Tag Archives: writing

Just Another Day of Quarantine

After logging onto WordPress at least three times, I found that no blog post was forthcoming.  I know, I know, blog posts don’t just happen; you have to WRITE them.  Well, here I am, early Wednesday morning, trying to do just that.

My sister Diane approved Monday Punday and further suggested Tuesday Cruise Day. I could take a walk, run or ride, and blog about that.  That would have the charm of rhyme over my usual features of Running Commentary and Pedestrian Post.  Accordingly,  I went for both a run and a walk.

My walk was to the post office, because I had written a few more post cards.  I took a long walk before arriving home.  I put my Tablet in a bag.  It was a lovely shoulder bag purchased at Paca Gardens in Little Falls, NY, just to throw in a plug for a local business. Alas, it was snowing and I got no pictures.

Returning home, I read a book, looked at Facebook, watched some movies.  I called Salvatore’s Pizzeria and Restaurant in Herkimer for dinner.  Yum!  Later I heard it was National Take-out Day.  We got delivery, so perhaps it did not count.  Perhaps we should do real take-out tonight, just to be sure.

I see I am over 200 words, so I guess I’ll call it a Tired Tuesday post and hit Publish.  We’ll see if I can do better than a Wuss-Out Wednesday post later today.

 

Sorry, But I’m Not Apologizing

I guess we all knew this was going to be a Wrist to Forehead Sunday post.  I went running this morning yet did not feel a Running Commentary post welling up within me. Likewise, no amount of movie watching has made me inclined for a Sunday Cinema post.  These things happen, I suppose.

The fact is, I feel not the slightest obligation to apologize for a foolish post during this stressful time.  Clearly, to run around having Mohawk Valley adventures would be irresponsible.   I am more than willing to risk my own health.   Alas, as is so often the case,  it is not only about me.

So shall I spend the next week or two hiding behind the Corona Virus (or as I prefer to call it, Covid 19) and posting only the lamest material?  That could happen.  I maintain it is the right thing to do, because some people are entertained by my nonsense, and entertainment is a definite service in times of quarantine.

Of course I will attempt to publish the most amusing posts possible.  I fear not much is possible today,  hence my Wrist to Forehead status.  On the other hand,  I am having a fairly enjoyable Sunday.  One cannot have everything.  Even if I have a dreadful day, I will strive to have a better blog post tomorrow.

 

A Saturday at Home

I have allowed it to become rather late in the day to make my Saturday blog post.  I know, I should have made a Saturday Running Commentary post earlier.  Then I walked to the post office with my weekly post cards, making a Pedestrian Post completely eligible.  Later yet, my husband, Steven, and I watched a few movies.  Saturday Cinema is not usually a thing, but it could be.

What today really was was Day One of the Quackenbush Quarantine,  as Steven dubbed it on Facebook yesterday.  I know, almost everyone is under quarantine,  but how many of us can be alliterative about it?  Yet another blessing for me to count.

Really, as things go, I have very little to complain about (not that THAT ever stops me!).  I am grateful for all my blessings and concerned for those that lack same.  I ask myself, what can I do to help?  One thing I did was to write more than my usual number of post cards.  I figure as we’re all stuck inside, not visiting anybody or gathering at the usual places,  a little personal mail would be welcome.

Next I hope to use my at home time to get my house together and to do more writing.  I am thinking about a new novel to start, one I may actually finish.  Then maybe I can dig out and finish the plays I have almost completed.

Oh, such ambitious plans!  Who knows but what I will do is go on more runs and watch more movies?  At least I will write a blog post about whatever I do.  Happy Corona Saturday, everyone.

 

On Second Thought, It Is More Like Wuss-out Wednesday

I promised myself a Mid-week Monsters post.  Unfortunately, right now I feel too tired to do any kind of a post at all. No, no!  I must not go back to writing posts about Why I Can’t Write A Post Today!

“Oh no! I have to do a blog post!”

Here is our skeleton Bonita, having a wrist to forehead moment.  I have been having a number of those moments lately.  But I try to carry on as best as I can.  Rehearsal last night went very well, by the way.  I have a great cast!

Not a monster.

I just love this picture of my friend Tucker as Renwick Spaulding, the bug loving murder suspect in Donate to Murder, which we rehearsed last night.  Thus I stray from my Mid-week Monsters theme but at least I am talking about something.  Does that make this Non-Sequitur Wednesday?

I don’t t like the way he’s looking at me.

I return to monsters with this handsome fellow. Love the neck bolts.

I have long had the rule to make my blog posts at least 200 words long.  I don’t know where I got that number, but I’m thinking I may not make it today.  Oops, I just did by wondering if I would.  Does that count?  I don’t care if it does or not; I’m going to bed.

My bed is a little bigger than this.

Happy Wednesday, everyone.

 

I Gotta Be Lame

Oh my God, what I feared would happen is true!  I feared that if I stopped requiring myself to post every day (I admit, a standard I did not always meet), I would stop posting entirely!  I have not quite done that — regular readers may have noticed I posted this morning for Thursday — but I have not only made fewer posts, I am finding it dangerously easy to make no post at all.

That was not the best written paragraph I have ever done.  No matter.  It is Lame Post Friday.  Before I pecked out the above (one letter at a time with the stylus on my Tablet, which is the way I usually post these days only I do not always mention it), I almost said “To hell with it,” and put the Tablet away. Then I took stern hold of myself and started typing (by the method mentioned in the previous parenthetical comment).

I guess it’s an All Or Nuthin’ situation.  If I wait to post till I have a decent post to publish, I will publish sadly few posts.  I guess some people would not find fewer posts of mine to be at all sad (you know who you are).  I cannot worry about such people.

Of course I can and will strive to have more substantive posts.  However, for today, I am going to go with Yet Another Foolish Post and a warning that foolish posts will not entirely stop.  What more could we ask on a Lame Post Friday?

 

Who Doesn’t Love a Tired Tuesday Post?

OK.  First I had the Stare Blank-minded At A Blank Screen disease.  Then I had the Type It In Backspace It Out disease.  I am, in fact, struggling mightily with myself not to backspace out those two sentences.  I’ve had worse Tired Tuesday posts.  I think.

Now there’s a character!

I thought I would pep things up with a picture.  This is our good friend Tucker,  in a truly brilliant performance in Donate to Murder, the mystery we are reviving for a fundraiser for the Herkimer County Historical Society next month.  Earlier today I was going over the script and making a few changes. I love writing.  I can never understand why I don’t do more of it.  What the hell, me?

Another dramatic moment.

I certainly hope I can find that hat with all the feathers.  Finishing the re-polish of Donate is not the only writerly chore I have to  concern myself with. However, I do not care to write about everything I Am Going To Write.  Then again, it would make a change from writing about How I Can’t Write Anything.  Oh dear.

Bennie the Bootlegger was not actually shaped like that.

Well, maybe one more preview of coming attractions.  LiFT is reviving Rubbed Out At Ruby’s for a fundraiser for RCIL in April.  Who doesn’t love a 1920’s murder mystery?

 

Muddled Monsters? Or Just a Muddled Post?

This is not how I looked on my wedding day.

I thought I would start right out with a monster picture.  I am very tired, and annoyed with myself for being so tired.  How am I ever going to get anything done?  What the hell, me?  And how does any of this relate to the picture I just shared?  Could I be having a Non-Sequitur Monday?  Let’s call it a Muddled Monday.  At least it’s alliterative.

I did get something done today.  I finished writing and emailed two articles with pictures to Mohawk Valley Living magazine.  I hope they publish them.  However, if they do not, it still did me good to write them.  No writing is wasted, because you learn something from writing it.  Also, I can always use it as a blog post.

“This is a good boy!”

Here is a Frankenstein’s Monster who had better luck with his bride than Boris Karloff had with Elsa Lanchester.  Oh dear, ought I to have included a spoiler alert?  Too late.

I can always use a little cuteness on a Monday.

I thought I would muddle things up a little more, veering into a cute little vampire.  I have absolutely no problem with cute monsters.

I guess this was not a particularly cute blog post, but it is over 200 words.  Did it do me good to write it?  I daresay it did.  I hope it was at least mildly entertaining to read.

 

Is It Really Lame Post Friday?

It is that awkward moment on a Friday when I do not even feel capable of a Lame Post Friday post.  On the one hand, I do not care.  We are having a FUN evening, drinking wine and watching television.  On the other hand, I feel guilty, because I am a supposedly daily blogger.  I have committed myself to publishing something at least mildly entertaining every day.  Can I do so today?  We shall see.

Earlier this week I posed a philosophical question I find appropriate to today’s post:  Do I cut myself too many breaks?  I am going to go out on a limb and say NO.  Not most of the time.

Obviously,  one could argue this.  One could argue that I deserve no breaks at all.  After all, if I was given no breaks, I would be obligated to make a decent post each and every day.  It is quite possible that I am indeed capable of such behavior.  By cutting myself said breaks, I am willfully keeping myself from living up to my full potential as a blogger.

There are a number of arguments against this stance.  The main one that attracts my present attention is:  Is living up to my potential as a daily blogger really such a worthy goal?

Of course there are a number of other arguments to consider.  For example,  how many breaks do I deserve?  If I did not cut myself any breaks, would I in fact live up to my full potential as a daily blogger?   Am I in fact capable of never cutting myself a break? What in fact is my full potential as a daily blogger?

OK, it is fairly clear that I can continue to ask any number of questions.  I have read the advice that it is OK to ask questions in writing,  but one should immediately go on to answer them.  Do I always follow advice?  We know I do not.  Was it even good advice?  That is a question deserving of its own Friday Lame Post.

 

I’m Late, But I Ran! And Blogged!

So the idea of writing while on breaks at work was not successful.  After writing and crossing out three or four phrases, I flipped back a few pages and worked on my latest attempt at a novel.  However, I had the plan that I would go running after work and could do a Running Commentary post.  Perfect!

Well, I was half right.  I ran, and it did not go too badly.  Then I was too damn tired to do anything but lounge on the couch watching Snapped and go to bed early.  Perhaps I could have forced my body and brain to do something, but I felt so deliciously relaxed and comfortable, I decided to cut myself a break.  Do I perhaps cut myself too many breaks?  That is a philosophical question better suited for Lame Post Friday.  This morning my purpose is to do a late Wuss-out Wednesday post.

The weather was not too cold (for February) and dry.  At least, the sky was dry.  The sidewalks were dreadful and the roads only really good in the middle.  I kept to streets less traveled but even so met with some traffic.  I dodged up onto the sidewalk only once, when a car was coming and I saw a bare patch of walk.  It did not last and I had to dodge over deep puddles and slushy ice to get back into the road.  Ugh.  No matter, just keep going.

My breathing was not bad.  My legs were not particularly happy, but that was to be expected after two weeks off.  Was it two weeks?  Yikes!  I’ll try not to do that again.  My legs eventually settled into it, and by the end my whole body was pretty happy I ran.  I plowed through snowy, slushy, wet sidewalks on my cool down walk, feeling fairly pleased with myself.

Oooh, look, 300 words.  I rock!  OK, not really, since this is a late post and not very descriptive of my run.  Still, I must celebrate even small wins.  Belated Happy Wednesday, everyone!

 

Ah Truman, You Were Right

I tried, I really tried to make my Saturday blog post on Saturday.  I wrote this much:

It is way past the time I usually make a blog post, and past my usual bedtime as well.  I went to a fundraiser for Team Rebecca of America’s Greatest Heart Run and Walk. We danced our butts off to our favorite local band, The Posers.  Now I am tired.

I wish I had some pictures to share, but I did not bring my Tablet.  I knew I would want to dance a lot and did not want to worry about leaving a device unattended.

Oh dear, I don’t know that I can make a full blog post now.  I am SO ready for bed.  Additionally,  I did not do much of anything else today so cannot make a Scattered Saturday post.  What the hell, me?

And that was as far as I got. As Truman Capote once said, that’s not writing, that’s typing.  Anyways, I realized it was after midnight so I would be making Saturday’s post on Sunday anyways, so there you have it. I am out of bed much later than usual, even for a Sunday, and I have a full day of chores ahead of me.  Will I do them all?  Will I do any of them?  A little suspense adds adds interest to my day.

In the meantime,  I am going to call this a Slacker Saturday post and drive on.  I shall drink some more coffee, and I hope you are all having a delightful weekend.