Tag Archives: writing

Who Me? Have a Bad Attitude?

I used to have a feature called Bad Attituesday. I am reviving it for today. Oh, am I ever in a rotten mood! And, you know, sometimes you just have to feel that way until you don’t feel that way any more.

It’s not that I have a good reason to feel that way. Yes, some things are bothering me. There is no point in listing them. For one reason, nobody wants to hear me bitch. Moreover, most people would read them and say, “That’s not so bad. What’s her problem?” I, on the other hand, might in the act of describing them become ever more incensed and convinced of the validity of my rotten mood.

Gee, that doesn’t paint me as a very good writer, does it, when the only person I can convince is myself. Although it does give me a bit of a laugh. That is my saving grace: I can usually laugh at myself.

Additionally, it seems that writing the preceding paragraphs has alleviated my rotten mood. I am not yet feeling jolly, but I am no longer at the teeth grinding stage.

So this is today’s blog post: a few words about my bad attitude with no useful insights. But at least I got to 200 words. And I guess it makes a change from Tired Tuesday.

Lame for the Deadline?

Here is Yet Another Late Lame Post Friday Post. It is almost another feature here at Mohawk Valley Girl. I am feeling sad this particular Saturday morning, because the winter storm the weather forecasters threatened seems to be materializing. It’s not that I do not enjoy a Saturday spent at home, I do. But I need to have some Mohawk Valley Adventures!

Regular readers may remember that I write for Mohawk Valley Living magazine. I got the gig because Sharry Whitney, one of the publishers, read my blog. Every month I try to come up with something, sometimes coming embarrassingly close to the last minute.

Last month I had nothing, due to being sick. I am kind of sort of recovered now but have yet to return to my adventuresome ways. What to do?

I do have one or two places I could write about, places I have been to prior to getting sick. But I always like to visit a place just prior to writing. Then again, perhaps that is just me wanting to go out to eat or shop.

It is easy to beat myself up for not planning ahead, but no amount of planning would have made me recover from COVID any quicker. Then again, a certain amount of planning might have helped me get my article written despite COVID. Perhaps I can plan to do better in the future.

In the meantime, I am over 200 words. I guess I’ll call this a post.

Blog Post to Nowhere

I think I can just about manage a Tired Tuesday Post. But no promises. How pathetic am I? Well, I will try not to whine too much. The fact that I am tired but attempting to blog ought to encourage me; on previous tired evenings, I have just said to heck with it and gone to bed. And I haven’t always said “heck.”

Hmm…. It seems no words are forthcoming. I am in my bed pecking away at my Tablet. I knew when I headed up the stairs that I had little idea what to post about. I trusted my meager brain to come up with something. Regular readers know, as I do, that sometimes it does.

I have been trying to write more during the day, before work, on breaks, even after work. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes not so much. Sometimes all I can do is reach for my puzzle book and work on a cryptogram puzzle. Sometimes all three things happen in rapid succession.

Some writers do not find writing to be so mysterious. They just sit down and write. I am tempted to ask their secret but on reflection, I fear they do not know what it is themselves. They would probably give me a scornful lecture on discipline and recommend me not to be such a lazy, whiny baby. I don’t need that; I can beat myself up, thank you.

Where was I going with this? I guess I was just hoping to reach 200 words, and I have. Thank you for bearing with me.

Not Friday and Not 200 Words

I do feel like an idiot.

I kept thinking about this meme while I was at work today. It is the curse of the Monday through Friday worker. However, I have worked many work schedules: six on, three off; four twelve hour days, three off; retail hours with no regularity and no weekends off… Monday through Friday day shift suits me very well, if I have to work, which I do.

As you may have guessed, this is another post where I rattle on about nothing in particular till I get to 200 words. I have got to get out of the house for more than work so I can have some stuff to write about!

In the meantime, I shall bill this as a Tired Tuesday Post. I am feeling tired, as per usual. In fact, I feel too tired to rattle on for the full 200 words. I hope my readers will forgive me and tune in tomorrow, when I hope it will not be Wuss-out Wednesday.

I Had a Monstrous Time Trying to Write

I knew earlier today I would make a blog post about Not Writing. I knew it when I got to work early, took out my notebook, put pen to paper, and… no words. I don’t even know how to describe it. I usually say Writer’s Blank, as opposed to Writer’s Block, but it was more than a blank mind. It was a complete lack of mental function. Cue unkind remarks about how my mental facultlies’ functioning is sporadic at best.

At least he managed more than a blank page.

I threw in a picture of Nosferatu so I could combine a whiny I Can’t Write Post with a Monstrous Monday Post. Regular readers know how much I love my monsters.

It was quite the disappointment this morning when my brain refused to work. I suppose some people would have advised me to write anyways, that I was just being lazy or timorous, there’s no such thing as Writer’s Block! They could have a point. I did give up rather quickly.

Maybe my brain had been eaten!

The thing is, sometimes I want to give myself a break. Sometimes I am completely disinclined to sit in front of a blank page feeling huge resistance. Sometimes I just want to open my puzzle book and work on a cryptogram.

Um, I did not pour myself a glass of wine at work.

As I type this (on my Tablet, one letter at a time with the stylus, just to give you the picture), I am suddenly not inclined to let myself off the hook. For heaven’s sake, I say to myself, couldn’t I have written SOMETHING? Perhaps not the project at hand, but another project, a blog post, a letter, anything! Did I even try?

That’s it! We’ll blame it on Monday!

This self-recrimination is useless. I can’t jump into a time machine, return to this morning and try again, a little harder this time, to write. All I can do is work on the next time I put pen to paper.

In the meantime, I am over 300 words and have included a couple monsters. Let’s call it a blog post. Thank you for tuning in.

Wrist Not, Want Not

I am tired but determined to keep posting every day. With the occasional late post, of course. Right now it is Sunday evening (according to my watch; my WordPress timestamp may say something different), and I am looking at the movie Laura in a desultory fashion. It is an old favorite; I won’t lose track of what’s going on.

This blog post, I might lose track of. You see, I took a rather powerful nasal decongestant last night, the kind with a D that you have to ask the pharmacist for. The box said “non-drowsy,” and they weren’t kidding! I did not feel drowsy all night. I believe I must have dozed off a few times, but it did not feel like sleep. Sorry to whine about it. I’m just trying to give you the picture.

I guess this is a real Wrist to Forehead Sunday Post. Right now I feel too tired to pose dramatically. Me, too tired for drama? SAY IT AIN’T SO!!!

I did get a couple things done today: I wrote a letter, gassed up the car, mailed the letter, did a load of laundry. In that order. Oh, and just now I chopped up some radishes and carrots for the week’s lunches. Full disclosure: I got through all the radishes but petered out after about three carrots. My body just said, “No!” So I stopped.

And now I have made a blog post. I’m afraid it’s a pretty crappy blog post, but these things happen. I believe I have previously raised the question of whether a lousy blog post was better than no blog post at all. Does anybody remember what we decided?

Wanted: Inspiration. Or Garlic

I had it all planned out yesterday. I was going to go for a walk and make a Pedestrian Post, or maybe call it a Tuesday Trudge. Then it poured rain, so I went to Plan B. Only I didn’t have a Plan B. So I am sitting here with my Tablet on Wednesday morning, hoping inspiration will strike.

Some will argue that inspiration is a myth. Just write, they will say, quoting Edison and his 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. To that I reply, you still need that 1%. After all, without one little clove of garlic, all you have is bland tomato sauce (oh yeah, like I ever use only one measly clove of garlic!) (and I suppose some people like bland tomato sauce).

Where was I? Oh yes, trying to write. I did write a bit yesterday, a couple of paragraphs in the TV Journal and a character page on a new murder mystery.

That’s right! Another murder mystery may be in my future! That will give me something else to blog about. I will have to upgrade my WordPress account so I can include pictures.

In the meantime, I am not quite at 200 words (why does autocorrect keep thinking I want to say 00 instead of 200? Is it saying my 200 words are worth nothing? Everybody’s a critic!). Does it count if I get up to 200 words by discussing that I am not at 200 words? Discuss amongst yourselves.

Is Anybody Still Tuned In?

OK, this is it: I have got to start blogging again. My problem is, all I really want to talk about is how crappy I feel. How tiresome is that! I do feel better than I felt when I first fell ill. However, I do not feel capable of doing anything useful or creative. I am rather in dread that this is my new normal.

One consolation: this is excellent as a Wrist to Forehead Sunday post. I have never felt more like swooning in despair, dramatically posed with the back of one wrist to my forehead. Why, oh why, have I never provided myself with a chaise lounge? It is clearly a necessary piece of equipment.

Now I feel a little better, because I am laughing at myself and my own self-dramatization. It is not easy being me, but it is reasonably entertaining.

For the record, I did try to return to work last Thursday. I had been off since Monday of the previous week (that is, Jan. 31 to Feb. 9) (Yikes! That’s a long time!). I made it through four miseeable hours and went home. I did not try again on Friday. I hope to try again on Monday. Eventually I hope to feel better enough to do a few things worth blogging about. I hope I have readers left by then!

Another Not Really a Post

Mohawk Valley Girl feels like shit. And autocorrect is determined to clean up my garbage mouth. I really feel too awful to post at all. However, I logged into WordPress to catch up on my favorite blogger, Rachel Mankewicz. She posts every Saturday with insightful essays punctuated by pictures of her adorable dogs. I found myself typing in a comment. Then I was reading and commenting on other blogs, and I said, Hey, maybe I can do this.

But I can’t, really. I need to put this aside and lie quietly. When I log in again, I will try to add a link to The Cricket Pages, and maybe plug a couple other of my favorites.

In the meantime, please excuse Mohawk Valley Girl etc. etc….

Rats!

I was doing so well posting every day, then last night I just fell asleep on the couch without posting. Now I have a dreadful headache from sleeping with my neck bent the wrong way. I shall try the effects of a hot shower in a bit, but I first thought I would post a quick little apology for missing a day.

Hmm…. I hope nobody reads my headline and thinks my house has rats. I do like to indulge in plays on words. Anyways, that gives me something to be thankful for: we don’t have rats and haven’t even seen any mice for a long time (hope I haven’t just jinxed myself).

So I guess yesterday was a Blogger’s Sick Day, even though I wasn’t exactly sick. I’ll try for a better blog post later. We did have a couple of Mohawk Valley Adventures yesterday.