No News, Just Snark

The week ends with a lift. Friday, even though I'm retired, still feels wonderful. Probably because I don't have to get up at 5:45 a.m. on Saturday.

I wrote something this week! Well, two things. I wrote a poem and posted it on my other blog and I posted something here. I was running back and forth most of the week to appointments with physical therapy and a second eye exam because I take Plaquenil.

Plaquenil is a rheumatoid arthritis medication that can cause irreversible eye damage if you take it too long. I've been on it probably 15 yrs. Your risk go up for blindness the longer you take it. Now they have to check me every year. Can I stop taking it? Do I feel lucky? Not particularly.

Anyway, the physical therapy wears me out. They have me doing weights. I'm doing ... well, I don't know what they're called, but they have me sitting on a big ball, pulling weight from overhead and in front of me. They have me doing abductor exercises on another machine. Then they put me on my back and have me doing leg work, pushing my whole body with my legs and alternating single legs and then switching me to arms. Yeah, if you know what all that is - great. If not, well there. Then I have to do more core exercises with just me. I'm tired when I get home but the next day I'm really exhausted.

Next week, I get dry needling. Joy.

You know, the last thing I need right now is needling. I'm not sure it is wise to needle someone who is having rotten, I hesitate to say luck, but there it is. Everything that can go wrong, has. I've minded my business and been very good but the universe is really getting on my last nerve. And it's been going on for months.

I suspect the exercise has made me feel a bit better. I can't say I've lost weight. Muscle weighs more than fat. And it will take more than a few weeks to do any good on this old bag. Still, I can tell I'm better in some nebulous way.

Am I being obscure? Just checking.

So, how was your writing week? If you didn't write, I hope something tremendously exciting happened that you can share to offset your failure as a writer. I'm just kidding. Really.

Writer's Block

In the last week I've given a whole new meaning to the term Writer's Block. I suspect that it's the first time in history anyone can say they profited from Writer's Block, too.

Let me explain before you get more bored than usual. My church began a social media fast for two weeks and although I am not compelled to do so, I wanted to take part. Last year, I did a Facebook fast in February after they did a January fast. Yes, it was difficult but not impossible. If I'm honest, I must admit that I felt better after a month off Facebook. So, the prospect this year was enticing.

As writers we're all brainwashed to believe that unless we're flooding social media with our names, content, and merchandise no one will take us seriously as a writer/author, becoming little more than a piece of flotsam in the great garbage patch of failed authors. There's no proof but fear is a powerful motivator and a great salesman. To continue the analogy, I'm plankton in a large ocean.

I'm in my second week of my Facebook abstinence but I admit I broke it for one day to catch up and ensure my family/friends knew all was well and not to call out the marines. Well. No, that's not true. I wanted to see what was going one. Exactly. I'd been off for a week. Things could have been happening. Things were happening I wanted to share.

I hope by now you're on the edge of your seat wondering why I'm writing such a trivial and uninteresting post and you're wasting your time reading it. I'll tell you. It appears you can accomplish a lot when you're not lashed to Facebook.

The past week was .... eventful. I began physical therapy for my shoulder and back on Monday. I could hardly move by Tuesday and that lasted until Friday when I went back to PT and they put me through my paces again. The therapist told me if I continued to exercise I'd never be that sore again. I didn't point out that the fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis caused as much if not more pain than the PT caused and thus made it nearly impossible to exercise for months at a time. 

During the 3 days I couldn't move, I read a book by author, Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind. An excellent book of 600+ pages I encourage you to try. I read it in 4 days. Last night I started the second book in the series, The Wise Man's Fear. It has 1000 pages. I'm stunned but not stymied. I've read an old hardback copy of The Count of Monte Cristo and that had over 1000 pages of tiny print.

My second surprise came with the writing. In two of the last seven days I wrote over 3000 words. Even I gasp at that. I've also been working on some... I don't know what you call it. I'm going over notes on the world, people, and story history. I'm not a plotter but over the course of the last two years I've been studying a variety of books on plot to get a sense of how to do it. I think I'm closer to understanding it but it still feels like I'm clutching at mist.

I noticed that I enjoyed what I was doing more. I felt like I had more time. Probably why I could read that huge book so fast. Even my morning devotionals were less rushed. I don't recall missing social media as much as I expected.

So, how did I stay off Facebook for a week? First, I removed all the apps from my digital items: phone and Kindle. Then I reactivated an extension in my browser I used in the past: StayFocusd. If you follow the link, you can find a short review. This extension allows you to block any website or all of them for any amount of time and any number of days. Or you can block yourself from everything forever. That's called the Nuclear Option and I urge you to use caution when implementing this. They say you can't undo it.

Used wisely, the Nuclear Option is a marvel. I decided, with extreme trepidation, to use that option for my Facebook fast. If you set a time limit for total blocking, you just have to wait it out.  I set it to block Facebook and one other site for 48 hours (4 days). Once started, I can't get to the site and I can't stop the clock. If I try, a page pops up with big, bold words, "Shouldn't you be writing a novel?" I selected that statement. You can put anything you want as your statement and that made it more fun for me. Besides, it was the truth.

Despite my 48 hour limit, I managed a full 7 days, getting on Facebook only last night to update and check in. I reset the clock and am now on my second week. If this seems like cheating on a religious fast, I guess it is. But I think this has been the most productive I've been in a while and I've also been less inclined to cheat. Admit it, you want to get on and who'll know? Cheating, no matter what anyone else thinks, is a sin. I don't like the feeling of cheating, particularly when I'm cheating myself. Or God.

Despite having a lot of discomfort, I could find more productive things to do than cruise Facebook. The accomplishment felt great, too. Once the fast is over, I should probably think of a way to use this Writer's Block method more often.

Thoughts and Books

Five days into the new year and I've done to too little writing. I got off to a rocky start this month. For weeks, severe back and leg pain have kept me tethered to a chair which only makes it worse. Getting out of bed was difficult. The recent shift in weather from rainy to less rainy improved this. I‘ve been better for two days now although my hips keep catching, forcing me to pause before going forward.

I sound like an old jalopy. The fenders rattle, the paint is flaking, and I’m held together with duct tape and bailing wire.

For a few days I’ve been considering my WIP: All That’s Holy. I want to find the problems with the story line and get the plot back on track. I lost my way on it and each time I try to get back on target I become frustrated with it. What I want to do this week is to write a summary of the story. I don’t know if I can do it but I’ll try, barring some kind of chaos, that is. One must always plan for chaos.

This will be a short post but I want to mention a book I’m reading. I checked it out of the library when I saw it online somewhere. Steering the Craft - A 21st Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of the Story by Ursula Le Guin.

I’ve not read Le Guin before this but 13% in and I like what I’m reading. She continues to carry the nautical theme throughout the text. This is like a mini writing workshop and she has exercises at the end of each chapter. According to the introduction, she based the book on a workshop she held and the students who attended, even using her notes from the event.

Another novel I‘m reading is The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn. Ms. Raybourn has two other series I’ve been reading and they’re outstanding. The first one, the Lady Julia Grey Series is great and clean. No sex scenes. Why is that notable? The amount of erotica floating around these days almost makes it necessary to wear waders to the bookstore. If you’re into that, OK. I'm not. I need not enrich my sex life and if I did, it wouldn’t be from someone else’s imagination.

The second set is The Veronica Speedwell, and this one is more…  risque. No sex but the main character admits to regular affairs and is open-minded about such things. Again, the mystery carries the story and there are no lurid scenes with a blow by blow account. There’s not even any swearing.

Raybourn’s works are great. The Dead Travel Fast differs from the others because it is about vampires. Is there a vampire? I don’t know. I'm not halfway through it yet.  All the novels take place during the Victorian period and Raybourn carries the settings off well.

If you’re looking for a good mystery, with an interesting setting, and amusing characters you can’t miss with any of these.

I’m ready to call it a night. I’ve swept floors, made beds, cleaned the kitchen, and washed two loads of laundry. We’re so happy that was all there was to wash. My back hurts from sweeping. I also helped Sarah with homework and that is a chore. I'm thankful that the house is spotless tonight.

I'll wish you all a good night and hope you have a great writing week.