daily journal

So over the last week I found that something had to give. Which is why I no longer am writing here daily. But I do miss it. The other thing I found is that I am back to needing nine hours of sleep, apparently, so I moved my wakeup time back to six o’clock and am trying to turn the lights out around 9 pm. Which doesn’t leave me much time for writing. Well, at least not if I live my life as usual.

Writing has been really meh the past week, I managed to write less than 2,000 words all week. Which means I won’t reach my Camp NaNo-goal. I’m not quite sure yet if I care but am still trying to make myself write 3,500 words a day to catch up. Stay tuned. I did adjust my goal down from 45,000 to 25,000, though. The terror of being that far behind did contribute to my block and I don’t need that. Note to self: do not attempt Camp NaNo in July again. Thanks.

I did go for a walk/run again (Day 4 of my 10k-program):

Once again I forgot my bandage. Not the best move but it shows how much better my knee is right now.

We had girandole arrabiata for lunch because we ran out of penne:

Zucchini from the garden. Very yummy. During the meal we had to look up pine nuts on wikipedia. Of course, they aren’t really nuts.

The boy was really low on energy because he had to run (literally run) for about an hour at school. They had a charity run-thing. Which meant that for once he ran more in a day than his parents. (My husband ran 8.5 k, I walked/ran 5.1 and the boy did 9.1) So I went out and bought some chocolate because we were all out. And got some tongue scrapers, as one does.

When I started teaching it was already 27 °C (80 °F) in my studio and becoming warmer by the minute. I skipped the makeup because it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. I was sweating so much that my eyes burnt. While teaching guitar and piano which are not the most strenuous activities I can think of.

It’s supposed to become really hot over the next few days. I do have a fan and know how to use it, though.

I answered a few emails, answered the boy’s questions about how to fry leftover pasta and scrambled eggs and when I came to the kitchen he was already eating. My husband was very happy and pleased to have something warm that he didn’t have to cook himself and double happy and pleased that the boy had been cooking.

I got ready for bed on time but my husband was still practicing „Oye Como Va“ in the basement (That is for the small, intimate, spontaneous concert he is planning for next year. You know, the one where he just shows up and plays stuff he already knows inside and out. Well, it turned out he doesn’t know this song as well as he thought he did, 47 years of playing it non-withstanding. I already got pressed into playing cowbell or guiro and singing backing vocals. I won’t start practicing anytime soon, though.)

Today will be more of the same with running errands and shopping at the health food store instead of exercise. I am continuing my knee exercises and they continue to make a difference. It’s all rather interesting.

I’m definitely in a slump and feeling overwhelmed which is not that surprising – I planned wrong and now I’m miffed that things aren’t going like I would want them to.

I woke up early, started with the morning routine and again didn’t write.

There was another run to the health food store and a rather chaotic cooking session. Food was good but we have now decided unanimously that rice with sour cherries is not a family favorite:

No spinning because it was a rest day. A little teaching, more slumping, more teaching.

Since I have such a hard time writing at the moment I’m thinking about giving up the daily blogging. I’m hoping that I will use that 15 to 30 minute each day for novel-writing. This doesn’t mean I will stop blogging completely, just that I’m going back to posting just when I feel like it.

We’ll see how that goes.

I woke up at 5.30 and actually did the morning routine thing. Wrote about 500 words as well. Then breakfast. Finished knitting a sock:

I did decide to try exercise again, the knee is still not all pain-free but seemed good enough I could try Day 1 of my ouch to 10K program. So I went out for 41 minutes with seven 30-second intervals of running sprinkled in. It went fine, only I forgot to take a picture and there was something wrong with the app on my phone because I didn’t get the audio cues. Not all the time, just sometimes. No idea why. I also didn’t get a halfway mark cue which meant that I walked longer than planned but that was no biggie.

Then I did my stretching exercises to help the knee.

Making lunch was very easy because we had leftover lasagna. With a salad, of course:

After that I decided not to record the podcast that day. I will have time again today and the next few days and I didn’t want to scramble to get everything ready and record on the same day. I hope that wasn’t a bad decision. Instead I went to the health food store.

Came back, sat down and spun a bit while watching the tour:

And then there was the teaching. And phone calls and e-mail. And preparing the podcast and more attempts at writing. And early to bed.

Today I will teach again, though not as much as I thought, and maybe record the podcast if I find the time and my husband isn’t teaching something loud at the same time. And if things go really well I will write and write some more.

I slept in again until 6.30 and lounged in bed for more than an hour before having breakfast. My husband joined me after I had finished and I knitted on the sock-in-progress for a bit. The boy got up at ten. We did an epic pile of dishes.

I did manage to write a few words after that but just barely. And then we made lasagna. I was late for that because I wanted to write a little more so lunch was about and hour late all in all:

Yes, it was that dark. The weather did clear up later, though.

I sat down and spun in front of TV. Tried a few writing sessions with no success. Call me queen of procrastination. The knees are doing okay, not much improvement but then that was to be expected.

The boy and I watched some Star Trek, I did the washing up, wrote a few more words and called it a day.

Today will be podcast day. I still can’t decide whether I should try to do some exercise today or not. I could definitely walk a bit or ride my bike but I’m oddly reluctant. There will be some teaching. I hope that I will go to bed early. And maybe get over the novel-writing slump.

Wouldn’t that be great?

Not all that productive, though.

I slept in until six or so, no alarm and managed to work on the novel for 25 minutes. I had great plans for the day.

Had a late breakfast, shortly before my husband showed up, knitted on the Comodo sweater while talking with my husband who is still feeling rather overwhelmed.

While my husband went running I did the dishes, took a shower and mended my favorite weekend dress by hand:

And I did a load of laundry. The boy came down very, very late and we talked a bit. Then I helped my husband make lunch:

Talked some more with the boy while doing dishes and then I sat down in front of TV with the spinning wheel:

First time at the wheel again after my knee acting up. It only hurt very little all day which made me happy, happy, happy. (Husband actually asked me if I would go running as well. Um, not right now, thanks. I thought I’d wait for the knee to stop hurting completely and then I’ll start by walking first.) And apart from the pain the knee is not moving freely yet. Nope, not running at the moment. The exercises I’m doing are leaving me sore all over by the way which is rather interesting.

I tried writing in the afternoon but couldn’t settle down. It’s a shame because I was really looking forward to writing the next scene.

After the Tour de France was over and I had filled my second bobbin we made dinner:

And then we did something my husband had wanted to do for ages, we watched „Pulp Fiction“. That really is a weird film. The boy liked it. And then it was already too late for bed but I still wanted to journal and brush my teeth and do those knee exercises.

Today there will be more of the same but I want to write a little more than yesterday for sure. But then I always do.

Woke up from the alarm, wasted the first hour of the day, meditated for a bit, opened the writing program, stared at the novel, deleted a few words and closed it again. Being all motivated didn’t really make a difference.

I made breakfast and the boy got up and I started reading „Resilience“ by Linda Graham. Very interesting. After the boy left for school I finally managed to get writing and had so much fun that I went on until my husband showed up.

While he was making and eating his breakfast I spun a bit of sweater yarn:

That’s the cob of a full spindle and the start of the next. With mint tea in my favorite mug.

When I had planned for the day I had been sure that I would have another hour or so to write between breakfast and lunch. Well, it turned out that that hour was needed for conversation with my husband and cutting his hair. We did the breakfast dishes together and then my husband went running while I wanted to clean the house.

But first I did some research on the internet. Which meant that cleaning somehow did take more time than planned. Weird that.

I also read this eye-opening post about the question if it is possible to make a person change. Spoiler: No, it really isn’t. But what he wrote after that was really, really helpful for me and very timely. So in order to help people you can:

1. Lead by example
2. Give them better questions and
3. Offer help unconditionally

Yes, you should go and read the article. Because this list doesn’t make sense without it. I’m only typing it out so I remember it myself. I especially like the advice to lead by example. Because that usually helps at least one person. And that would be yourself. If it has an effect on someone else that’s even better.

Which reminds me of the advice the school psychologist at my son’s school gave when a father asked her how to make his son read more. „Read more yourself,“ she answered, „show him that reading is fun.”

And reading that article on making people change led me to another one, you know how these things go. Yes, I will finish writing my novel eventually. I’ll just go down a few more rabbit holes first.

I did manage to clean all the things and get the pizza ready for lunch but nothing more. Pizza was good, though:

The boy was happy and excited that his new cell phone arrived. He had expected it a day later. The new phone is rather big and shiny and he loves it. We ate and talked and he showed me the phone repeatedly until I had to get ready for teaching. Because I was a little late I asked the boy to do the lunch dishes which he did. Eventually.

My first student had a breakthrough and that made me really happy. Teaching was actually fun. While I had a short break the boy told me that the SIM card he had was too big for the new phone so I decided to go to the phone store after work. Which we did.

And I walked all the way without my bandage and had only minimal pain. Yeah!

When we came back it was time for dinner and Star Trek. The bread and cheese looked rather inviting so I had some. Then I did my knee exercises and got ready for bed. No more writing even though I had really been looking forward to it.

So, today there will be writing and then some more writing (I hope) and spinning and I want to watch the Tour de France for a bit and that will basically be it. Oh, and reading of course.