Tag Archives: writing

I Left Out Play Solitaire

Posted on January 23, 2020 by mohawkvalleygirl

On the brighter side, it has been a long time since I had a really bad headache. On the dimmer side, well, here I am on Thursday morning, typing in my Wednesday post. I actually wrote something Wednesday morning. It kind of took a turn, so I was not going to use it, but now I find it appropriate. We can either call it Mid-Week Middle-aged Musings or, perhaps more appropriately, Wuss-out Wednesday.

I must write my update on Brainstorming the Bard. It might serve as inspiration for me to get my act together and perhaps as comfort to other disorganized people, that they are not alone or even the worst.

Alas, it is not only lack of organization that plagues me. It is the paralysis of will that I fear is a symptom of my depression. In short, I am finding it damn difficult to do ANYTHING.

I get up in the morning, feeling rather ill-used about it, but most of us are used to that. I get to work and manage to function (my job is not difficult). I go home and sometimes manage a chore or two (Just Do One Thing is my meager motto). But all I really want to do is sit, stare into space, maybe read a book, do a puzzle, crochet or knit while watching a true crime show.

At least the last mentioned will eventually result in an object that may be useful to someone, but these are not activities that will help me reach any of my life goals.

That is when I stopped writing and began to work on a puzzle, till it was time to go to work. And now I am over 250 words, so I have that going for me. That is a thing I have been saying lately. As in tomorrow’s Friday, so I have that going for me. Ah, I feel a wave of optimism coming over me: in truth, I have a lot of things going for me. Full disclosure: this reflection does not always help. As I may have mentioned before, sometimes when I think of all the good things in my life, it makes me feel worse, because how can I dare feel depressed, ungrateful wretch that I am. Today, I feel grateful. I think it is going to be a good day. I will try to blog about it tonight, if my headache doesn’t come back.

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Posted in humor, Mid-week Mental Meanderings, Mid-week Middle Aged Musings, personal, Wuss Out Wednesday and tagged blog post, bloggers sick day, blogging, depression, headache, late blog post, late post, life goals, not writing, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

Oh Crap! I Hit Publish Before I Thought up a Title!

Posted on January 19, 2020 by mohawkvalleygirl

I have waited till too late on a Saturday night to make anything but a short, foolish Scattered Saturday post. Of course, it is not that late an hour for most people; 8:13 p.m. used to feel fairly early for me, too. However, I have been up since 5:30 a.m., which, regular readers may recall, is sleeping in for me.

Where was I? Ah yes, nowhere in particular. I went for a pretty good run this morning, in spite of 10 degree weather (according to the blinky sign in front of Trinity Lutheran Church on German Street). I felt sufficiently bad-ass about that. Full Disclosure: it was not a bad run at all; I wore sufficient layers that only my face was cold.

Later in the day, Kim, Steven and I went to Meeples Mug House in Little Falls for Brainstorming the Bard, an event for LiFT, the Little Falls Theatre Company. We aim to bring summer Shakespeare back to the Little Falls area. More about that endeavor soon!

One of my favorite spots!

The weather was rather frightful, so our event was not as well attended as we had hoped. Also, after we met, we did not go out to dinner as I had wanted to. Going home was the more sensible choice.

Of course I relaxed once I was home.

I took this picture to send to Kim, because she gave me the socks and I was not sure she had noticed I was wearing them. She had noticed.

Back home, I cooked baked macaroni and cheese. Steven and I watched a Svengoolie we had DVR’d, and now I am listening to Snapped while I type this (as Truman Capote once said, that’s not writing, that’s typing).

Now I am up to date and over 250 words. Happy Saturday, everyone!

Cheered by Murder Mysteries

Posted on January 11, 2020 by mohawkvalleygirl

I wrote another sentence on the post I just couldn’t seem to write yesterday. Now I am going to have my usual Lame Post Friday. I feel sure many of my readers have been expecting it.

A happy couple, and may I say a handsome one.

I am sitting here with my dear husband Steven, and it is a little difficult to make a blog post when we keep wanting to talk. We started reminiscing about murder mysteries, starting with the most recent, Fabulous and Fatal. Above is a picture of the two of us, looking fabulous (or do I flatter myself?). I should share a picture of the whole cast. That was a great show.

As much fabulousness as allowed by law!

There are more murder mysteries on the horizon. A plan is afoot to revive Rubbed Out at Rubies to benefit RCIL. More informative about that later!

Who killed Benny the Bootlegger?

There will be a couple of cast changes, and I intend to find another outfit. I’ll post more pictures as soon as I have them.

This is an even better cast photo.

My writing struggles continue, but it certainly makes me feel better to think about murder mysteries. I may have to write a few new scenes for Ruby’s. Then maybe a new murder mystery…

I’ll keep you posted!

Just Write One Blog Post

Posted on January 10, 2020 by mohawkvalleygirl

OK, this is not quite the same thing as type-it-in-back-space-it-out. I just added a photo I took on a recent Mohawk Valley Adventure, typed in one sentence, and realized I could not go through with composing the entire post. At least I put a headline on it and saved what little I had as a draft, but what the hell, me?

This morning I wrote a little in the TV Journal, as I have been trying to do lately. A quick check showed me I have been steady since Dec. 26. I feel I must give myself a little credit for that at least.

Regarding my apparent inability to write before my shift starts and while on breaks at work, I said to myself, “Just write one sentence.” I repeated it in my head as I got ready and drove to work.

And I wrote one sentence! And then another one! They were not good sentences, unfortunately. Mostly I wrote about the fact that I was writing, expressing some surprise that I was doing so. Still, I wrote a couple of paragraphs.

I really do not know why I feel as if I am starting from several steps behind scratch. It is not as if I have gone any considerable length of time without writing at all, and I have not suffered any devastating mental or physical ailments.

In the meantime, I see I have surpassed 200 words with this nonsense. I shall close with the picture I opened the unfinished blog post with. Call it a Preview of Coming Attractions, if you like.

Did the troll put a hex on me, do you suppose?

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Posted in blogging, humor, personal, writing and tagged blog post, blogging, not writing, preview of coming attractions, TV Journal, writing. Bookmark the permalink.

Maybe I Am The Peanut Gallery

Once again my plan of writing my blog post in advance did not work out. Some fellow writers will understand and sympathathize with my apparent inability to write, others, including a good number of non-writers, will scoff and tell me to get up off my lazy duff and WRITE, damn you! Sometimes I find my own self in the latter category.

I have a few Mohawk Valley Adventures to write posts about. Unfortunately, before writing any this evening, Steven and I got out and about and ended up at Applebee’s for Winesday. After splitting a bottle of Chardonnay, I feel disinclined for further activities. What a bum am I!

With a new year and new decade (and, please, do not any of you be didactic and tell me the new decade technically begins in 2021), I have been trying to write more. Full Disclosure: I have not met with much success in this endeavour. Any suggestions from my lovely readers? Further Disclosure: my first impulse was to type “from the peanut gallery,” but I was afraid people would take it amiss.

So I guess that is two questions I have: Are there any suggestions to increase my writing output? And: Does anybody reading this mind being referred to as the peanut gallery? Please submit any answers as comments below. I warn you, if nobody expresses an opinion, I will feel free to refer to my readers as The Peanut Gallery forevermore.

Was There a Spring in my Step?

I felt myself incapable of writing a blog post earlier. Go ahead and judge me if you are so inclined. I had a headache and was battling a down mood. Oh, stop playing that miniature violin (you know who you are); I was not asking for sympathy, I was just giving you the picture. Anyways, I thought it would be all right, because I planned to go running and could make a Running Commentary post.

It was not a particularly eventful run, but I did it, so I give myself credit for that. It was grey but not precipitating, cold but not freezingly so. In fact, at times I almost thought it could be March. I felt some indefinable hint of spring in the air. I kept asking myself why I felt that way, since it was in fact cold. I suppose it could have been the feeling of 30 degrees instead of ten. Or it could have been the mud.

I spent most of the run in the road, because I kept encountering ice on the sidewalk. I stayed on the left side facing traffic, and I was wearing my road guard vest (reflective vest, to you civilians). I would have been better served to stay on the quieter streets but unfortunately wound up on German Street for a few blocks. That was where I encountered most of the mud, because I kept as close as I could to the curb.

My legs felt pretty content to be running, and my breathing was fine. I am SO going to rock the Boilermaker 15K in July! I may even be writing better blog posts by then.

Hit Publish Before I Backspace It Out!

“Oh woe is me!”

I have the type-it-in-backspace-it-out disease. You might think that is why I opened with the picture of Bonita having a Wrist to Forehead moment, but I actually picked that before I realized I was going to hate everything I started to type. What’s a blogger to do?

“Perhaps if we pooled our resources, we could make a blog post.”

The disease continues in the second paragraph. What the hell, me? Perhaps it is time to retire Monstrous Monday and come up with a few feature. Or start writing my blog posts before I feel too tired to do so.

In my defense, we were watching a two hour Dateline we had not seen before, and it was a good one! It was very frustrating, because of the villainous — I could even say MONSTROUS woman involved. Would she get away with murder? Would she keep her ill-gotten gains? I must not say more, because I did not include a Spoiler Alert.

Plenty of monsters here!

Aaaaaand type-it-in-back-space-it-out continues. This is where writing with a pen and paper is superior to computers. When I HATE what I wrote, I do not obliterate it but merely cross it out. Sometimes when I go back and read it later, I find it is not so bad after all.

Hmmm… did I just say something about writing my blog posts before I get too tired? Once again, the solution to my problem stares me in the face, saying, ” Helll-Oh!” Write earlier, with pen and paper. I can type when I’m tired.

In the meantime, maybe one more monster picture before I hit Publish.

Most of us don’t, sweetie!

Lame Without Parole

I pause in my viewing of Snapped to make this week’s Friday Lame Post. Incidentally, this is a really good —

I was about to say a really good episode, which I have not seen before, when I got distracted by another twist in the case at hand. I just can’t get enough murder and mayhem. Now it is a commercial, so perhaps I can progress on my blog post.

Of course as soon as I typed that I went blank. What else can I expect on Lame Post Friday?

OK, that episode is over. Before I get all absorbed in the next one, I have a not so random observation to share. In fiction, when somebody gets murdered, many people have a motive. It is much more interesting that way. When I write a murder mystery, my victim is usually a real slime bucket and few are sorry that he or she is dead.

In real life, however, murder victims are often nice people. They are kind and loving parents, siblings or spouses. It’s the murderer that is the real son of a bitch.

I guess this observation falls under the heading No Shit, Sherlock. Well, what does anybody expect from me on Lame Post Friday?

Happy New Year Anyways

Can I treat New Year’s Day like a Wrist to Forehead Sunday? I had a very nice time last night and took a pretty good run this morning. OH! I do have one major bit of news: I registered to run the Boilermaker 15K in 2020. They did a special early registration deal starting at midnight. I was asleep at midnight (don’t judge), but I got online and registered as soon as I got up.

Well, that paragraph took an unexpected turn. I thought I had logged on merely to pose dramatically and swoon. You know, Wrist to Forehead Sunday. Even though it is not Sunday, it feels like one. New Year’s Day often does. Not like a holiday, mind you, just a run of the mill Sunday, hence, the Wrist to Forehead aspect.

I will share with you at this point that I fear I may be coming down with a cold. I keep coughing, and I can kind of feel it down in my chest. Dammit, I can’t deal with that now! For one reason, I don’t want to go using up my precious paid days off in January! People say you should not go to work if you are sick with something contagious, but employers are notoriously unsympathetic. Oh well, maybe it is a false alarm.

So I guess this turns out to be Yet Another Post about Not Being Able to Make a Blog Post. What a way to start the new year! But I hope you will all stay tuned. In addition to the Boilermaker, I have one or two other projects in the offing that I hope to write about soon.

I Am Not Resolute

I am not making any New Year’s Resolutions. Every time I think I am going to do this or that to improve my life or myself, I don’t do it. This morning I wrote down a simple list of a very few goals for the week. I got home from work, sat down on the couch and commenced to whine.

Actually, I did not whine. I chatted with my husband. We watched a couple of episodes of Dateline we had on DVR, during which time I crocheted and Steven cooked dinner. I even paused one episode long enough to take a shower, so I don’t stink (at least not literally, no promises about being a stinker). Oh, I also wrote in the TV Journal this morning and started writing a letter, both of which were on my list.

Gee, that’s not so bad. The only thing I did not do was a load of laundry. What am I beating myself up for? Look, I’m even making my blog post, a task I have recently had problems with. Let us not go overboard with this, “I’m such a hopeless wreck” stuff.

Still, it might be a good idea to stick with my No Resolutions resolution. You see how easily I can turn a simple list of goals into self disdain. Maybe I should make a resolution not to do that any more. Waaaaait a minute!

Mohawk Valley Girl