Busy Week of Progress - More to Do

It has been a very busy week. I was not feeling well on Sunday, extremely fatigued, and lay around in the recliner all day. On Monday, I was still tired; however, I sat down as a computer and worked on one book. By the end of the day, I was astounded to realize that I'd been there for almost 3 hours. However, the first seven chapters are lined out to my satisfaction.

On Tuesday, I was back at it for part of the day. I did not get as much done, however; I started on a couple more chapters, adding things, taking things out, and correcting errors. There remains a lot of the old text, some of it going back to when I wrote the story for Nano. For those sections, I have to rewrite or delete things.

The same day, I also worked on one the cat scratching post that I've been dealing with for a while but still have about half of it left to wrap with rope. I was exhausted and had to stop. Wednesday, I paid for it in spades. I sat on the floor to work on this thing and my back was sore from stretching. My legs, knees, and hips took a beating, too. I alternated between stretching one leg out and bending the other and sitting Indiana fashion. I enjoy sitting this way on the floor but forgot my old bones do not. 

I haven't decided if this was cheaper than buying a new one, but I don't think so can the long run. The rope was a 40 foot roll for $3.50. I have used three roles as so far. I have one rolled left but I think you will need two roles. So, it cost of roughly $17.50 of rope. I had to buy a glue gun because someone "borrowed" my good one and never returned it. And I needed glue sticks to glue on the rope. If I had it to do again, I'd probably go with an application glue but it would be so messy and since it is winter, I have no circulation to do that in the house safely. You can see I still have to finish it, but I'm pleased with the results. I learned a lot doing this and will be better at it if I do it again. 

They covered this post in a "fabric" for the cats to scratch. I have another one I bought when I got my cats. This belonged to Chaz and lasted about 5 years, but he eventually shredded the fabric at the top. I thought about buying another, but they're nearly $70 each now. Each of the two I bought cost about $50. I suspect when the second one becomes worn out, I'll be covering it too. 

And now it is 2:30 a.m. on Thursday. Yep. I went to bed about 6:30 p.m. and read for a till about 7 p.m.but I was in so much pain I could hardly move. I've had 5.5 hrs sleep and woke at midnight. Ugh. Not quite enough sleep, but I'm not sleepy now and rather than rolling around in the bed, I got up. I've done some updates on the computer and finished writing this post I started yesterday. 

Yesterday I looked in the backyard and thought my pond was drying up and was concerned about the fish dying. Just kidding. We've had so much rain it looks like a pond out there. Then heavy wet snow showed up and further exacerbated the problem. Last night it rained again. 

And that's the week to date. Hope you're all having a good one. I'm going to be working on the book again. I'd love to get this one completed in the next month and have someone read over it! We'll see how it goes. I've been here before.

 So much to do and so little time. 

Twiddling My Thumbs

This is one writer who is just all messed up. I tell myself I should just throw in my keyboard and give up. I write a bit here and a bit there. The little voice in my head says time is running out and I'm just twiddling my thumbs. I don't know if that's true. But the nagging isn't helping me.

👈  I woke up at noon to this kind of day. The temperature is rather nice but the lack of sun is ominous. Winters in S. Indiana are quite gloomy, and someone with problems retaining vitamin D doesn't need gloomy skies. We need sun.

I'm exhausted. Possibly I've been sitting up too late watching funny videos. Because I live alone, have no place to go or am too ill to go, and I have no visitors, I've become more depressed. There is nothing I can do about it. I already take a pill for fibromyalgia that is an antidepressant. They told me I can't take anything else. So, medication is out.

Sitting up late watching Poldark is also not helpful. The story is so intense and the villain so insanely persistent that I have to watch until I reach a resolution to the current problem they're facing. So far, that's each season finale! A few nights ago I stopped at the end of the show just before it shows one of my favorite characters dying! I couldn't handle it. Depression and sad stories don't mix.

I've even tried reading, which usually helps me. I'm reading a book called Cold Water by Debbie Herbert. This is a very good book, and the story is intense. The antagonist is maddening but so is the protagonist. My problem is that the one is so wicked while the other is too passive and doing stupid things. In theory, I know this will workout and the crime solved but I've felt so under stress reading it. NO! I don't know why. It's just a book and I've read books far more disturbing that this one. It has taken weeks and I'm only halfway through. For me, that's insane. When I take this long to read a book, it's usually because it's terrible but I stick it out as a challenge. This one, I can't handle the way the action plays out. I know who did it so reading the ending won't help. 

As for writing. Pfft. I know I've written some but I've stopped paying attention to how much. Right now, I want to go to sleep and I didn't get out of bed till noon! 

Tomorrow I take my sister to have eye surgery. I must sleep tonight, no sitting up. She'll be staying with me for several days until she's able to see how to drive. That'll give me some company for a few days. My sisters are good company.

Now that I've bored even myself to tears, I'll stop here. I need to do a couple of things before sis gets here. I hope you have a productive writing day.

The Horror of Writer's Block

Pixabay.com

They're there, somewhere in my head. I know they're there! I hear them breathing, the short, rapid breaths of terror. I can smell the rank sweat of their fear at being found. Sometimes, for a moment, I think I can hear their teeth chatter. And I want to kick down the doors and rip out the walls to find them.

I stare into the mirror and wonder what I can do to get past the barriers they've erected to keep me out. I need some kind of explosive to blow out the walls so they come pouring out in bloody heaps like the innards of a gutted pig. Or perhaps pipe some kind of gas in until it forces them out of hiding into the fresh air, choking, gasping, and clawing at their throats.

Yeah. They're in there. I know. I close my eyes and I can see their shadows darting past the windows of my soul, hoping I won't catch sight of them. I know the words are in there. I just can't make them out.

But I will.

Oh yes, I will.

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.