Random Thoughts on a Wednesday

Blog writing seemed weirdly natural at first. It was a fun way for me to write every single week and a place where I could just share whatever was on my mind. I wrote three weeks in a row and had something to write about every single week without trying too hard. Now, it’s week FOUR (holy shit four whole blog posts?!) and I am finally feeling the writer’s block in this arena, as well. It’s not that I don’t have ideas — it’s just that I have too many of them. I’m still trying to figure out what this space is, so maybe the lack of structure has kind of led me a bit astray. But I’m going to reel it back in a bit.

Here I am, writing! I’m just going to let this post take  me wherever the wind blows….

Harry Potter

I’ve been re-reading the Harry Potter series the past few weeks and man, it’s just as fun this time around. I think that the last time I read the series was maybe freshman year in college, so it’s been a fun refresher. I feel like there were a lot of things I missed the last time around. Starting with the fact that Luna Lovegood isn’t even in the series until the fifth book?! She’s so memorable that I honestly thought she showed up in book two. I was shocked to find almost all the way through the fourth book that she’s nowhere in sight. Also, I forget the plot of the fifth book entirely, no matter how many times I reread it. I’m half looking forward to it because it’ll be like reading a new book.

Coming at Harry Potter with an MFA has been interesting. I definitely noticed a few chapters into the first book how much thought was put into the entire series. How much planning and work it must’ve taken to finish it. Book writing is hard, and I should be easier on myself for taking so long to finish mine.

Taking it Easy

This weekend I randomly ended up at a Yoga retreat in Ohiopyle, PA after winning a giveaway on Instagram (life is weird, right? maybe more on this later). I spent three days in the woods and did 60 minutes of yoga three days in a row, which I can tell you is more yoga than I’ve ever done before. I also hiked a bit, because I like hiking and I love the woods, and by Monday morning I realized that this weekend kicked my ass. So, even though I had a whole to-do list waiting, I spent the day relaxing (mostly) and reading and watching TV. I couldn’t really bring myself to do much else — and I was okay with it. For three weeks now I’ve been kicking my ass into gear cleaning and writing and editing and submitting and  I wore myself down quite a bit. This weekend was such a nice reminder that I don’t need to do everything at lightning speed. That I can go with the flow and be easy on myself. That I’m more likely to get things done if I do them lightheartedly.

Tuesday I woke up ready to get things done and full of energy. Exercise will do that for you, I guess? So will rest. Life needs to be an important balance of the two, and I’m going to try and make that a top priority in my life from now on.

Weird Dreams

On Sunday morning, after we had spent the night at the fire talking about mediums and messages from loved ones that have passed on (including animals), I had a very strange dream. It included my first ever pet, my cat, Susie. Susie was quite the nervous little creature. She certainly wasn’t a lap cat and lost her mind anytime someone picked her up. I remember vaguely that she enjoyed rubbing her cheeks against my hand and licking butter off of my toast in the morning. She died when I was in fourth or fifth grade, at the grand old age of 18 or 19.

Anyway, in the dream, Susie jumped up into my lap, leaned against my chest, and curled up into me as close as can be, and then started purring loudly. This is something that my current cat, Vinny, does often, but it is very un-Susie-like behavior. I looked at her collar to be sure that it was her, because I wasn’t convinced, and found that she was wearing 5-6 collars and one of them had her name, Susan (uh this was not her name exactly), and her birth date, which was in the year 1974 (she was probably actually born closer to 1984). I kept telling everyone she was 33 years old and still alive! Obviously, my dream math was a bit off. I told my friend in the morning and she said that maybe it was Susie visiting me in my dream and that she probably wanted to be called Susan, her proper name, in real life. I laughed pretty hard.

I don’t know why I’m sharing this — probably because I think weird dreams are interesting and perhaps I secretly want someone to read this and tell me what it’s all about.

Blog Ideas

I have an idea for a blog series that I think might be interesting. I own hundreds of books, or maybe even thousands, and in re-organizing them a few weeks ago I realized just how many of them I haven’t read at all. Some of them I picked up at garage sales and thrift stores, a few at Barnes & Noble, a few at used book stores, several at the AWP writer’s conference this past winter. Anyway, it has been a goal for a long time to read all of my books so that when someone asks — “Have you read all of these?” — I can say yes.

I have been thinking that it might be an interesting thing to do a blog review for all of the books in my personal library. Mine is an odd collection, certainly….everything from classic literature, to crafting books, to cook books, to kids’ books, to animal training books, to a few that are part of the Charmed series (yes, from the TV Show), to a book called What to do Today, Boys?, and everything in between. I think it might be a fun project for myself but I’m wondering if it might be a cool thing to do on the internet, too….

And it would certainly help me decide what to keep and what to let go.

Anyway…

This has probably been a long enough post for this week. I’m going to go ahead and check it off of my list and then hope for something a little more structured next week. If you’re feeling scatterbrained this week, internet friends, I am too! Let’s just roll with it.