Day Thirteen
I don’t know why I thought it would be a good idea to write a blog post every day for 31 days… to join a bunch of bloggers I don’t even know… and write?
One post missed already. Missing a few more won’t matter.
Don’t think I can keep up with them…
It’s amazing how a mind can rationalize.
The dinner dishes have long been done. She’s asleep in her chair. The husband is watching tv and playing with his new cell phone. So, I could write….
…so, I call my folks. They’re still getting used to their new living arrangement, the small apartment, the quieter life. Dad doesn’t say much on the extention. He doesn’t like eating in a communal dining room. Mom is good at sounding cheery. I hear the words she’d like to say but can’t.
She worries for my sister. Me too. I don’t know how she does what she does. She takes care of people. She does for a living for many, what I do for just one. And her people adore her… she’s kind and gentle and does whatever she can to make them happy. And then at the end of the day she goes home to a life that hasn’t been so kind and gentle to her.
I’m proud of her. She carries on. It would be easy not to.
I think she got a bigger dose than me of that special caring gene. I don’t know how she does it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When I decided to write these blog posts, I created a spreadsheet of ideas. A big, fat nerdy spreadsheet. I wonder if other folks put their writing on a spreadsheet?
There are lots of ideas left, but they scare me a little.
Why am I more comfortable manipulating a spreadsheet than getting to the heart of the writing? I believe it’s called stalling.
“Getting old is not for wimps”, Mom tells me often. I completely agree.
And I feel completely wimpy tonight.
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I use a spreadsheet to keep track of each novel’s chapters and scenes. It helps keep me organized. I think it sounds like a great way to keep track of blogging ideas, too. Not nerdy at all. 🙂
Stalling… procrastinating… putting off what we really wouldn’t mind doing, just at some other time! Sometimes we just need unassigned time in which to set our minds free, if only we could figure out how to claim it without guilt.
Maybe during one of your ‘on’ times of writing you can convince yourself to write more than one post… to get a few stockpiled for using on those ‘off’ days. I do that occasionally and even schedule them to post automatically.
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I am so glad to know I’m not the only one to use a spreadsheet! In fact, for larger writing projects like you do, I wondered if the spreadsheet would come in handy for that:)
Writing in advance is a good idea. I fool myself into thinking that at least if I have the idea and maybe a picture, that I can “wing it” and just pull a post together quickly. And as I’ve discovered… that doesn’t always work. I noticed that automatic posting feature. Think it’s time to use it. Thanks, Carol 🙂
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Wimpy? – yet you wrote a great post. Sometimes just asking questions helps the answers to surface. The fears really are a strange hurdle. What will people think. I have nothing to say that anyone else wants to hear. Have I thought this through, at all? We (because I face this, too) have to write, get it out there, move on, move forward. So what if it’s not the most brilliant piece ever. It is practice toward the most brilliant piece ever – right??
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You hit it on the head… it’s all fear. And it seems to just pop up at the weirdest times! Thanks for the pep talk! Practice, practice practice 🙂
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Brooke,
Thanks for keeping on. I have really enjoyed hearing from you practically every day in October. It has been a treat. No trick, girl! And…you didn’t even have to don a costume! Have a good Lord’s Day tomorrow!
k
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Thank you, Karen… and it is always a treat to hear from you. You have a beautiful day tomorrow too 🙂
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