Month: July 2015

Maddening Migraine

Standard

I am prone to migraines, and after a good stretch without a serious one, I’ve got a doozy today. Sensitivity to light, dizziness, tingling in my fingers and toes, and that’s aside from the headache itself. Good times.

But I really wanted to get a blog post up. I got back to my blog last week, and then my writing class and homework took my attention, and a strong start kind of fizzled. So headache or no headache, I’m posting today.

It may not be my most compelling work, so please bear with me.

The thing is with my migraines, it’s as though someone turns on a damper in my head, and all of my free-flowing thoughts, all of my access to interesting language and interesting structure, all of the little bits that come together and make something out of words are slowed. It’s like thinking through tar.

Some things help. Sleep, primarily. Tylenol, and, believe it or not, sugar. If you also get migraines, I cannot recommend anything more than I can getting some kind of very sugary candy (or honey, or even, in a pinch, actual sugar). Which explains why, as I am typing this, I am eating chewy Jolly Ranchers. They’re my current headache go-to, but I change it up.

Overall, though, I hate the way a headache can roll in, take over my head, and make writing seem so impossible, so unlikely. I hate the way it takes my productivity hostage, putting even the most mundane tasks at the end of a very long, very treacherous hallway.

Looks like I got there, at least with this blog post. Take that, migraine.

Check out  my full-length novels,  Her Cousin Much Removed,  The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management and Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only), and the sequel, Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) which is now available!

Sign up for my spamless newsletter. And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s free!

 

Advertisement

Getting Back to Things

Standard

Back to blogging, the sequel. This morning I took a quick walk out to the lake, it’s such a blue, gorgeous day, I couldn’t resist.

Though I should backtrack a little.

Last week, I was hurrying to cross the street before the light changed — don’t ever hurry to cross the street before the light changes — and I took a spill. A big, embarrassing spill. I scraped my knees and bruised them as well. It’s quite an attractive look.

Well, my right knee is still pretty banged up, and the scrape reminds me it’s there every time I flex. It’s not the most convenient place for a scrape, I guess we can all agree.

Anyway, I’ve been wanting to take a quick walk for a few days now, since I’m used to getting physical activity, and it’s frustrating to have to sit around. So I went.

There were some stairs that were probably a little less comfortable than they could have been, and on the way back, I ended up taking the ramp down to give the knee a bit of a break, but the whole excursion was worth it, just to see the morning sun reflecting off of the water.

I should have brought my sunglasses. It was pretty bright.

Overall, though, my knee held up. It stings a bit now, sure, but it hurts less today than it did yesterday, and I’ll bet it will hurt even less tomorrow. Healing is a cool thing.

Check out  my full-length novels,  Her Cousin Much Removed,  The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management and Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only), and the sequel, Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) which is now available!

Sign up for my spamless newsletter. And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s free!

 

Remember Writing?

Standard

Uh, hello. Um, hi. Yes, hi.

I’ve apparently joined the ranks of the bloggers who just don’t blog for a while. Why? I wish I could tell you. For the last few weeks, even the small chunk of time it takes to get words from my brain to my blog seemed too scarce to carve out. I’d sit down to do it, something else would beckon, and then suddenly it wouldn’t be done.

But now I’m back. I hope. I think.

I’ve actually been on a bit of a writing hiatus lately. The only writing I’ve been doing is writing for class, and even that has been slow and lumbering.

I’ve got novels to finish, and, yes, blogging to blog, and yet lately, I just haven’t been making the writing happen. That’s one of the things about writing: you can’t leave it to it’s own devices, like a cake turning from goop to delicious in a just-right oven. Though I call patent on that invention.

The one that lets you write that way. Not the oven. I think I might be a hair too late for that.

No, writing takes time and attention, all the way from conception to completion. There’s no “set-it-and-forget-it.”

We learned a technique for writing in class, one which I’ll share on a future date, after I’ve given it a full test run. Maybe that’s the answer. It involves timers. You know how I love a timer.

But whatever it was or whatever it is, why ever the hiatus, I’m back now. Let the writing resume.

Check out  my full-length novels,  Her Cousin Much Removed,  The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management and Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only), and the sequel, Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended) which is now available!

Sign up for my spamless newsletter. And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s free!