Tag Archives: not writing

Some Semblance of a Blog Post

Posted on April 13, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

I’m afraid this is another post about What I Could Make A Blog Post About.  Because I’m just not feeling it this morning.  Tuesday we had the read-through for Shooting at the Grange, the murder mystery we are presenting April 29 to benefit Salisbury Grange.

Note to self: find out how to get to Salisbury Center.

Yesterday I took a half hour walk before work then went for a pretty good run after.  Pedestrian Posts and Running Commentary are always fun.  Later I took an unexpected trip to Frankfort, NY, to Fratello’s Pizzeria, to hear Phil Arcuri, one of my favorite local musicians.

From my Media Library.

I confess to feeling a bit down.  I took another half hour walk this morning, because I read somewhere that a half hour was the equivalent of taking 25 or 50 mg of Zoloft (I forget which).  I almost cut the walk short, because I seem to have done something to my hip again.  I said to myself, What do you think, something magic is going to happen if you walk for 30 minutes?  Well, nothing magic happened, but I am sure 30 minutes of walking burns more calories than walking for 20, that stands to reason.

So this has been my update, and I am going to call it a Wuss-out Wednesday.  I need to get on with my Thursday.

 

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We Like Wednesday

Posted on April 12, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was going to call this Also Not A Post, but I thought of the other just now when I turned off the burner on the stove and liked the alliteration.

The reason I thought of it just then was that I have formed the habit when turning off the stove of saying out loud, “Turning off the burner on Wednesday.”  Or whatever day it is, of course.  This is because I tend to forget those things I do automatically.  I kept calling my husband, Steve from work to ask him to check for me. This could be a problem if I went in early for overtime and he went back to bed.  Thus, the habit of reminding myself.

Now, sadly, there is nobody to check for me if I do forget, so it is good I maintain the habit.  Anyways, today I said my phrase and felt that usual spurt of relief that it is Wednesday and not Tuesday.  Um, I will admit that Tuesday is when I should have been making this post (according to my rules for me), but let us not worry about that now.

So, I guess Not Really A Post describes this post better than the title I chose.  Oh well, 200 words including a little tidbit about one of my weird things.  I’ll bill it as a Tired Tuesday Post and drive on.  Once again, thank you for tuning in.

 

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I Hate Late

Posted on April 2, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

I read a quote from a writer, I forget who or even the whole quote, but it started, “One must be pitiless in the matter of mood…”

He is right, of course.  But it doesn’t really help me right now.  I am sitting here with my Tablet (the laptop-come-dining-room-tabletop is dying a slow painful death, as it gets slower and more painful to do anything on it), feeling it would be a good idea to make Saturday’s blog post even at this late hour.  Yet I also feel paralyzed by indecision and resistance.

I’m also a little hungry, although I did have some scrambled eggs earlier.

Lately I feel overwhelmed by all I need and want to do, with the vicious circle result that I do not do any of it.  Well, sometimes I do some of it.  For example, yesterday I worked on paying bills.  This is one chore my late husband Steve always did, and I was SO grateful that he did.  So naturally,  I am not only not very good at it, it is doubly painful, because it emphasizes once again that Steve is not here.

I guess this is another thing to be pitiless about.  I keep telling myself I have to learn to be alone.  So yesterday I sat down with the checkbook and a stack of bills and told myself, “Just pay one bill.”  This was me applying my method of Just Do One Thing.  I started by putting the bills in order of due date.  I hate to be late (blog posts notwithstanding).

Somewhere in the midst paying one bill online, one by phone, and writing a couple of checks, I felt a surge of… not quite happiness, but of not depression.  “I’m doing this,”  I thought.  Of course I have a lot more to do, but maybe I will be able to do it.

Hmmm… I guess the quote I referenced earlier did help me, because, look, I have blogged over 300 words.  I say “blogged” instead of “written” in deference to the Truman Capote line, “That’s not writing, that’s typing.”  Do you suppose if he were still around, he would sniff at my blog, “That’s not writing, that’s pecking in one letter at a time with the stylus”?

 

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Does This Blog Count as a Journal?

Posted on March 29, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was too tired to do my Tired Tuesday post on Tuesday.  For one reason, I went running.  I also did a load of laundry (one of my few instances of multi-tasking: I put in the laundry and run while it washes) and the dishes (I know some of you are judging me that the dishes were not washed as soon as they were dirty, but I am reconciled to that), and I worked a very little bit on the murder mystery I am a little sorry I committed myself to do.  And I made a few journal entries.

I have been keeping multiple journals lately.  Regular readers may recall the TV Journal, which I believe I wrote a blog post about (I wonder if I will be able to find it and share the link).  This has come to encompass more than just television viewing, so I guess I could drop the “TV,” call it a “Journal” and use my other notebooks for something else.

However, I also have a Running Journal.  This was a good idea, because it is helpful to look back and see where I am at fitness-wise, especially when I am training for, say, the Boilermaker 15K (preview of upcoming attractions).  It would be cumbersome to keep track of these things if I put them in the TV Journal with everything else.  Full disclosure:  I had one a while ago that I cannot find and finally broke down and started a new one in a fresh notebook recently.

On other occasions, I have tried to keep journals of my headaches or my eating habits, but I have never stuck with either of these tools long enough for them to become useful.  I fear that is the fate of my latest attempt at a journal: a Cleaning Journal.

Regular readers as well as my family and friends may be aware that my house is a hideous mess.  I am embarrassed to have anybody over and fear I will soon qualify for one of those TV shows like Hoarders (although that would make an interesting entry in the TV Journal).   I have been trying to embrace the Little Bit At A Time method, with only sporadic success and much backsliding. One Sunday I thought, “I’ll keep a journal!  I will write down what I do as I do it, what I find successful, how I feel, how I progress…”  I got all enthusiastic about it and even spent a good half hour actually cleaning.  This was pretty huge, quite frankly, because I almost never get anything done on a Sunday (it’s kind of a thing with me).

Nobody was less surprised than me when the Cleaning Journal did not turn out to be an ongoing source of inspiration.

However, one must persevere.  One bright side: I see I am over 400 words, a rather large word count for me.  Not bad for a late Tired Tuesday post, I think.

 

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Writing About Not Writing Is Still Writing

Posted on March 28, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

Oh dear, it seems I have the dreaded Type It In Backspace It Out Disease.  This is much worse than when I write it down and cross it out, because in that case I can usually read what I crossed out later and say, “Oh, that isn’t so bad.”  Unless I get really disgusted with it and obliterate it or tear it up.  That has happened.

Phew!  I just got down a whole paragraph and haven’t deleted it.  Yet.  No promises, of course.  I could save it as a draft, but then when I try to go back to it, WordPress insists I started in Block Editor and something terrible may happen if I continue with Classic Editor.  I did not, WordPress!  I haven’t used Block Editor since I figured out how to go back to Classic Editor.

But I digress.

I guess this is going to be a Middle-aged Musings Monday Post.  I haven’t done one of those in a while.  Or maybe this is more of a Monday Mental Meanderings Post.  You decide.

Or pecked in one letter at a time with the stylus.

I personally am not hung up on my writing being perfect.   I just think it should be good.  Or at least not embarrassing.  I think I need to get over that and Just Write.  I can always revise the embarrassing parts later.  Or use them as blog posts (see what I did there?).

 

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I Try to Make a Lame Post Friday Post

Posted on March 25, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

This is the point on a Friday evening when I usually say to hell with it, I’ll make another late Lame Post Friday post.  That may yet happen today.  However, I am sitting on my couch, episode of Columbo on the television, glass of wine nearby, Tablet in hand, trying.

That is another trick I try on myself.  I have talked about the trick of doing Just One Thing.  For example, just wash one dish, put away one thing, write one journal entry.  A trick I may not have mentioned is that of Just Try.  For example, when I say, I can’t wash the dishes! I can’t go running! I can’t write anything!  I say to myself, Just Try.

Sometimes it doesn’t work.  Of course sometimes it does.  I mean, when it comes to the dishes, I can usually manage to get them organized, fill the dishpan with hot, soapy water, wash one dish… and it goes on from there.  Full disclosure:  often I get the dishes washed but do not scrub the sink afterwards.  And I quite frankly never dry them. I say why waste effort on what patience will accomplish.

However,  in most cases, washing dishes and writing are two disparate activities with very little in common. Once you wash a dish, it seems a very easy action to wash another.  Just because you write one word or even sentence is no guarantee that more words will be forthcoming.

On the other hand, I have gotten over 200 words with this nonsense.  I say Happy Lame Post Friday.

 

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There Are No Words

Posted on March 23, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was reading a few other blogs hoping to get some inspiration for today’s post, and there it was: Wordless Wednesday.  If only I had a good, evocative picture to share.  Damn!

He was so handsome!

After looking through a LOT of pictures on my Tablet, I came across several of my dearly missed husband, Steven.  This one caught my eye, because I am wearing that same shirt tonight. I spilled a little sauce on it when I was eating supper.  I’d better remember to rub in a little soap when I take it off later.

Anyways, the picture was taken at Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort,  NY, when we used to go almost every Wednesday for music and food.  That adds a little symmetry to the post, I think.

Full disclosure:  I did not want to make a cheerful, chatty post today.  I was rather inclined to give a grief update.  It occurred to me today that my sadness is just a chronic condition I have to get used to, like a bad back or knees (both of which I have, but they are not constant, so I count my blessings).  This is actually a helpful thought: Just something I have to get used to.  I can get used to something.

So I am over 200 words on this Wordless Wednesday.  I can never get these things right.

 

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My Rules on Monstrous Monday

Posted on March 21, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

I have often said that writing begets writing, and I have been writing several things this evening, yet here I sit, looking at a blank space on my “Add New Post” screen.  Maybe I was writing the wrong things.  I wrote a couple journal entries and finished a letter to a friend.  By my rule of Any Writing Counts, that should help.  Then again, why do I think that my rule made up by me has to always be true?

“Why oh whyyyyy can’t I make a blog post?”

I throw in a picture of a monster, because it is Monday.  Regular readers know how I love my Monstrous Monday Posts.

Is this the formula for a decent blog post?

If I continue to add pictures of monsters, I’m sure I can get to 200 words.  I realize making blog posts of at least 200 words is just another one of My Rules For Me.  What is it with me and rules?

Are they pondering the rules of magic?

I wonder if I think something magic is going to happen if I follow these rules.  For example, when I started this blog, I decided I was going to make a post every day for one year.  I did pretty good for the first year, and not bad off and on for the subsequent years (it’s been almost 12).  I don’t know that anything magic happened.  I don’t make up the rules about what counts as magic.

 

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Mid-Week Monsters from my Media Library

Posted on March 2, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

I am having a hard time writing anything these days.  I open a notebook (the spiral-bound paper kind), uncap a pen, and…  sometimes I write a word or two, sometimes not.  I guess the important thing is to keep trying.  So I will try to make a blog post.  I know what!  It’s Wednesday:  I will do a Mid-Week Monsters Post! I look in my Media Library…

He’s not the only one who was scared!

I open with Nosferatu (1922), because I have been watching it on DVD while running in place on the mini-tramp this past week or so.  I have only been doing short runs, so it took a few times to see the whole movie.

Not showing the monster, but appropriate for the day.

I love Young Frankenstein, in fact, I love most of Mel Brooks’ movies.

 

“This is a good boy!”

Here is the monster! At first, I went to Facebook and downloaded a new photo, but when I tried to put it in the post, it was really small, so I went back to my Media Library.  I do not properly understand photos and computers.

“I said I only wanted a trim!”

After Dracula (although they couldn’t call him that) and Frankenstein,  I put in the Wolfman.  I don’t know what movie this is from; it was in my Media Library.  Sometimes I just download pictures I like.

This silliness has gotten me over 200 words.  Apparently I can come up with more words pecking in one letter at a time with the stylus.  Tomorrow I will try again with pen and paper.

 

 

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Perhaps I Should Have Left It Blank

Posted on February 20, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

I am sitting here staring at a blank space and feeling that my mind is equally blank.

Well, I thought that if I typed in something, anything (pecking it out one letter at a time with the stylus, of course), I could go on from there.   Sometimes these little tricks work.  Sometimes not so much.  However,  I want to make a blog post.  I will attempt to make a blog post.

The famous white bathing suit.

I throw in a picture to pep things up. Earlier I watched Creature from the Black Lagoon on a DVR’d episode of Svengoolie.  I loves me some Svengoolie.

I know how she feels.

This is also not the picture I was looking for.  However, sometimes I like to jump on the I Hate Monday bandwagon.  I personally will not be pouring myself such a measure of booze.  I had a little wine earlier, but not enough to render Monday even more hideous than it is forced to be by nature.

Cheers, my love.

Speaking of wine, here is a picture of my sadly missed husband, Steve, enjoying a libation at the Waterfront Grille in Herkimer, NY.  My friend Kim and I had a couple drinks at the Waterfront yesterday.  Did I mention that in my Scattered Saturday Post?   It is far too much trouble to go back and look.

I guess I can bill this as a Wrist to Forehead Sunday Post, because I must sound like I am about to swoon, dramatically posed with the back of one wrist to my forehead.  I will try for a little less drama tomorrow.

 

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