Tag Archives: writing

I’d Rather Share Monster Pictures

Can you bear one more post about NaNoWriMo?  If not, well, just look at the pictures.

“NOOOOOO! I’ve only written 25 words!!!!”

This is what I would probably look like if I attempted to write a 50,000 word novel during the 30 days of November : wild-eyed, running down the highway, and having a perfectly dreadful hair day.  I am taking it for granted (I try to never assume) that my readers all know that NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and participants attempt to write an entire novel in that length of time.  One of my nieces did it once and finished, but I don’t know that she ever polished up her novel and tried to get it published.

As you may have guessed, I am opting NOT to participate.  I tried once, back in the late ’00’s, scribbling frantically in a spiral notebook while at work.  It was fun for a few days, but then we got busy and my boss and co-workers seemed to think I should be waiting on customers (I had a different job then, working with the public, YIKES! No wonder I am so obsessed with movie monsters; they are so much more relaxing than customers).

Where was I? Ah yes, writing about not writing.

Still, relaxing with a beer after writing frantically all day, that I could get into.

I do want to write more, and to finish a novel as well as several other projects.  In that case, why not give NaNoWriMo a try?  They have a website that offers encouragement and accountability.  That is what a lot of us writers need: accountability.  And a deadline.  Maybe that is why I finish so few novels:  no deadline.  That’s something to think about.  Also, what a feeling of accomplishment I would have!  Oh dear, am I talking myself into this?

“Who, me? Write a novel in November?”

I don’t know if you believe in Freudian slips, but almost every time I’ve gone to type “NaNoWriMo,”  I’ve typed “NoNoWriMo.”  I think my fingers are trying to tell me something.  In any case, I just don’t feel that I want to participate in this thing.  I do not want to register at their website, update my word count, and past my entire novel to them so I can be declared a winner.  It’s just not me.

However, I’ll just put this out there:  I am going to write more.  I have been doing a little more each day, and I intend to increase my efforts and output.  I will let you know how I do.  I’ll write a blog post about it!  In the meantime, this is my Wuss-out Wednesday post.  Or perhaps we could call it a Mid-week Middle-aged Musings.  Either way, I think I’ll close with another monster picture.  Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Raise your hands, everybody who thinks Cindy ought to write more!

 

Another Blogger’s Sick Day

I just can’t do it.  I can’t let today be the day I don’t make a post.  Oh, I know, there have been a few days I’ve missed, due to computer problems or, well, falling asleep.  I made my post for those days as early as possible the next morning.  I thought briefly of doing that today, but, well, here I am, here is the laptop, my fingers are not broken, I have  internet connection, and I am awake.

Full disclosure:  I don’t want to be.  I think I am coming down with a cold or something.  I’m tired, I have a sick headache, I feel inclined to do nothing but whine.  My dear husband, Steven, suggested I take today off.  It was a kind, loving suggestion.  But I just feel if I take one day off, I will take all the days off, and then I will not be a blogger any more.  I suppose that would not be such a great loss to the blogosphere.  There are plenty of bloggers out there, many of them better than I am in different ways.

So I begin to ask myself, why am I still posting every day?  I started this blog in May of 2011 with the intention of posting every day for one year.  I don’t know what I thought was going to happen after a year, but it seemed a good goal to set for myself.  Now six years and a couple of months later, I am still at it.  Sometimes I feel a little proud of myself for that.  Then I think of all the foolish posts I’ve made along the way (YES, I realize this is one of them! Sheesh!), and I wonder.

However, when one is coming down with a miserable cold, it is not the best time to question one’s life choices.  One is likely to feel the only good choice would be to crawl into bed, pull up the covers, and cry.  Well, at least I won’t do the last one.  For one reason, it dehydrates one to cry, and it is important to stay hydrated, especially when ailing.  I am sure some readers will feel I might just as well have taken tonight off (you know who you are). No matter.  I am counting this as my Monday Mental Meanderings, and I am going to make myself some hot tea.  Thank you for tuning in.

 

Halloween Pics on Tired Tuesday

It’s Tired Tuesday, and I knew it would be a Tired Tuesday, and I did not one thing all day in any attempt to avoid this being Tired Tuesday.  I even had vague thoughts of going to bed and saying, “To hell with it, I’ll write something stupid tomorrow morning at four!”  Of course, that would entail getting up at four instead of my usual 4:30.  I could always try to post at 4:30, though, couldn’t I?

After Saturday night’s successful murder mystery, I only have two more theatrical commitments, and then I can concentrate on just going to work, coming home, and trying to get my act together.  Hey, that’s just three things, and I don’t think “coming home” even counts as one.  So that’s my plan.  I’m going to get my act together.  Does anybody believe me?  I’m not even sure I believe myself.

The folks at work don’t even believe I’m going to take a break from doing theatre things, but I think I can manage it at least for a month or so.  I wonder how much of my act I can get together in a month.

In the meantime, here I am making a silly and I’m afraid rather boring blog post.  I will add a couple Halloween photos to cheer things up a little.  I’ll just take some from my Media Library (doesn’t that sound fancy?  it is what the website calls it).

She looks so happy!

This lovely lady is from Pumpkin Junction in Sauquoit.  We have not been there yet this year.  We must plan a visit soon!

Ah, if only I stayed on the South Beach Diet long enough, perhaps I could look like this!

This one was taken at Pumpkin Junction.  Now I really want to make another visit there, to see if it is the same or if they have come up with new arrangements.

 

Another handsome fellow.

This last one is from the So Sweet Candy Cafe in Utica.  This photo was on my Facebook On This Day, so I re-posted it, asking the So Sweet if he was there again this year.  He is! Another visit I must plan.

That’s two things I can write better blog posts about!  Happy Tuesday, everyone!

 

 

Busy Saturday, Lousy Post

What a day, what a day!  I felt too tired and out of it to make my blog post earlier; why, for heavens’ sake, did I think it would be any easier now?  However, it is now 9 p.m. on Saturday night and I must post or not, and I choose post.

This morning I ran in the East Herkimer Fire Department 5K.  It was fun!  I did not run very fast, but I ran the whole distance and finished in as close as I get to a sprint.  I meant to write a whole blog post about it, but you know how it is.  You get home, shower, eat something, get absorbed in doing other stuff…  Long story, not very interesting, I did not write the post.

Tonight, we put on A G.R.A.V.E. Murder, the interactive murder mystery dinner theatre which benefited the Herkimer County Historical Society.  It was fun!  The audience loved us!  I could write a whole blog post about it, but, what a surprise, I’m tired.  I am dressed in comfy clothes, lounged on the couch with the television on.  I want to watch it and crochet.

And here we come to my main problem in my life as a blogger (oh yeah, like blogging is my life; I assure you, it is not):  when I am doing lots of good stuff to blog about, I am too tired and busy to write the damn post.  Oh well, shit, as they say, happens.  I’ll try for a better post tomorrow.  Happy Saturday, everyone.

 

More Monsters on Non-Sequitur Thursday

Sometimes when I have no ideas for a blog post nor brain to come up with any, I get on Facebook and find a cool picture, usually of a monster.  Sometimes not so much.  That is what you might call a heck of a note, especially during the month of October.  I wonder if my dear husband Steven downloaded anything good recently…

Was Elvis crossing over to the Dark Side or was Darth hoping for a gig as a back-up singer?

I’m going to count Darth Vader as a monster, although I suppose he is more properly considered a villain.  This being Non-Sequitur Thursday, I picked a few non-sequitur-looking pictures.  Darth Vader and Elvis Presley, there’s a buddy picture nobody ever made.  I suppose I could write a screenplay (if I knew how to write a screenplay), but who could we get to play Elvis?  Anyways, I would probably be lousy at pitching it to the studios.  That’s what you do with a screenplay, isn’t it?

It’s actually pretty good read.

Vampires are definitely monsters.  This is a book which occupies a proud place in our Halloween decorations.  Steven sought it out when he first heard of its existence.  I think a friend saw it in a bookstore window and posted a picture on Facebook.  Let’s hear it for posting pictures on Facebook!

Some humans are undoubtedly scarier than ghosts.

There’s a new ambition for me:  to find a ghost or other monster whose bed or closet I can hide under or in.

As you may have noticed, my writing tribulations continue.  I open the notebook and put pen to paper and nothing happens.  Oh, sometimes I write words then cross them out.  Then I write other words, some of which I let remain uncrossed.  They look up at me mockingly, flaunting their own ineptitude (how’s that for an awkward bit of anthropomorphism?).  And I make silly blog posts with pictures of monsters.  I like monsters.

 

Brain Off on Tired Tuesday

My brain has been functioning on and off all day, mostly off.  I hurried home from work and managed to accomplish the tasks I had set for myself EXCEPT make my blog post before my rehearsal for Strike Story, the reader’s theatre production in Little Falls later this month (is that a run-on sentence?  My brain is back in off mode, naturally).  I just about had time to make a not very good post, but my brain clicked off big time.  It barely clicked back on for rehearsal, but I managed to stumble through that.

Of course, the operative thing to do would have been to write my blog post earlier, while on breaks at work.  I was totally going to!  I even had something to write about.  When I started to compose it in my head while working (I have the sort of job where you can do that), I found I didn’t really know enough about what I wanted to write about, so I would have to wait till I got home and got on the computer.  I just could not manage to write about anything else.  Some will say this is mere laziness or perhaps that I am not really a writer after all.  Dammit, I know I’m not a real writer!  I’m lazy, too, I admit it.  The fact is, I am down, and I always have a hard time doing anything when I am feeling blue.

In fact, I’m having a hard time typing this now.  However, one thing I have learned is, one must persevere.  One thing I must learn is how to write when I feel blue.  Another good thing might be to learn how to make a blog post with my brain in off mode.  Wait a minute, I think that is what I just did.  How appropriate for a Tired Tuesday.

 

Just Another Bog Post

I did some writing at work today (YES, boss, on a BREAK!)  (oh, yeah, like my boss reads my blog, dream on, Cindy!), but the thing I finished wasn’t good for the blog and the thing that was good for the blog isn’t finished (ooh, here’s a Freudian typo: I put “bog” instead of “blog”).  Actually, the thing I finished could use some revision and addendums, but let’s not worry about that now.  I have a blog post to make.

Lately I have been having the problem of feeling unable to write.  I am obsessed with puzzles: anacrostics, crosswords, cryptograms, anything with a pencil and clue (cue jokes about how I may have a pencil, but I certainly do not have a clue).  I cut cryptograms and crosswords out of the daily paper, and I have puzzle books as well.  Some days I purposely leave all puzzles at home, so I will have to write.  Sometimes that does not work very well.  I sit there looking at the blank page and feel actual physical discomfort from not having a puzzle to work on, or I write something so bad, stupid or ridiculous that I still feel physical discomfort.

Once in a while, however, I surprise myself.  I try to write one sentence and suddenly find myself scribbling paragraph after paragraph.  It’s great!  How do I make that happen all the time?  As I sit here, I realize I can offer myself a number of suggestions.   I’ll mention a few of them and you can tell me if they sound good or if I’m full of beans (always a possibility).

  1.  Have a project going.  Today I met with success because the two things I worked on were things I had started previously.  That is, I wasn’t starting from a dead stop.  However, this does not always work.  Sometimes the project I was working on is bogging down for one reason or another.  This leads me to my second suggestion.
  2.  Start a new project.  It is really easy for me to start making notes on  new novel or murder mystery. Actually, given my track record of unfinished projects, this may not be the best advice for me to follow, although in a pinch, it may get the pencil moving.
  3.  Here is my real takeaway from today’s little bit of success:  KEEP TRYING!  I never know when I am going to be stuck with the blank page and pen that doesn’t move or when I’m going to write and keep going.  But if I right away get buried in an anacrostic, I for sure won’t get anything written.

Hmm… I thought I was going to have more suggestions.  Still, I said “a number” and 3 is a number.  I’m going to call that OK for Non-Sequitur Thursday.  I think I’ll go stare at a blank page for a while and see if anything happens.

 

With a Laptop on my Knee

OK, I’m sitting here with the laptop on my lap (I know, where else would it be?  Well, it MIGHT be somewhere else; I’m not here to discuss the possible whereabouts of computers), and once again, I got nuthin’ (or is it “nuttin'”?  I like “nuthin'”) (which is not the same thing as not liking anything, but close).

Where was I?  Ah yes, Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  I tell you, I am down.  I’m not a writer.  I write a silly blog, and, as Truman Capote once said, “That’s not writing, that’s typing.”  Yes, yes, I must stop with the existential crisis, people will think I am merely fishing for encouragement.   I am only being honest, in this case.  Oh, sometimes I fish for encouragement or even compliments, never fear.  Hell, I’m not perfect.  I’m a factory worker who takes pen in hand or keyboard under fingers occasionally and words come out.  Good words?  Useful words?  Entertaining words?  One can only hope.

I have been trying to take another step towards reaching my writing goals, and I have had little to no success. I know, lift your feet a little higher, push them forward a little more, these things are under our own control if only we would accept responsibility.  Very well then, I shall accept responsibility.  Tomorrow, or possibly later tonight, I will work on the novel I found earlier today.  Ooh, that’s right, I did do one thing today:  I found the notebook I’ve been looking for where I had started a novel I thought I would like to finish. It’s a baby step, but it is a step.  I shall make further updates as events warrant.

In the meantime, it is Wrist to Forehead Sunday, the day I try to enjoy myself with my husband and not think about returning to work tomorrow (I’ll work on curing the Monday to Friday Malaise another time, did I mention I’m not perfect?).  We were watching Halloween movies earlier.  I wonder if we could watch another one now. No, I can’t work on that novel now, time with husband, remember?  I may or may not ever become a successful novelist, but if I take care to spend time with my husband I WILL have a good marriage.  Priorities, people.

 

I’m Also a Witch

First a quick postscript to yesterday’s post (postpost?):  the crock pot applesauce was DELICIOUS, especially with the vanilla ice cream.  It was also yummy today for my lunch without the ice cream.  Unfortunately, my digestive woes continue.  I only mention it as a partial excuse for today’s Wuss-out Wednesday post.  Earlier this afternoon, I seriously considered cancelling the blog due to weather.  I thought, why not?  They call sports games for rain, snow or severe heat.  Lightning causes all sorts of cancellations and plan changes.  Why am I expected to function normally in unreasonably warm, muggy weather? (The weather folks call it “unseasonably warm,” but I calls it like I sees it.)

I know, I know, stop being such a baby.  That and, when have I ever functioned normally?  And when have I ever needed an excuse for Wuss-out Wednesday?  When have I ever used an excuse that was not immediately discounted, at least by those pesky critics in my head?  How many questions do you suppose I can fit into one paragraph?  Would you believe one more?

I think this blog is spinning out of control, even for a Wuss-out Wednesday.

What I may look like tomorrow morning.

When in doubt, look for a Halloween picture.  I went to the downloads on our laptop and found this.  I couldn’t quite see what it was in the downloads (too small), but I saw pumpkin, darkness, and said, OK.  Pumpkin spice coffee.  Ah, the thought of that encourages me.  It is the taste of autumn.  I could use some autumn.

I’m the one on the right.

I do not now where Steven got this picture, but I love old-fashioned stuff like this.  Ah, the thought of Halloween approaching makes me feel better about everything.

This time I’m the one in the middle.

Wow, my husband finds some great stuff online.  And too late I remember, I could have thrown in the pictures, called this Wordless Wednesday, and had done with.  I never do anything right!  On the other hand, if that’s what I am, I’ll embrace it.  Happy Wednesday, everyone.

 

View from the Bottom of the Hill

Wrist to Forehead Sunday indeed!  I cannot even type in one coherent sentence!  Never mind why; it is not that interesting.  I have not had a particularly an interestestetring

That was when I gave up and stopped typing.  How embarrassing!  On the brighter side, it seems I spelled embarrassing correctly the first time for once.  It is early Monday morning.  It has happened a few times that I miss my daily post so do it the next morning as early as possible.  I actually could have done this one at 2 a.m. when I woke up and could not get back to sleep, but I like to stay in bed and keep trying. I often meet with success, as I eventually did this morning.  Ah, but will I meet with success in making a blog post?

Probably not.  As I was about to type when I became quite disgusted with my clumsy typing, I did not have a particularly interesting weekend.  I enjoyed it; it’s just nothing to write blog about (get it, like “nothing to write home about”?).

I did see a cartoon on Facebook that caught my attention and my thoughts.  It showed a person at the bottom of hill carrying a bicycle on Monday; Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were spent struggling up the hill; Friday was a happy person at the top of the hill starting down; Saturday zipping down; Sunday reaching the bottom and into Monday in an endless cycle.  I thought, “Yes, that is exactly what I feel like, only without the bicycle.  I feel like I’m pulling myself up a vertical incline with only my fingernails for tools.”  Seriously, that is the exact image that has been coming to my mind lately, even before seeing the cartoon.

However, the point of the cartoon was, “Don’t be like this.”  I commented, “How, how, how can one accomplish this?”  So far nobody has replied, although I got a couple of Likes (on Facebook as with the blog, I love to get Likes).  So now I appeal to my blog readers:  How can one accomplish this without changing one’s job, going back to school, or otherwise completely disrupting one’s life?  Any ideas?  Anybody?  Bueller?

Full disclosure:  I am not feeling particularly ill-used by fate this morning.  I actually feel in a pretty good mood right now.  Is it the coffee?  Or the blog?  Maybe I should start waking up with the blog on a Monday.  It may have a positive effect on my life.