Tag Archives: blogging

Lame Laugh on December 4

Posted on December 5, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

It is the bra off, sweats on, wine drinking,  blog post writing portion of the evening.

And it is Lame Post Friday.

As regular readers may have noticed, I do not always write my blog posts in sweats and no bra (ooh, I just flashed on that Most Interesting Man in the World,  “I don’t always drink beer…”).  Many times I write my posts while on a break at work.  Many times I do not specify how I am dressed when I post.  However, today I do not have a whole lot to post about, so I led with the setting.

Earlier tonight, Steven and I were at a notorious big box store which needs no plug from Mohawk Valley Girl.  I only mention it because it took MUCH longer than reasonably expected.  And I did not expect it to be short and sweet.  However, it was not too heinous, for which I have my Christmas Spirit and sense of humor to thank.  Or perhaps it was the tiny glass of wine I had before shopping (say it ain’t so!).

I am getting a little bit of Christmas Spirit. I have been listening to Christmas music on CD as I drive to and from work (I know, how 20th century of me).  I have been noticing and appreciating Christmas lights on people’s houses.  I have been planning Christmas presents (Naughty status of friends and family notwithstanding).

My sense of humor really kicked in, however, as the check-out line took longer than walking over the whole store for the stuff on our list.  Every cash register was frozen and the lines stretched further than the eye could see.  At long last we were leaving.

“And it’s only December 4th!”  I said.  I laughed all the way to the car.

 

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Who, Me? Have a Life?

Posted on November 19, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

That’s it.  Wuss-out Wednesday it is.  I just typed in two sentences and backspaced them out.  I will not do it again.  It is getting late (for me) and I am tired (as usual).  I want to make my post and go to bed.  Maybe after looking at Facebook, which I haven’t really had time to do today (I’m a little bit addicted).

Why, you may be asking, did I not write a post earlier, perhaps while on break at work or while waiting for a doctor appointment?  I will answer, with a trace of defensive smugness (if you can be defensive and smug at the same time), I was writing something else.  I worked all day on an article for Mohawk Valley Living.  I hope it was good.

I often say that writing begets more writing, and I think in general it is true.  But sometimes I get tired.

One problem is that I have been straight out between stage managing the play at Ilion Little Theatre, working overtime, dealing with homeowner-type chores, and in general trying to have a life.  I guess that’s my whole problem.  Who ever said I could have a life?  I guess nobody, I just thought I could have one.  Wrong again!

One encouraging thought (for me anyways), is that it looks as if writing really does encourage writing, because tired as I am, it is kind of fun to type this in now, and I am thinking how I would REALLY like to have an hour or two to sit and work at the novel I haven’t done a thing with in months.  I positively must carve out time in my silly life to do so.

And perhaps tomorrow I can carve out time to write a better blog post.  Happy Wednesday, everyone.

 

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I’ve Got the Dirty Clothes Blues

Posted on November 15, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

This will be a purely personal blog post, made for the sake of publishing something every day.

I just now resisted with great effort the dreaded Type It In And Backspace It Out.  I bet some of you are wishing I had not so resisted (you know who you are).  I am sitting in my living room, handy acer in my lap (thanks, Vicki!), being rather poor company for my husband on his lunch break, and waiting for some family members to arrive and help me with a homeowners chore.

I had rather thought my husband would help me with this post, so I will read to him what I have written and request his input.

He suggests I explain the chore.  We are getting a new (to us) (that’s Steven’s expression, credit where credit is due) washer and dryer.  Longtime readers may remember that our previous washer and dryer (washer came with the house, dryer purchased new at our previous apartment) perished in the flood of 2013.  I have been going to the laundromat ever since, and written several blog posts about it.

Oh, how I have come to hate that laundromat!  (While still being grateful that it is there, and clean, and staffed, and with sufficient machines, I hasten to add.) (So don’t shake your finger at me and shame me for being glass-half-empty.) (You know who you are.)  When a co-worker offered to sell me his old set for a very attractive price, I jumped at the chance.

Steven insisted we further clean our basement first.  Of course we cleaned after the flood, but there is always room for improvement.  At long last, today is the day to get the washer and drier.

And, apparently, write a boring blog post about it.

(Pause while I ask Steven for further suggestions.)

He thinks this is a good enough post.  Now if only he can help me think of a title.

 

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Webster Is Not Much Help

Posted on November 13, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Do you suppose that MRI sucked out my brains and that’s why I’ve been so stupid all week?  Yes, yes, I know you’re asking what my excuse was before the MRI.  Must you make such obvious jokes?

Welcome to Non-Sequitur Thursday.

It really is a brain dead feeling.  It doesn’t seem like Writer’s Block, because that implies that there is something behind the block struggling to get out.  It isn’t exactly Writer’s Blank, either, because my brain does have a kind of, well, cluttered feeling to it.  But I can’t think, I can’t write, and it is very distressing.

Having said that, I remind myself that I just now wrote two paragraphs and one sentence worth of words and am embarking on another paragraph.  That does make me feel marginally less distressed.

The sentence that has been sticking in my head this morning is, “One must have a topic.”  It seems that sentence should include the phrase “in order to write,” but I’m not sure whether to put it at the beginning or the end of the sentence.  Any thoughts?

I realize that at times this blog seems dedicated to disproving that sentence.  How many posts about nothing at all have I written?  Anybody opening his mouth to say, “All of them,” can just close it (you know who you are).

This brings us, actually in a kind of a sequential fashion, to my philosophical question for the day.  Then again, half-baked philosophy is the purview of Lame Post Friday, so that makes it a kind of a non-sequitur once again.  Be that as it may, the question is:  Is it inherently better, worse or the same if I compose a post about nothing at the keyboard or if I write it in my notebook while at work (on a break OF COURSE)?  Discuss amongst yourselves.

Bonus question:  When was the last time you saw the word “purview” used correctly in a sentence?

Note to self:  Look up “purview” and see if I used it properly.

 

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Sorry, Folks

Posted on November 12, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I’ve got the dreaded Type It In And Backspace It Out.  I didn’t want to have a Wuss-out Wednesday on Veteran’s Day!

We went out to a nice dinner at PK’s Pub in Herkimer.  Then I went to the pick-up rehearsal for Lunch Hour at Ilion Little Theatre.  These are two perfectly blogworthy activities.  And here I sit, wanting to go to bed and trying NOT to look at the television.

And feeling like I really ought to backspace out the preceding paragraph.

All day at work I knew it would be a good idea to write a blog post.  My brain just would not seem to do it.  My brain still will not seem to do it.

This is what happens sometimes to people who try to write a daily blog.  We screw it up.  It’s embarrassing.   Humiliating even. We hit Publish anyways, but we don’t feel good about it.

Sorry, folks.

 

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And It’s Two Days Till Lame Post Friday!

Posted on November 5, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Oh crap, it isn’t Non-Sequitur Thursday, it’s only Wuss-out Wednesday!

And here is the difference between being a stage manager and being an actor.  A stage manager says, “Oh crap, this week is taking forever.  Why can’t we open already?”  An actor says, “Oh crap, this week is flying by!  I’m not ready to open!”  Actually, just to inject my Manhattan-sized ego into this, I rarely said I wasn’t ready to open.  But I have harbored doubts about fellow cast members on occasion.

I guess this is going to be a wuss-out post about Lunch Hour at Ilion Little Theatre before I have to go to rehearsal soon.  Tonight is first dress rehearsal.  I have to sit backstage and, well, not do much of anything, as it turns out.  I have a couple of lights to take care of during intermission.  Performance nights I will be available to fetch and carry for the actors (I am quite happy to do this, as others have fetched and carried for me).  Other than that, I hope to get a little crocheting done.

Unfortunately, after opening night, I must cope with a kind of a major disaster I just found out about yesterday.  Our director cannot go out for drinks after the show.  What’s that all about?  Oh well, I suppose we’ll muddle through somehow.

So sorry for anther crappy post.  I’ll see if I can do better tomorrow.

 

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Write, Write Again

Posted on November 3, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

So you may have noticed that I have been going through some crisis about writing or rather not writing.  Too many foolish posts, not enough writing otherwise.  What’s a blogger to do?  Seriously, I’m asking.  What do other bloggers do?  Never mind, I probably couldn’t do what they do anyways. We all must find our own path, or something profound like that.

All that by way of saying here is another Monday Mental Meandering, BUT… I actually wrote something other than a blog post.  I need to get my articles written for Mohawk Valley Living magazine.  I tried to work on them over the weekend, but, well, if you read my blog posts you’ll know that didn’t work out too well.  I went to work early this morning and tried again.

At first I failed. I sat at my little table (there is a little table near my work area I can sit at during breaks.  It is most convenient) and stared at a blank page.  I just couldn’t get the lead.  I could just hear some superior type saying, “Never mind getting the perfect lead, just write SOMETHING.  You can always revise it later.”  Well, I have found that that method — if I can even do it and I can’t always — is only effective some of the time.  I turned back a page and worked some more on a letter to a friend.  One could argue that that is at least writing something, I suppose.

Anyways, I made no more progress than that until lunch.  When I wrote two perfectly good pages!  Yes!  I’m back!  Fist pump!

I went back to work feeling better about everything.  As usual, my mind began to wander.  I thought in a vague sort of way about writing this and writing that.  I thought about some totally unrelated topics such as a doctor’s appointment, the upcoming holidays, and the present I have to get for my great-nephew’s first birthday (not sure the exact date; must check that).

And then I started to think about a story.  I liked the idea (NO, I’m not going to tell it to you now!).  Suddenly the first sentence was in my head, and I liked that. I grabbed a piece of scrap paper and wrote it down.  I wrote another sentence or two as I continued to work.  Then when I finished my clean-up and still had a few minutes before time to punch out, I sat at my table, opened my notebook and wrote some more.

It was fun!  I LOVE to write!  I want to write some MORE!

I see that there is one small problem with this blog post.  I think writing about writing is much more interesting when you actually talk about what you are writing.  Well, sorry about that, but if I do that I may never write it.  However, once I actually finish something, I may write a more interesting blog post about it.  I’ll include a Spoiler Alert.

 

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A Modicum of a Blog Post

Posted on November 2, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I realized earlier today why I keep having Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  Many years ago, I recognized that I was not wired to take advantage of Sunday as a productive day. I used to say to myself, “There’s no point in trying to get anything done on a Sunday.”  So I let myself off the hook.

Well, lately I have not been letting myself off the hook.  Oh, I have not been being productive, obviously not.  However, I have been TRYING, sometimes with gritted teeth, to get something, anything done.  It has not worked out for me.  What was I thinking?  You can’t go against nature!  At least, I guess you can sometimes.  For example, when it gets cold and snows, you can go inside and not freeze to death.  That is not the kind of sensible act I am talking about.

I actually did get a couple of things done today.  When Steven came home from work, he wanted to finish the outdoor work I started yesterday.  I went out and got to work while he changed his clothes, and we finished it together.  Well, technically, he finished it, because my sister Cheryl called while we were working, and as you may know, I feel it is important to talk to family members when possible.  Still, I helped (and if you just flashed on the old Shake-n-Bake ad, sorry).

A little later, Steven and I drove to Ilion and took a nice walk in Russell Park.  I must write a blog post about that place.  I had never been there, and it is really cool.  When we got home, I started cooking supper.  Yes, I said cooking; getting us dinner did not involve dialing a phone (which I always make Steven do anyways).

Now I have composed some semblance of a blog post.  I call these things a modicum of usefulness (and I have the added advantage of using the word modicum in a sentence, something most of us don’t get to do every day).

And what of my plan to become more productive and finish that damn novel?  I’m still working on it. Right now I feel it is time to move on to the movie-watching portion of the day.  After all, there’s no point in trying to do anything on a Sunday.

 

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I Plan to Make a Plan

Posted on October 27, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I have been letting myself off the hook a lot lately, and not just with making silly as opposed to “real” blog posts.   The problem stems from my rule of Any Writing Counts.  On the one hand, it does.  Putting words on paper works your writing muscles.  I don’t mean just the muscles in your fingers and wrist, either.  I mean your brain, if you have one, and they found out when they did a CAT scan on me that I do.

However, writing blog posts and letters or postcards to friends and clever Facebook posts and comments on other people’s blogs and entries in my TV Journal… however fun they may be, however useful they may be to my writing muscles, will not get my novel written.   Only working on the novel will get the novel done.

I have been thinking about this in a vague sort of way for a while now, even as lately I write less and less of all that other writing which I insist counts as writing.  The fact is, I do less and less of everything lately, but that is not what I’m talking about right now.  I have been thinking Work On That Novel.

Today I got a bit of inspiration from another blogger I read sometimes, Dawne Webber.  She recently hit a major milestone, a happy dance worthy event.  She got an agent.  You can click on her name, where I have linked to the post, but I’ll tell you, she wrote a novel, queried it everywhere with no result, wrote another novel, queried it almost everywhere and FINALLY got a good result.

THIS is what it’s all about!  She worked!  She wrote!  She worked some more!  She wrote some more! I have to get to work like her!

But first I have rehearsal for the play I am stage-managing.  And I have to write postcards to some folks (yes, I KNOW, postcards are not novels, but some of the people who receive my postcards really like them and there is no reason they should do without just because I want to write a novel).  And I have to work ten hours tomorrow, go to another rehearsal, and it would be a good idea if I also went running.  And I have to clean my basement, because a co-worker is going to sell him his washer and drier and I need a place to put them.

You see why I need a plan.  Somewhere amidst all the crap I have to do, I must find time to work on my novel.  When I have figured it out, I’ll let you know.  If any of you have any time management tips you’d like to share, feel free to comment.  Thanks.

 

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The Most Boring Post Yet?

Posted on October 11, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Yesterday when I ended with the threat that I was going to publish The Most Boring Post Yet for comparison purposes with yesterday’s nonsense, I bet a lot you thought I was just kidding.  Well, maybe I was, and yet, here we are.  I worked this morning then had a lovely afternoon of adventuring.  I just don’t darn well feel like composing a blog post right now.  So, pretend it is still Friday and read:

Is it time for another Lame Post Friday already? Oh dear. I am having the worst case of Writer’s Blank I have had in a long time. At least, I seem to remember writing that I had one recently. Was it a Tired Tuesday or a Wuss-out Wednesday? I can’t possibly go back to previous posts and check.

I could write a cooking post. I have some bean soup on the stove which is tasting pretty good. My problem is I am a little bored with my cooking methods. I seem to always start with chopping up an onion and putting it in some oil to cook, then crushing up some cloves of garlic and letting them breathe (or whatever it is they do) for fifteen minutes (and I usually use the line “breathe (or whatever it is they do)”). One night last week, I asked Steven to cook because I just couldn’t face chopping that onion and putting it in oil to cook.

And now I feel silly for railing against it, because onions cooked down in oil is a very good start to many recipes. Still, how many times can I write about it? I need a new technique.

My overarching problem today is that I am in kind of a down mood. That is a rather distressing state of affairs on a Friday, for a Monday through Friday worker such as myself. I think it is reasonable to expect a lightening of mood when I do not have to be at work tomorrow. Not that my job is so burdensome, but I’m sure you know what I mean.

This is the worst post I have written yet. I can’t publish this. I will save it as a draft and try something else.

Back to the present time:  now that I read this again, it is not so stinking bad, is it? I wonder what else was in that bean soup.  I’d like to make it again.

 

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