Tag Archives: masks

Writer’s Block: One Solution–

6 Replies

Please note: I am not telling you for whom to cast your vote, only begging you to vote. Vote, please. Vote as early as possible, and if you already have voted, celebrate — with ice cream, a movie, tequila, whatever floats your boat. And Thank You.

Intro:

Flashback:

Remember last week’s quilt photo? And I said I might not get it to Bronte before he was lecturing at MIT? Well, heeeere’s cute Bronte and handsome dad Michelangelo, with the quilt. Mom was busy taking the picture 😉

Writer’s Block: One Solution—

I know all you, my gentle readers, don’t write, but several of you do. Not sure many of my readers are still working for a living, but if you are, you may be asked to write for your boss at one time or another. Maybe something in here will help. Or at the very least, give you a chuckle or two.

Do you ever suffer from Writer’s Block? I can think of few things more frustrating, unless it’s looking for the exact word you need and can’t quickly find it! You know it’s there, right on the tip of your tongue, but…. (I lost the word ‘cholesterol’ one time, talking to my doctor. She had ordered some blood work, and I wanted to know if I had to fast for the (long blank stare and I tried to think past a brain fart) test. I looked at her. She looked at me. I went all around it, and finally asked if I had to fast so she could find out if I was eating too much cheese. She smiled and said not to worry, that yes, I’d temporarily lost the word, but I got there, and I was really okay. And to fast.)

I’m fortunate in that I’ve never faced a blank page and wondered what to put on it, but I have faced a major Writer’s Block and thought I’d share my solution. I imagine every writer faces Writer’s Block at one time or another, of one type or another, and every writer has her own way to go over, around, under, or through the block. Here’s mine.

A few years ago, I was just finishing a first draft of a novel and knew I was within a couple of chapters of the end, but I just couldn’t get that ending to come. I fussed. I fretted. I paced. I took a long shower. I tried everything I could think of. I went out to lunch with a gentleman I knew. He is a nice person, but not my type for a long term relationship, so we never really dated, but are still casual friends. But, and that’s a big one here, he did give me one piece of great advice. When he asked with his usual snarkiness how my novel was coming, I told him my problem, that I just wasn’t getting the ending. That I was sure I was within a chapter or two of the ending, but just couldn’t get there. In a very smart asterisk manner, he told me to send my character an email and let her email me back with the solution.

Yeah. Right. Or (short pause) might there possibly be something there?

So, that night, before I turned off the computer and went to bed, I wrote the protagonist a note and sent it to her in care of my email address, turned off the lights and went to bed for a sound sleep. A truly remarkably sound sleep. The next morning, I got up and in going through my emails came to the one I’d sent my character. Now, she obviously didn’t respond. (Not sure I would have wanted that, actually) but suddenly, I saw the ending of the novel, and finished it that day. Or at least the draft.

The next time I saw my friend, I thanked him for his suggestion, and told him it worked. He was somewhat taken aback, and admitted he was being a smart asterisk with his response to me. “I know,” I said, and smiled sweetly, “but it worked, and I thank you.” We no longer see each other unless it’s a chance meeting at the grocery store, so who knows what words of wisdom I’m missing? But that solution to my Writer’s Block worked and I’ve not forgotten. It worked for me. It might work for you.

If you’ve ever experienced Writer’s Block, and found a way to unblock it, I’d love to read about how you did it. Maybe it will help some of the other writerly readers of this blog.

As it turns out, my friend and fellow blogger (Dixie Helps Writers) also wrote about Writer’s Block for her blog that came out a couple days ago. Some more good ideas. As always, you have to take the info that works for you and ignore the rest. What works for her, what works for me, what works for you, are not all the same.

Happy writing!

The book I was trying to finish:

Jibutu: Daughter of the Desert, is available from Amazon, your favorite bookseller, or for a signed copy, contact the author. To read about the book, go to the My Books page above.

Entertainment:

Alas, I’ve spent my spare time either watching the news, or writing. And planning another wee quilt. Well, not totally true, I also attended a virtual poetry reading in NYC on Friday. Not as much fun as being there in person, but nonetheless, Zoom and similar software, does bring the world to our computer room. And I get to do things like a NYC poetry reading I wouldn’t otherwise get to do. There were two poets, Yona Harvey and Taylor Johnson, both young, both good, but the highlight of the show was each had someone signing her poems as she read them! I thought that was a marvelous idea, and something to think about if/when the time comes for live readings at my end of the road.

There’s a wide world of goodness out there, we just have to find and tap into it.

Books:

See Rainy Day Reads for reviews and mayhaps a bit of snark. Who? Me? Snark? Bwahahahaha!

There are new reviews posted — novel, medical, poetry…

Outro: 

When you’re out in public, even outside walking your dog or cat or pet skunk or spousal unit, wear a mask, and wear it over your nose. Please. It’s not to protect YOU, we all know you aren’t scared of a teensy weensy virus, but you may host one on the in-breath and share it unknowingly on the out-breath. Think of your neighbor, your family, that hunka-hunka coming toward you on the sidewalk. Decorate it (the mask, not the hunka-hunka, though that does have possibilities) for Halloween. Put some fun in someone’s life, not a virus. (Can you tell, Auntie Lenora has been too long in lock-down.)

Show your love, wear a mask! (Thanks, Bill for the video! 😉

THOU SHALT NOT COVID THY NEIGHBOR’S LIFE–WEAR THY MASK! (Swiped from the www.)

If you enjoy this blog, please feel free to share.

Auntie Lenora

Fall has Fell

2 Replies

PSA: IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY DONE SO, VOTE! And no ‘protest votes’—this election is too important. Remember, if you don’t vote, you can’t complain at the outcome!

Intro:

Several years ago, I joined an online dating service. You know the one—where we had to fill out an 8,429 page (give or take a paragraph) personality questionnaire. Well, I found a guy and we had either a 98% or a 99% personality match. We agreed on politics, religion, food, books, what to do in our spare time. The only problem was we were separated by a fair distance and at the beginning of our romance, neither of us were interested in moving. Maybe later. Which of course, never came. 

Anyhow, that’s neither here nor there. On our second date, he asked me what my favorite season was. I had to think on that for a wee bit before I answered. “The one I’m in now.” I realized I didn’t have a favorite season. Oh, I prefer the warmth of summer, but I also like the cold of winter, the new green of spring and the marvelous yellows and reds of fall. After living so many years in the Seattle area, where we had two seasons—wet and wetter—it was nice to live in an area where we actually have four seasons—winter, spring, summer, and fall. I admit, I do tend to grumble when it rains. I live in the desert part of Washington. We get an average of 8 inches of rain a year, spread out over several months. But I’ve gotten spoiled with the constant sunshine, if not warmth.

Sometimes there is a slow change from one to the other. Why, it may even take three or four days. This year, it was literally overnight. One day was a high in the 80s, then the next day the high was twenty degrees cooler. The winds have picked up. They are chill. And the highs aren’t scheduled to go above the 60s for a while, often in the 50s until they work themselves down to the 40s, 30s, and quite probably a spate of 20s (I refuse to acknowledge anything lower!).

The geese, the ones who are strong enough, and not too fat to fly, are heading south. A fair amount of geese and ducks will hang around, especially at the pond down the road where they are fed. They especially love bread, and people bring their kids and old bread and feed the hungry critters, not realizing they are in fact starving them. Yep, they can’t digest the bread, they get no food value out of it, and will starve to death with a full stomach (or whatever they have) if they get enough bread.

Fortunately, even when it gets downright cold (think: three-dog night) the water moves in the river, and the pond (the water is pumped from the river to the pond and back again), and there is enough salad, etc. for them to get some nutrients. I wonder if, in living memory, the Columbia River has ever frozen? Or even in recorded history? I see ice in the slackwater areas, where the current is either nonexistent, or too slow to matter, but I’ve not seen it out in the river proper. When I was a kid I remember reading that Niagra Falls froze on winter! Whoa Doat! That had to be some kind of cold. The sudden silence woke people for miles. 

So, what’s your favorite season? Or do you have one?

I promised a photo of the finished quilt—here it is. It’s a baby quilt, and at the pace I’m getting things done, he’ll be teaching advanced physics at MIT before he gets it. No, not really, I hope to have it mailed before you see this. The picture part is a panel, I didn’t piece it. It’s what is called a ‘whole cloth’ quilt. I added the borders (batik, for those interested) and did the quilting. Hard to see in the picture, but they are sun’s rays from the upper left of the picture, then I quilted in the ditch around the borders. In the ditch means the seam where two fabrics are joined. The quilt is mailed. Or at least scheduled for pickup before this post will be posted. 

His middle name is Bronte. (His parents are quite literary 😉 So this is a Brontesaurus quilt. (should I apologize for that?) Oh, yeah, that’s me, with my naturally windblown hair, holding it.

Entertainment:

Have caught a few more episodes of Banacek. It has held up well and was great fun to watch while working on the quilt.

Books:

See Rainy Day Reads for reviews and mayhaps a bit of snark. Who? Me? Snark? Bwahahahaha!

I finished Rage by Bob Woodward. The review is posted. Am now reading Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin.

Outro: 

Auntie Lenora is very worried about the lack of belief in science in her country as a whole, and in the Other Washington in particular. Herd Mentality (I think that’s supposed to be Herd Immunity, but what do I know?) is not a good way, according to the science types I know, and the ones I still have respect for, such as Dr. Fauci, to get through this pandemic. We know, They know, some things really work—simple things, like washing your hands (if you have Alexa, ask her to sing a 20 second song while you do so. Helps the time pass more quickly), wearing a mask, and social distancing. The importance of mask wearing is to not spread it if you have it and are asymptomatic. Contrary to what himself says, it’s not a fun thing to go through, unless you have fourteen doctors and a helicopter at your disposal. It very well may kill you, especially if you have any one of several pre-existing conditions—old age, diabetes, hypertension, auto immune disorder, yadda, yadda, yadda. 

Show your love, wear a freaking mask!

THOU SHALT NOT COVID THY NEIGHBOR’S LIFE–WEAR THY MASK! (Swiped from the www.)

If you enjoy this blog, please feel free to share.

Auntie Lenora