…AND I’m caught up. Don’t kill me for the jokes. Some of them, not in very good taste, but I’m letting them slide because let’s face it, several made me laugh, I’ve love the VlogBrothers (Hank and John Green) for years (because they’re made of awesome!) and I needed something before midnight.
’nuff said. Got a joke? Share it in the comments!
Saw these at Sprouts yesterday and couldn’t resist taking a picture.
Awake, thou wintry earth –
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
~Thomas Blackburn, “An Easter Hymn”
I was tagged in a blog hop challenge by Normandie Ward Fischer recently. Although my “Next Big Thing” isn’t a novel, or a tangible project, she told me to go ahead and tell my story. So here I am, telling you a little more about My Next Big Thing. Normandie is likely going to regret tagging me, but that’s her fault for asking me in the first place. She knows I have a bad case of cabin fever.
Below are the questions I was asked to answer, along with my best reply. It should be fun to see how I can twist these around to make things applicable.
1. What is the working title of your book or project?
The last I checked the title of this project was “Kristine Pratt.” Or possibly “The Health and Well-being of Kristine Pratt.” Maybe “My Year of Getting Better” which I don’t like because it implies it’s going to take all year to get my health back. Maybe I should just go for short and sweet and call it “Restored” and see what happens.
Titling is NOT my strong suit.
2. Where did the idea come from for the book or project?
Well it started around September of last year when I started feeling heart palpitations and a general malaise. I thought at the time it was because of the project I was on, the pressure of impending deadline and frustration over the minor details that weren’t going right. But as time passed, these symptoms not only persisted but got worse to the point where I dragged myself crying into the doctor’s office looking for answers that she just didn’t have. It became very clear that it was time to Devote Time to Myself.
3. What genre does it fall under, if any?
If I would pick a genre I would start with Health and file it under Wellness and Recovery or maybe Fibromyalgia: The Harsh Reality.
4. If applicable, who would you choose to play your characters in a movie?
I think this recovery will be so stunning that it could very well be an inspiration to everyone in the entire world….
Ok, seriously. Um. No. This isn’t movie worthy. It’s mostly me lying in bed staring out at aspen trees waving in the wind. Really. Maybe the aspens would prefer to play themselves?
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your manuscript or project?
Flattened in the 43rd year od her life, Kristine Pratt learns patience and how to read the classics as she attempts some semblance of recovery from the nastiest Fibro flare she’s ever seen.
Good grief, you’ve gotten the point already. Let’s just move on…
6. Will your book or story be self-published or represented by an agency?
Can you publish a return to health? That might call for a rather enhanced e-book.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? to get your recovery under control?
Still working on it. Playing with my diet, actually dabbling in Essential Oils with all the glee of a student in Professor Snape’s potions class, questioning whether homeopathic remedies should be set alongside more traditional items on the bathroom counter without a revolution being staged by the various bottles and tubes while I’m sleeping…
Yeah, this might take awhile yet.
8. What other book or stories s would you compare this story to within the genre?
Anyone got a good recovery story to inspire me?
9. Who or what inspired you to write this book or story? undergo this recovery?
My doctor gave me very little choice.
10. What else about the book or story might pique the reader’s interest?
I’m suspecting that you’re all here to read this just to see what a truly bored mind will ponder in the course of a day. I think you might even join me in this blog to see if my boredom looks anything like yours. Or if I’ve cracked yet.
Honestly, I’m betting on the last.
And no. I don’t think I have.
Yet.
Give it time.
(And no, I’m not tagging anyone here. Yes, it breaks the rules, but I don’t know anyone blogging to tag that hasn’t already been tagged. So…if you haven’t done this yet, steal the questions and tag yourselves on my behalf. Thank you.)
I’m putting off finishing a sweater.
Er…I’ve been putting this off for the last two years.
Knitting is supposed to be a relaxing hobby but there is something anxiety inducing in sweaters for me. In the time where I COULD have been finishing the sweater I have knit several scarves, even some doll clothes, and a stuff animal.
But I do not finish the sweater.
The front is finished, as is the back and one and a half sleeves. I think I could honestly have all the pieces done, ready to be stitched together in the space of an afternoon. Only I put it off, because sweaters…condemn.
A stuffed animal that comes out a little lopsided is ‘charming.’
A scarf…well how can you go wrong on a scarf? So long as it’s long…ok there’s the nervousness that comes in the giving where you wonder if you got it long enough for the recipient’s preferred knotting technique…but typically it is figured that so long as it CAN be knotted you’re doing ok.
But a sweater…the flaws are more noticeable. The length not right, the sleeves uneven or worse too long or too short. The collar not able to get around the head or gaping unattractively. There are just SO MANY ways to go wrong.
So rather than finish, with only half a sleeve of knitting to go and I can be finished with this project and move on with my life..I find reasons not to go on. Can’t find the pattern…the yarn is knotted. I don’t have the time. I’m too tired to knit.
But these excuses cover a whole lot more than hesitancy over a long-term project. It tells me that my self confidence has taken a beating somewhere down the line (again). Fear of failure…that is not even fear of failure when you stop to think about it. There is nothing wrong with rolled up cuffs or a hemline that’s a bit dodgy. It’s fear of not achieving PERFECTION isn’t it.
I think that’s been the heart of a lot of my struggles since taking this sabbatical – feeling like I don’t measure up in the eyes of the world that is still managing to get up and go to work and care for their families on a daily basis, despite the things that THEY struggle with.
I feel like I’ve given up when what I really ought to shed is the awful word “should” and the perfectionism that goes right along with it.
I am where I am right now. I don’t need to be making apologies for that. The same goes for that sweater and all those other projects I hesitate over (the book I’m writing, the lessons I craft for homeschooling) because to my way of thinking they aren’t good enough if they’re not without flaw.
Oh yes, it’s time to make a change.
So it’s time to quit making excuses. Instead I look at the unfinished sweater and pick up the needles once again.
It’s an afternoon’s worth of work. Maybe two with the sewing.
Time to get one with it. Even if it’s not quite ‘perfect.’
What have you been putting off…and why?
Life in Transition 