The other day I was cruising along with my day, writing in a silly house-outfit that included lavender legwarmers, when I suddenly hit a big patch of blah. BLAH. I had made the mistake of checking my email, and there, all unexpected, was ANOTHER list of editorial comments on my book, the book that is in GALLEYS. (that is, proof pages, as they will look in the actual book.) I REALLY thought we were past the editorial stage! But no. No. Apparently, we will never be past that. Ever. Anyway, I couldn’t bring myself to read them yet. I just immediately lost my will to spend the rest of the evening writing the NEW book, and I went to the store and bought a bottle of wine and ingredients for the pumpkin-gingerbread recipe in the little Martha Stewart cooking magazine, and that is how I spent the evening instead of writing. With wine and pumpkin bread, and TV. Sigh.I don’t really hit a BLAH all that often, but I wish that when I DID, there would be better television on. Is that so much to ask?
Today I sort of bounced out of it and managed to get in a writing groove and write TEN pages in a sitting, and now I am at the doggy oncologist, alone in a waiting room with a plate of chocolate cookies that keep calling out to me. Luckily, they don’t know my name because I am new here, and I am able to ignore them without seeming rude. I hope cookies don’t read paperwork in the night, so that when I come back tomorrow they’re crooking their little cookie fingers at me and beckoning and saying, “Laini, welcome. We’re going to become very good friends over the next 3 weeks...”
And just for fun, here are some new words I have recently discovered: haruspex (a priest in ancient Rome who practiced divination of animal entrails); futhark (a runic alphabet); niblick (a kind of golf club!); apotropaic (intended to ward off evil); and whipper-in (a person who assists a hunstman in handling the hounds). I. Love. Words.
21 comments:
I'm impressed with the pumpkin bread, did you like it? Love the cookie imagery, I've never heard them speak before and am glad, I probably would not be able to eat them if they did.
Remember, these are only phases of life which means they will pass. Just keep walking, soon you will find yourself out of the blahs and into something new.
Even briliant you gets the Blahs?... Ah. I feel better.(sorry!) ;)
:)
The blahs serve a purpose. Really, they do.
I love me some words, too.
Wow! Too bad I already took the SATs and GREs. I think haruspex was on both of them. :-)
-Phlegmily
Em -- is there a graduate program for haruspex certification? Cal Poly would be the place, part of the ag department, maybe? :-)
If you love words, here's one of my favourites from old Scots (not just "funny" english but a whole living language
Contumacious
And I'll throw in "quine", "nolt", "umqull" and relict for good measure too.
Fiona
I hear not only cookies calling my name, but every candy bar and ice cream cone I see. I am pretty sure they have all conspired together to entice me into their world.
My favorite word of all time is from Bulgarian and is actually part of the regional dialect of North East Bulgaria. It came from old Bulgarian and is now pretty much only used in the town I lived in: Googla, which means hood.
glad to hear you're out of the 'blah's...and hope all is going well with your shiloh daily trips and all..
i had no idea until last week that the word i thought was "shoe-in" is actually written "shoo-in". i love discovering things like that!
I usually spoil my blahs...cookies does the trick just fine and add wine to that? Whew! Bye bye blahs :)
Laini, good luck with the "continuing" editing...it has to be over soon? Right?
Have another glass ;-)
lovin you
XxDarlene
I love your list of new words. I didn't know any of those! I especially like Niblick and Apotropaic.
FWIW, I find DVDs tend to do more for the Blahs than regular TV, at least for me. :-)
Ah, there's nothing quite like a night of giving in to the blahs--and the cookies!
I went through the same thing with my book. (Maybe we even have the same master proofreader!) Just when I thought i would never, ever have to read that book again, some new questions would come in.
it will be over soon, really it will. you know how i know? because your book is on amazon girl! i mean really, could that BE any cooler??
i am glad you gave into the blahs for a littel while though and took care of yourself. and ten pages! bravo!
I also hate it when the Blahs are here and there´s nothing good on TV. As for the cookies, you should take one cookie and eat it really brutally, chomp it and growl while you´re doing it. The others will get scared and they´ll stop calling you. And my favourite word is GRUSELIG - german for creepy.
Oh my goodness, Claudia, I LOVE the word Gruselig -- it's a new favorite! I am absolutely going to use it for a character name. Thank you!
MY favorite word is wincipoo. It means "to act as if you have ten cupcakes you are trying to balance on your nosetip."
you're so cool, no 'blah' energy stands a chance hanging around you.
~bluepoppy
I hope your blahs end soon and I am sure they will. I am glad that you had a little down tiime with snacks and wine!! I agree about tv, what gives?
Congrats about the book, can't wait to go buys one!!!
If they call your name, just ask them how they got that information - then watch them crumble!
:)
Hope the re-editing process is as quick and painless as possible.
Good for you for making pumpkin bread and having wine! We all have days like that when we need to spoil ourselves a bit. Good luck w- your doggy and good luck with staying away from those cookies! As for book biz, that editing bit does seem to go on forever, doesn´t it? But you´re making real progress - and you´re already working on the second - so you have much to be proud of, Laini!
Hope the blahs have passed and the doggie is doing well. Big hugs! And eat the cookies...they sound good!!
Cookies and wine are great tools to break down the blah mood.
Sounds like it worked-
Glad you wrote ten pages and I too hope your dog is doing ok.
Hugs
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