on May 28, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

So this guy at work got ticked off, because he said I was stalking him. In my defense, my doctor told me to get a hobby. Well, I guess it wasn’t MY doctor, but it was A doctor who wrote the article somebody shared on Facebook. At least, I think it was a doctor.

OK, the above paragraph is completely fictitious. None of the guys at work are the least bit bent out of shape about me stalking them. However, I thought of that for possible use as a humorous Facebook post. That is what I think about when I’m at work (it is the kind of job where you can let your thoughts wander). I try to think about my novel or blog or any other writing projects at hand. When I have no thoughts about any of those, I try to think of humorous Facebook posts.

Some of my readers who are also Facebook friends may now be saying, “Huh. She doesn’t share any of those with us.” How unkind! I thought I was mildly amusing on occasion. Unfortunately, sometimes I think of some really good bons mots then can’t recall them when I sit down at the keyboard.

The same goes for my blog posts. However, full disclosure: today I did not think of a good blog post. But I thought for Wuss-out Wednesday, a humorous Facebook post would do.

Oh Yeah, And I Wore Blue

Posted on May 26, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I am making my post late in the day on Memorial Day (although my page, for reasons best known to itself, says it is tomorrow already). Never mind why-all I did not post earlier. I wrote a post in my head as I went for a run. I will attempt to recreate it now.

I had already intended to run every day of my three day weekend. Then a Facebook friend posted that she and her son were running in honor of fallen soldiers under the auspices of Wear Blue Run to Remember. You sign up on line and commit to a certain distance, one meaningful to you, and they assign you a soldier to run in honor of, if you don’t have someone in mind to run for.

My only problem was that I do not know how far I run. I run for a set length of time. It would be nice to think I was doing at least a ten minute mile, but that is by no means certain. Additionally, I was not sure how hard core my Monday run would be. I have not been running days in a row lately. My body might rebel by the fourth day.

Finally I signed up to run two miles. It was meaningful to me, because I learned to run in the army because of the two-mile run on the PT (Physical Training) test. I felt a little foolish putting such a small distance, especially since my friend and her son were both doing 10 kilometers. However, it seemed important that I actually do the distance I had committed to. I knew I could eke out two miles, even on a very bad day.

My run did not start out auspiciously. I wondered if I was having an every other day thing, because my Sunday run was terrific, my Saturday run was terrible, and I don’t remember my Friday run. But I was running for a soldier. I had to keep going. I made up my mind to run up the hill to Herkimer College. It is an impressive hill to many people. I feel it is good to run an impressive hill when you are running in tribute.

I did not know which soldier I was running for. Wear Blue had not emailed me back. I wondered if I had made a typo when I gave them my email address. I later found out that I had registered too late for them to assign me someone. There were places I could go and pick someone to run for, but I did not do that. I just ran for a soldier.

As I ran, I worried that the soldier I was running for might feel a little cheated, since his runner was running such a short distance and running it very slowly at that. I pictured the soldiers up in heaven, discussing it over a beer (I don’t believe the polka that says, “In Heaven There Is No Beer”).

“Who’s running for you? I got this soldier’s wife who runs marathons. She’s doing 10K.”

“Cool. I got some middle-aged lady, used to be in the army. She’s doing two miles. Oh well, I guess the old ladies like to feel they’re doing something for us.”

“Yeah, better luck next year.”

I made it to the top of the hill and it sure wasn’t easy. Since I was only doing two miles, I had thought I would just go back down the back way. But halfway up the hill I remembered the little Veteran’s Memorial Park up near the athletic fields. I should run to that, I thought, since I am running in tribute. Then I felt so tired I thought I wouldn’t make it. Then I realized that I could not possibly write in a blog post that I had thought about running to the Memorial and decided not to.

“This is how writing a blog helps runners,” I said to myself. I continued, utilizing the determination that had gotten me through Basic Training.

When I got to the Memorial, I stopped the CHRONO on my watch and walked through it. It is a small area with trees and benches. Marble slabs are engraved with the names of Herkimer veterans. Some of the benches and trees have plaques saying who sponsored them. I would like to return to the Memorial and spend a little more time, really pay my respects. Today, however, I soon started my watch again and headed back down Reservoir Road.

Somewhere along the way, I realized the run had stopped sucking. I had not noticed when that happened, but I would hazard a guess that it was about the time I started downhill.

For more information on Wear Blue Run to Remember, you can visit their website at www.wearblueruntoremember.org. They also have a Facebook page.

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Posted in humor, personal, running, running commentary and tagged blog post, blogging, Herkimer County Community College, Memorial Day, running. Bookmark the permalink.

Just a Note

Posted on May 24, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

This blog, you may have noticed, has hit a dry spell. I can blame it on trying to train for the Boilermaker 15K or on Finish That Novel May or, today for example, on the headaches with which I am occasionally plagued. But it may just be me. Operator error, as it were.

I have completed four years of writing this silly blog, and I have not missed a day (except for once when the electricity went out and I posted late) (and occasionally when I have typed in my posts early and set WordPress to publish them at the proper time, although I don’t think that counts as missing a day). Every writer hits a dry spell. Oh well, I suppose some do not, or else they lie about it. And I’m sure many non-writers feel that dry spells are just laziness or self-dramatization.

Where was I going with this? Ah yes, my dry spell. I’ve been eking things out with Pedestrian Posts, Running Commentary, and Posts About How I Can’t Write a Post Today. Many bloggers simply take a little time off. I’m afraid if I do that I will never start again. No loss to the blogosphere, you say? You could be right, although it is unkind to point that out. It would be a loss to me.

I like posting something every day, even if it is just a note to my readers telling them I do not have much to say. I will say thank you for reading. Writing a blog has made me a better writer and a more consistent writer. And it is very fun. I hope you’ll tune in tomorrow, when I will try NOT to have a Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

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Posted in blogging, humor, personal, writing and tagged blog post, blogging, Boilermaker, not writing, novel, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

Not Too Nefarious

Posted on May 22, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Steven, Tabby and I took a lovely walk earlier. Full disclosure: we walked with a nefarious purpose. I wanted a glass of wine, so we walked to Ramar’s Liquor Store on Caroline Street in Herkimer, NY.

The sun was bright, and the temperature was warm but not too warm. I always notice how bright sunshine makes everything look better. I asked Steven if it had the same effect on me. Naturally he gave the right answer.

Our schnoodle, Tabby, had different ideas of where we should walk to, but we convinced her to walk our way. She had her own ideas about how often she should stop and sniff things as well. We tried to accommodate her while not taking eight years to walk five blocks.

I admired many people’s flowers. We have to get started on our own yard and deck. We had both noticed that on Saturday there will be a Plant Sale at Mohawk Antiques Mall to benefit Herkimer County Humane Society. We intend to go. I’ll probably write a blog post about it (preview of coming attractions).

I’m afraid my blog has suffered during Finish That Novel May. Just to update you on that, the body was still in the tarp as of this morning. It was not in a tent nor yet being a busy body, as two comments suggested yesterday. I’ll tell you what, it is way easier to start novels than to finish them. No matter. I’ve finished this blog post; I will finish my novel. Hope to see you on Lame Post Friday.

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Posted in humor, Pedestrain Post, personal and tagged blog post, novel, sunshine, Tabby, walking. Bookmark the permalink.

Tarp Today, Gone Tomorrow

Posted on May 21, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I had hoped not to have a Wuss-out Wednesday, but it was going to be either a Wuss-out Wednesday or another Running Commentary. And I didn’t run. Other bloggers do not stress over this kind of thing, they post whatever and drive on. I shall do that today.

I have been working on my novel during breaks at work. And, I’m afraid, talking about it. Tuesday as we headed out for the 2 p.m. break, I mentioned that I had killed another character. Of course I hadn’t killed him — or her; the murderer had. My co-worker asked had I wrapped the victim in a tarp. I had not, but what a good idea, especially for that murderer. After all it wasn’t enough that he — or she — killed — that person. He — or she — would want to rob — that victim — of all dignity.

It is very difficult to talk about my novel and not give away any plot points. Now you know that more than one character dies. Is killed. But to complete my story about me writing my story, I told my co-worker I would have to change too many things to wrap the body in a tarp. Then today, I reconsidered.

“This should make you happy,” I said to him after the 9 a.m. break today. “I wrapped that body in a tarp.”

He was happy.

I don’t know if the body will stay in the tarp. Perhaps I should know these things, especially since I have set myself the goal of typing “The End” by May 31. However, I can’t worry about that now. Right now my purpose is to write a Wuss-out Wednesday post. And here it is.

See you on Non-Sequitur Thursday.

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Just Stop the Stitch!

Posted on May 20, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

There was a moment in my run this afternoon when I thought to myself, “I don’t care if I don’t get any endorphins, as long as that stitch doesn’t come back!”

It was a long run. Not as long as my longest run so far, but long enough. I ran hills. Not the hill up to Herkimer College, but a couple of very long hills in a residential area near the college (I usually refer to it as the suburbs, but I know that is not accurate). I was running slowly but with determination. I felt pleased with myself to be going uphill for such a long period of time. This was great preparation for the Boilermaker!

And then the stitch started. It was sharp. It was painful. Oh dear. I took deep breaths and stretched my arms over my head. Stretch, breath, repeat. It did not help. Was that a rumble of thunder in the distance? Was I about to get poured on? I had a vision of a kind motorist stopping for a drenched runner to offer a ride home, because of the thunder and lightning. There was very little traffic, so I knew that was a remote chance. I did not hear the thunder again, if it was even thunder to begin with. It did not rain.

Eventually I was running downhill. This was not horrible. Miraculously, the stitch went away. Oh, the dear sweet sensation of NOT being in pain. Who needed endorphins? I had lost the stitch.

I avoided hills for the rest of the run. I never did get any endorphins, but I reached the coveted “I Can Rock This” stage. It did not last, but no matter. I ran. I SHALL be prepared for the Boilermaker.

Note: in this blog, when I say “Boilermaker,” I mean the Boilermaker 15K. I find it too cluttered to specify the 15K every time I mention it.

I realize that this is much shorter than my usual Running Commentary posts. I was noticing stuff as I ran and as usual narrating in my head, but now I just can’t seem to type in any of the good stuff. All I can say is, it’s Tired Tuesday. I managed to run, I managed a post. I’m done. Thank you for reading.

Mohawk Valley Girl