Tag Archives: blogging

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.

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I Didn’t HAVE To

Posted on August 5, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

With the DARE 5K bearing down on me, I thought it would be a good idea to run today. I had proven to myself on Saturday that I could so run with a bad cold, so that fact that I was feeling only marginally better would not be a sufficient excuse. It was warm, but that was good, I told myself. The DARE 5K begins at 9 a.m. The sun will be high in the sky. What finally convinced me was that I told myself I didn’t HAVE to run up the hill to Herkimer County Community College (HCCC) and I didn’t HAVE to run 45 minutes. If I ran AT ALL, that would be enough. I set out.

It was warm. The sun was hot. I didn’t like it. But I persevered, trying to take comfort in the fact that it seemed less humid than it had earlier. There was a bit of a breeze, and I could look for shade.

I crossed German Street in the middle of a block, because I found a good opportunity. This is what you have to do with 4 p.m. Herkimer traffic. This put me on the right side of the street to run up to HCCC. But I didn’t HAVE to run there. Maybe I could run up the back way to HCCC. Not as steep, a little longer. A good run. I went by that street.

Oh, but it was not fun to run in the heat. Never mind, just keep going. Here was the street up to HCCC. I didn’t have to run up that hill. I could turn off before the steep part. I didn’t have to run 45 minutes, or even 40 minutes. I could run up the hill till I had run 10 minutes then run back down. But I ought to run more than 20 minutes. 30 minutes would be an OK run. I could run up the hill for 15 minutes then turn around, I bargained with myself. I didn’t fall for it. I knew that by the 15 minute mark I would be too far along to turn back.

The sun was bothering me more than the upslope. There was the steep part. In the sun. Wait a minute, no it wasn’t. There were two distinct patches of shade. There you go, I told myself. Run till you’re out of shade, then turn around. What a deal!

As I reached the second patch of shade I realized the shade continued, with varying degrees of patchiness, at least till the road curves. Once you get to the curve, you are just too close to the top to turn around. As I continued to shuffle up the hill I wondered if I had really had any thought of turning around. Of course not, I thought. For one thing, I knew I was going to write a blog post about it. Write a blog post about NOT making it up the hill to HCCC? That’s crazy talk!

I am sorry to report that the run did not for one minute become fun. I never once felt that I could rock this. I told myself that I was rocking it, pointing out to myself that no complaints were coming from my legs, but I just wasn’t feeling it.

That hardly mattered. What mattered was I did it. I can look forward to the DARE 5K with less trepidation. And it got me a blog post for Monday. I say OK.

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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.

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Am I a Bad Blogger?

Posted on July 29, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I am beginning to wonder about my future as a blogger. Astute readers will have noticed that each day I have a potential excuse for not doing a real post: Middle-aged Musings Monday, Tired Tuesday, Wuss-out Wednesday, Non-Sequitur Thursday, Lame Post Friday, and Wrist to Forehead Sunday (yes, my week begins on Monday. Doesn’t yours?).

Ooh, look at that, I left out Saturday. I enjoy to do Running Commentary Saturday, but I consider Running Commentary to be a real post. In fact, it takes a good deal of effort, because for Running Commentary I do, in fact, run. But we all know I do not scruple to do a foolish post on a Saturday. It just doesn’t have a name.

When I first started Middle-aged Musings Monday, I actually did write a post most of the time. By “write a post” I mean I hand wrote a rough draft, usually while on a break at work, which I later typed into the computer, often with some amount of editing. However, as time goes on, I often find myself blogging off the cuff, sitting at the computer, typing off the top of my head and hoping for the best.

Sometimes it works out pretty good. I write something fairly amusing, fellow bloggers reward me by hitting the “Like” button, and we all drive on. Sometimes I sit here and say, “Oh dear, what in the world am I going to put?”

Guess which type of day today is.

In any case, I usually end by craving your indulgence and hoping to do better in the future, sometimes citing actual posts I hope to write. In fact, today I began a rather fun post about a cheesy movie I saw and I do still intend to write about a couple of Mohawk Valley adventures I had.

I guess my musing for today is to ask myself, is this an OK way to run a blog? And I guess my answer is, it’ll have do do for now, because this is all i got.

Hope to see you all on Tired Tuesday.

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So Many Posts, So Little Time

Posted on July 27, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I am writing my Saturday post earlier in the day than I did last Saturday. Last Saturday I became so absorbed in my to-do list that I did not get to my blog post (which WAS on the to-do list) till I was much too tired to make a real success of it. Still, one does one’s humble best.

Today I have no to-do list, although I had and have several things to in fact do. Some are blogworthy, but I want to take some time and do good posts on them, not fly by the seat of my pants posts (which makes for an awkward mental image in addition to being a cliche, but it amused me to mention the seat of my pants). Therefore, I will offer a brief summary of today’s activities, which may also serve as a preview of coming attractions.

I ran yesterday so did not plan to run today. I could still write a Running Commentary about that run, although it is fast fading from memory. I did manage to write a few postcards and walk with my dog Tabby to the post office with them, rendering a Pedestrian Post eligible.

Next I attended Coffee and Conversation with a Cop. What a great program! I want to do a good blog post on that! I left there in time to shop at the Herkimer County Humane Society’s Garage Sale, another event which deserves a real post.

After a couple more errands, I came back home for some cleaning chores to be followed by cooking chores. I have not done a cooking post in a while, and I am often threatening to do a cleaning post. I tell you, the possibilities are endless!

But before I write any more, I must return to my cooking and cleaning. And I MIGHT also watch a cheesy movie such as I love to write about. And work on my novel, which if anybody who read yesterday’s post will know is going well once again.

I do hope everybody’s Saturday is progressing as pleasantly and productively as mine is.

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Novel Thoughts

Posted on July 26, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

Dammit, I can WRITE. I am an awesome writer! You would not BELIEVE the fiction that comes from these same fingers that are currently typing this Friday Lame Post. Wait a minute, I mean you WOULD believe it, because my characters are wonderful, and the story would carry you along.

I had thought NOT to have a Friday Lame Post this week since I have been not exactly non-lame for most of the rest of the week. I guess nobody believed that was going to happen, although who knows, it may someday. To that end (as well as for my fitness and weight-loss goals), I ran this morning. I fully intended to write a Running Commentary while at work. Well, let me explain what happened, starting yesterday.

I have mentioned the problems I have been having with the novel I am writing. It’s been at kind of a standstill, progressing at irregular dribs and drabs. Well-written dribs and drabs, I hope, but still. But my determination is unwavering and I persevere. I spend a good portion of every day at least THINKING about my plot and my characters. I come to very few conclusions.

Until yesterday. There I was, at my machine, hard at work, when two lines came to me, rather dramatic lines spoken by two characters who have previously had no interaction. I pondered them and found them to be good. I surreptitiously pulled out the little notebook I carry in my BDU pants and jotted them down. I pondered them more, where they were said, who else was there, what else was happening.

Then the buzzer rang for the two o’clock break. I ran to my full-size notebook and started writing like mad! That has not happened to me in YEARS! A co-worker made a sarcastic remark about my leaving my machine turned on. I went and turned it off. He made another couple of sarcastic remarks. I ignored them.

“Kind of busy here,” I said, which was not particularly well-received, but I was buried in the fiction by now and was unaware of further sarcastic remarks. It was great.

I’ll be damned if a similar thing didn’t happen to me today, on breaks and on lunchs. Perhaps the writing was a little less intense, but I liked it. I admit it wasn’t all good. I would write a scene, then think about it later, realize there was a better thing to happen, get to the next break and write a new, better scene. Oh, it was fun. This is the way writing was meant to be!

And so I didn’t write a blog post. And I’m not apologizing about it. I’m going to go back and work on my novel some more. When I finish it and publish it, you can read it and tell me if I wasn’t right to do so.

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Aren’t You Glad It’s Wuss-Out Wednesday?

Posted on July 24, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I must admit that on the whole I have enjoyed the weather more this summer than last summer. Last summer we had a flood at the very end of June, then all I can recall is day after hot, sticky, icky day, with mud everywhere and no relief. This year, it seems that every so often we get the relief of a not so hot, not so humid day. I kind of wish today was one of those days.

I’m pretty sure my perceptions are not completely accurate. Then again, some would argue that the reality we perceive is in fact our only reality. Ooh, there’s some half-baked philosophy suitable for Lame Post Friday. I bet you’re all glad that today is Wuss-out Wednesday, so I shall not philosophize.

So my point is: Monday was a dreadfully warm day. I dealt with it with as little drama as I could manage, because I knew Tuesday was slated to be much worse. It was. But I lived with it. Thursday was supposed to be delightful. Naturally, I thought Wednesday (today) would be in between. And it wasn’t. It was the worst day yet!

It may have been because I was working at a different machine. WHO CARES WHY??? I was a heat injury. I couldn’t write crap at work, and I can’t write crap now. Oh, wait, it seems I am writing crap. Sorry about that.

Full disclosure: I really continued to read my Ann Rule book at work. It is quite compelling. But even without this distraction, I fear my brain has melted into a little puddle somewhere between my medulla oblongata and my abdomen. Do you suppose tomorrow will be as delightful as promised?

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It’s A Crime

Posted on July 22, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I did not write a blog post while at work today. I spent my time before my shift and on each break reading a true crime book by Ann Rule. She is the BEST! I love true crime. I guess the best I can do for this week’s Middle-aged Musings Monday is a couple of paragraphs about my crime obsession.

It seems to me that many people love murder. Murder mystery novels crowd library shelves. Many movies feature murder, mysterious or otherwise. And on television… it’s everywhere! Truth, fiction, police, amateurs, hit men and even the undead, although many would argue that they don’t count. I am not alone in my obsession.

I do enjoy a good fictional mystery, on the page or on the screen, but lately I am really addicted to the true stuff. I have written about this before, how I watch many shows of varying degrees of cheesiness. I only wish I had seen a good one lately, so I could write about that.

The novel I am having so much trouble writing (and I KNOW I have written about that here) is a murder mystery. Perhaps one of the reasons I am having so much trouble with it is that I am not spending enough thought on the actual crime. Silly me, I keep thinking about the characters. Well, I will have to work that out for myself.

Well, that is over 200 words. I am having a plethora of not very good posts lately and for that I apologize. Tomorrow I plan to go running early in the morning. I hope and trust that will offer enough interest for a decent Running Commentary. If not, I believe there is a library book sale I can attend. Ooh, maybe I’ll find another Ann Rule book.

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It Wasn’t Jack Daniels

Posted on July 21, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

Anybody who saw yesterday’s post, about how busy I was and that I was hosting a gathering last night, will not be surprised that today is Wrist to Forehead Sunday. I hesitate to share the information, though, because people always get the impression that you behaved MUCH more badly than you actually did. Admit it, some of you are picturing me dancing on tables drinking Tequila straight from the bottle. You think I ended the evening on the bathroom floor, only happy that I made it upstairs and the toilet is handy.

Well you can quit trolling YouTube for embarrassing videos of me that you can submit to World’s Dumbest (although part of me would be thrilled to be included on my favorite show). I wasn’t that bad. And I don’t feel that bad today. I’m just tired, drained and a little brain dead. Typical Sunday these days, no matter what kind of Saturday I’ve had.

But here’s a bit of half-baked philosophy for me to consider on some future Lame Post Friday: why do people so often assume that other people are more drunk than they really are? It has happened to me more than once: somebody looks at a picture of me with a big smile on my face and says, “I guess you were drunk.” Is my life so pathetic that people think the only reason I would have to smile so widely is Jack Daniels?

I’ll speculate on possible answers another time. In fact, at last night’s very enjoyable gathering, I don’t think anybody took any pictures, so I have no big wide grins to explain. And I’ve managed to type in over 200 words, so I’m back to enjoying my Sunday. I hope you are, too.

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Cross It Off the List

Posted on July 20, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I guess I’ve already used the title “CRAP! I Forgot to Write my Blog Post!” In my defense, I’ve been busy. I’m having people over tonight and my last minute nature has asserted itself in full.

It really should not have been such a problem. It’s not a big party or a theme party or even really a party. It’s a few friends hanging out on my deck, weather permitting, in my living room otherwise. A few snacks, a few drinks, a few laughs. What could possibly be the problem?

I did not even foresee a problem this morning. I got up early (but still a little later than my work-day rising time, yes!) and took a long, easy paced run, taking plenty of mental notes so I could do a Saturday Running Commentary. I wrote a few postcards, as I like to do on a Saturday, and walked to the post office with my dog Tabby, which she likes to do. I could have done a Pedestrian Post.

When I got home, after checking Facebook and talking to a few family members on the telephone (you can’t rush into these things, my mother always says), I made a list of everything I wanted to get done. Yes, write a blog post was on the list. It was a long list. I did a couple of things and paused for a snack. Had to keep my strength up, after all.

My list, other than blog post and novel, which are on every to-do list I create, consisted of cleaning chores and cooking chores. I had some semi-ambitious cooking plans so thought I might do a cooking post. As I ran hither and thither around my house attempting to clean, I thought I might do a cleaning post.

I guess my astute readers have by now guessed I am doing a Why I Didn’t Write a Blog Post Today post. On the brighter side, now I can cross Write Blog Post off my list. Hope you’re all enjoying your Saturday.

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