Tag Archives: writing

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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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!

Merry Christmas Anyways

I wonder if anybody has noticed that I have not posted since Sunday. I have no valid excuse. I have a few lame ones but I am loathe to share them, largely because my mother reads this blog and I don’t want her to worry. Ooh, too late now, unless I delete this paragraph.

I can’t do that. I haven’t posted for three days; I can’t get the type-it-in-backspace-it-out disease now.

However, it seems I can possibly get the hit-Save-but-don’t-Publish-it disease. I confess to having a few atrophied partial posts floating in my Drafts. Every so often I pull one out and try to finish it. No luck so far.

So basically, what I am offering today is Yet Another Post About Being Unable To Make A Decent Blog Post. Could that possibly be worth a three day wait? You tell me.

The main reason I have not been able to post is my ongoing struggles with depression. I dislike mentioning it, because I do not want to be whining, especially as I feel my problems are far less than what others deal with. Incidentally, the latter reflection makes me feel even worse. What an ungrateful wretch am I!

However, perhaps other readers also suffer from depression, and they might like to feel that they are not alone. They may even get a frisson of superiority if they are dealing with their problems with greater aplomb than I can muster. Remember: no life is wasted, because one can always stand as a bad example.

In summary: I have not been posting lately, because I have felt paralyzed by my depression. However, it is nothing for anybody to worry about, should anybody feel so inclined. This will probably just morph over into a common or garden post-Christmas letdown. I have survived those before.

On the brighter side (see, I can usually find one of those), once I hit Publish, I have finally made a blog post. Phew! I was getting worried that not posting was going to become a habit.

My Husband, Mr. Christmas

I spent some time today staring at a blank sheet of paper. “Just write something,” I told myself. I did not. However, rather than continuing with a whiny post, writing about not writing (the irony is not lost on me), I thought I would share a couple more pictures of the delightful Christmas decorations my wonderful husband Steven put up.

Full disclosure: none of these has ever actually cracked a nut.

Steven has a lovely collection of nutcrackers. It’s always fun when I can find a different one for him.

A few more cuties.

This is our dining room table. Luckily we do not plan on eating there any time soon.

A little busy, but fun.

The three wooden boxes and a lot of the other stuff is up all year, but Steven added some Christmas touches.

As I sit here typing, Steven is working on our Christmas cards. What a guy! He is certainly Mr. Christmas this year! I wonder if I can find a nice picture of him in my Media Library, so he can sort of take a bow.

Steven doing some Christmas shopping.

Here is a recent picture of Steven at New 2 You Consignment Store in Ilion, along with the proprietresses and their cute dog. That reminds me, we have a lot more Christmas shopping to do. Perhaps I had better make a list. In the meantime, Happy Monday, everyone.

Mohawk Valley Girl