Tag Archives: late post

About Blogging, About Writing

Yesterday I kind of snuck my late Monday post in under the radar (snuck isn’t a word, Chromebook?  what is it, sneaked? That sounds just as silly), making the post and not saying anything about when I made it.  Today is Wednesday and I am boldly making my Tired Tuesday post and telling you it is late.  For one thing, I am still too tired to write about other things.

That is an interesting thing about this blog.  When I started it, I wanted it to be about Something, not just me.  Well, it became a lot about me, and now it seems it has become a lot about itself.  Is that like a snake eating its own tail (another cliche but one not as often used)?  That is what fiction advisors say about people writing about their own experiences, just changing the names.  Sooner or later, they say, you run out of things to write about.  I quite frankly do not see where that is inevitable. You keep living, don’t you?  Incidentally, that is not my style when I write fiction:  I make almost everything up, characters, situations, events.

Well, the characters in my books sometimes drink wine.

I wanted to throw in a picture to pep things up but did not have one of me writing.  To continue:  a number of my friends have asked to be put into books.  I hesitate to do this, because what if they don’t like how they are portrayed?  “I’m not like that!”  “I would never say that!”  They would also like to be killed off, since I write murder mysteries.  I have thought of trying a horror novel, where lots of people get killed.  I could knock off all my friends and enemies at once.  Something to think about.

Full disclosure:  In my long life, I have only ever finished one novel.  I currently am not even working on one, but I am trying to get back into it.  These days I write my blog, my interactive murder mysteries, and articles for Mohawk Valley Living magazine.  That reminds me:  I have a magazine deadline coming up.  Yikes!

 

I Cut Myself a Little More Slack

Here I sit, trying to make my Slacker Saturday blog post early Sunday morning.  At least, it is not early for me, but as Sunday mornings go for other people…  Not that I know that much about other people, but I have heard.

I put off making this blog post while I had some coffee, scrolled Facebook, played Solitaire, then read another blogger’s weekly post.  Oh, and I re-read one of my posts from 2012 which I had been thinking about.  I have been writing this blog for a long time, haven’t I?  Or, as Truman Capote famously said, “That’s not writing, that’s typing.”  I fear that lately my blog has become me rambling on, not saying much of any substance, much less sharing Mohawk Valley adventures as I intended to do when I began the blog.

Like KO Grainger at the Herkimer Downtown Chowdown.

I sometimes mention one I am going to write about, then when I sit down with the Chromebook… not so much.  What, I ask once again, is my problem?  More to the point, what is the solution? I confess I do not know.  I am not having much luck with the Do It Anyways method.

Am I too chicken to write?

Yesterday, by the way, was in fact a Slacker Saturday.  I went running, as I mentioned in my late Lame Post Friday post.  I puttered around, doing a little bit of cleaning here and there.  My house, as I have also mentioned, is quite the disaster area.  I express great determination to get it clean one way or another, then wander around, feeling ridiculous for not knowing where to start.  Then I put some things away and hope I have made some progress. Yesterday I discovered the Columbo method of cleaning:  I cleaned for a set amount of time, then when time was up, I said to myself, “Oh, one more thing!”

I am obsessed with Columbo, you may have noticed.

Eventually I wrote a few postcards and walked them to the post office.  It had stopped raining by then.  Returning home, I made some popcorn and watched, you guessed it, a couple episodes of Columbo.  I crocheted while I watched (after I had eaten some popcorn and washed the butter off my hands) (I’m not a barbarian, after all), so I could feel a little productive.

Once again, I have rattled on for an appreciable amount of words (just over 400!).  I shall end with a random picture, so that my Saturday post can be Scattered as well as Slacker.

Will the curtain rise on a new act for the play of my life?

Too dark, but I feel a picture of a closed curtain is always evocative.  It is the Capitol Theatre in Rome, NY, a good place to visit for future Mohawk Valley adventures.

 

It’s Never Too Lame!

Once again I make my Lame Post Friday blog post on Saturday morning.  I thought about making it last night, but bed seemed like such a good place to be.  It’s been a difficult week, although it has had its good points.  Nothing is all good or all bad, I hope.  At least, I hope nothing is all bad.  All good, I would like to try and see.  There is some half-baked philosophy for you.  We are used to finding the silver lining in bad times, or at least it is a good idea to do so.  Do we ever look for the fly in the ointment in good times?  Are there any other hoary expressions I can throw in?  Really, me, “silver lining”?  “fly in the ointment”?  Have some more coffee.

Ah ha ha! Coffee can be evil!

I throw in a random picture while I go get another cup of coffee.  I do not want to speculate on whether coffee is or can be, in fact, evil.  I put the caption because I believe that coffee mug looks malevolent.

Since this is my second cup of coffee,  one might think I had just rolled out of bed, but that is not the case.  I got up prior to six and went for a run.  The problem with running before coffee is that sometimes I forget to make coffee.  I had my recovery beverage of chocolate milk (it’s science!), made myself an egg sammich for breakfast…  oh yes, coffee. Ahhh… coffee.

I got rained on during my run, off and on.  Now it seems mostly on, so I am sorry about the local events going on today, for example, Little Falls Pride 2024 and Dolgeville Violet Festival. I had been thinking of running the Pride Stride 5K in Little Falls.  There used to be a 5K associated with the Violet Festival, too, but I don’t know if there still is.  How uninformed of me.  Anyways, I am not in 5K shape at this time.  I am in shape, though, because round and puffy is still a shape, you know.

I don’t think these two are in 5K shape either.

Here are Bonita and Bonaparte to wish you a happy Saturday.  I will never be as skinny as Bonita.  Puffy little Bonaparte is more my speed (almost literally).  I suppose I am not as cute, although my husband, Steven used to think so.

 

More Writing About Not Writing

It is well known that good habits are difficult to establish while one falls back into bad habits with ease and sometimes a sense of comfort.  Thus I continue late posts, making my Tired Tuesday post early Wednesday morning.  I have a very good Mohawk Valley adventure to write about, because I attended the Herkimer Downtown Chowdown with some friends on Monday.  However, I am letting that marinade in what is left of my brain.  A wise woman told me you can’t rush into these things (“these things” being any number of chores and tasks that arise) (by the way, the wise woman was my mother, the same wise woman who also said, “Oh well, what the hell”) (I know she was not the first so say it, but she may have been the first to say, “As a wise woman once said,” etc) (I stand by my story).

Where was I?

I guess it isn’t Tuesday any more.

This meme is now late, but is my favorite one to use in a Tired Tuesday post.  As you may have guessed, this will be another post where I rattle on for 200 words or so, hit Publish, and hope for the best.  I am so dreadfully tired all the time lately.  Perhaps I do not eat enough vegetables.

Me, questioning my path as a writer, or at least as a daily blogger.  

Of course this is not me.  It is Michael Douglas in Wonder Boys, a movie about writers, among other things.  He plays a blocked writer.  At least, not exactly blocked, because he has written over a thousand pages on his next book, but, well, it is complicated.  I have not written over a thousand pages of anything lately, and I have never written a thousand pages on one project.  That might be a good challenge for me:  write a thousand pages on something, anything.  They say anything that gets your pen moving is a good thing (as usual, no idea who “they” are).

No blockage of daisies.

I leave you with a picture of my prolific daisies.  They are symbolic of two things: spring, as in “hope springs eternal,” and sheer number.  May my writing flourish as my daisies!

 

I Need More Monsters

I feel so ill-used when I oversleep and still feel so tired when I wake up.  I was dreadfully tired when I went to bed last night, too, but managed to put on coffee for the morning, so I can be mildly functional now.  But enough whining from me, on with my late Monstrous Monday post.

You can’t see the monsters, but it is a scary shot nonetheless.

In a previous post I used a shot from Invasion of the Body Snatchers but foolishly did not identify it.  I remedy the omission with another shot from that movie.   It is a pretty good flick, but I confess my favorite scenes are early on, when the menace threatens in an undefined manner, and the characters are drinking martinis.  I like martinis.

Watch your head!

Here is a monster of the human variety, Joan Crawford in StraitJacket.  That is one of my go-to movies.  William Castle was a highly entertaining producer and director.  I love his stuff.

Why is she so horrified? I forgot.

I continue this rather disjointed post (Non-Sequitur Monsters?) with a shot from a silent movie that doesn’t get a lot of attention, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.  I have not seen it in a while but remember liking it.  I will have to watch it one day while running in place on the mini-tramp.  That is my usual way of watching silent movies.  Otherwise I want to knit and crochet while I watch, and you really need to keep both eyes on a silent movie.

Now I am over 250 words, so that is enough trolling my Media Library for today.  I hope to get some new monsters to share one day soon, but you know me: No promises.

 

Where Did I Put My Panache?

Another early morning late post.  I made myself take a walk before posting, in hopes I would be inspired or at least less grumpy.  The beauty part of that was, my coffee finished brewing while I walked.  I am mostly cheered right now because I realized I could accurately say “my coffee brewed” instead of “my coffee dripped.”  So while I am still not perky, at least I am not a drip.  Enough of that brew-ha-ha (see what I did there?).  On with the post.

I will never be this skinny.

Apparently I am not caffeinated enough, because I put that picture then went blank.  This is largely in an effort not to complain about my ongoing physical and mental ills, which I am sure are not that bad, especially in comparison with what others deal with with panache.  I need to get some of that there panache.

Regarding the upcoming three day weekend (and please allow me to be delighted about it; I spent years working holidays), I have plans with my family so will not be able to indulge in any Mohawk Valley Adventures.  Regarding that parenthetical comment, yes, I know, first responders (why is my Chromebook underlining that?), healthcare workers, and other important people work holidays.  I was never that important, but we are not talking about me. Oh wait, yes we are.  It is my blog.

A tribute to those fallen.

I put in a picture appropriate to Memorial Day, before I got bogged down in even more silliness.  This is Herkimer County Veterans Memorial Park, on the Herkimer College campus.  On past Memorial Days and Veterans Days, I have run to this park in tribute.  Sometimes I run by there just because it is a challenging run to go up College Hill and on across the campus.  I am not in shape for that run yet.

Ooh look, I am over 300 words.  I guess I will bill this as a Wuss-out Wednesday and drive on.  I will see if I can come up with something better than a Non-Sequitur Thursday post later (and by “later” of course I mean either later today or early tomorrow morning), but no promises.

 

Late Post, Brief Shout-out

Yesterday was another Blogger’s Sick Day.  My allergies have been kicking my butt, and last night I could only lay down (lie down?) with a sinus headache and try to sleep.  Oh, listen to me whine: poor, pitiful me!  Right now I am only hoping that coffee will be, well, the miracle I am hoping for.

Picture from the Media Library.

One thing I have been wanting to write about is the Herkimer Downtown Chowdown.  Food truck gatherings are very popular around here, and Herkimer has a wonderful setting at Meyers Park.  There is plenty of shade, and generous donors have provided picnic tables.  Best of all, from my point of view, is the musical entertainment, also courtesy of generous sponsors.

Rock on!

When I went to the inaugural Chowdown last week, KO Grainger was playing, one of my favorite local bands.  I hope to return as the summer wears on for The Posers, Phil Arcuri, and more.  I may even find a few new musicians to follow.

I had meant to write more about the Chowdown, possibly including a list of upcoming entertainment and sponsors (which would entail doing, dare I say it? research!).  Unfortunately, last night’s sinus headache has left me drained.  I’m going to bill this as a late Tired Tuesday post and adjourn to test the miraculous healing properties of coffee.

 

Another Placeholder Post

Once again I am running out of morning in which to make yesterday’s blog post.  And I have very little brain to work with.  How is my brain vanishing so quickly and thoroughly?  I am not that old, and any evidence of senility or dementia can be explained away with, “Oh, everybody does that sometimes,” or, “Hell, I’ve been doing that for years.”  Now I am fighting the dreaded type-it-in-backspace-it-out disease.

I went running both yesterday and today, so I could make a Running Commentary post, couldn’t I?  You would think so, wouldn’t you?

Not where I ran.

I also had a delightful lunch at Salvatore’s in Herkimer, NY yesterday.  That would make a nice blog post, too. Oh dear, am I doing another post about Why I Can’t Make a Blog Post?  I think I have to blame it on my sinuses.  Allergy season is kicking my butt, as it seems to do with increasing violence each year.  I do not have a sinus headache, which I am quite grateful for, but I have that lightheaded feeling which makes doing anything difficult.

THERE’S that brain!

I was looking for a picture of flowers to brighten up the post when I found the Brain from the Planet Arous, which regular readers know I like to show when I am feeling particularly brain dead (yes, yes, I know that is most of the time lately), only I can never find it.  In fact, this is what I was looking for when I saw the picture of Salvatore’s and decided to mention my lunch with friends.

And here are some flowers.

These flowers have been coming up every year since I planted them, which is nice.  Other things I have planted have been less successful, although the Black-Eyed Susans usually go great guns.  Once again, I fear my blog post is merely a placeholder.  I hope a placeholder post (should I add that as a category?) is better than none.

 

There’s No Place Like Lame

I am almost entirely through Saturday morning as I sit down to make my Lame Post Friday blog post.  I am once again ten-finger typing, because I successfully remembered my Chromebook password.  I think I mentioned how I locked myself out, goodness knows how.  I finished one post and made another on the Tablet, which I used to always do.  But nobody needs to hear about my computer trials and tribulations, least of all me.  On with the post!

Ah, the theatre!

I wanted to throw in a picture to pep things up and came across this gem in my Media Library.  It is my friends Kim and Jim in a play at Ilion Little Theatre.  The young lady in the background is a friend, too, of course.  I am meeting Kim, Jim, and Jim’s daughter Kelly for lunch at Salvatore’s in Herkimer, NY for lunch in — yikes, little more than an hour!

It has not been a real good week for me, blog-wise or health-wise (or come to think of it getting-my-house-clean-wise), but you’ll have that.  Yesterday I was asking people if it was really Friday, because I just wasn’t feeling it.  This you will also have.  But never mind that.  I hope to have  (continue to have; it is almost noon on Saturday, for heavens’ sake) a good weekend.  I went for a run of over 2 miles (not much over, but I must celebrate every small win).  I guess this post is in the nature of a place-holder, so I have made a post for every day (if not on every day).  Will I manage to make Saturday’s blog post on Saturday?  A little uncertainty adds interest to my day.

 

Wuss then Walk

So I wussed out on Wednesday by not making a blog post (except for Tuesday’s, of course).  Big surprise there.  I had hoped to make a Waste Not Want Not Wednesday post, although the only picture I had taken but not used was a cute skull in a neighbor’s yard, taken on a cool-down walk after a run.

I do enjoy skulls and skeletons.

This morning, I overslept, not by much but small blocks of time can mean a lot in the morning, so decided to take my walk while my coffee dripped.  I did not take a walk yesterday due to rain.  I hate to miss a day.  I thought, I can walk by the skull and use that picture in a Pedestrian Post with Pictures (here is a Freudian typo:  I first put “Pedestrain,” because sometimes it is a strain to walk).

However, when I left the house, it was foggy.  I wanted to climb a hill to enjoy the sight of the fog so turned toward Valley Health.  It is not a huge hill, but I could get somewhat of a view.  Also, it is good exercise to walk up a hill.  I was using my phone to Map My Walk (the app is actually called Map My Run) but figured I would not have many photo ops in the dark.  My phone does not take good pictures in the dark, as I found when I tried to get a shot of the full moon.  Anyways, I reasoned to myself, how can I take a picture of the fog?  It obscures vision; how can I take a picture of what I can’t see?  I pondered how I could post a white square and pretend it was a picture of the fog by ultimately decided to use a screenshot of the map of my walk.

I walked a mile, but not in somebody else’s shoes.

The map did not come out the shape I had hoped.  I was picturing the body part narrower, like a worm or a snake.  But it was a pretty good walk.  I felt better after I had taken it than before.  I feel better yet now that I have had coffee and made my blog post.  Once again, thank you for tuning in.