teddy_radiator | SED - 13 October 2013

Today has been as frustrating a day as I have spent in a long, long time. I just can't seem to concentrate. I sat aside the entire day (one of the last completely free days I'll have in awhile) to write, and all I was capable of doing was polishing up what I'd already written and pecking out a tiny bit of new fresh writing.

I don't know why, but I just felt restless and frustrated all day. I had plenty of rest, I wasn't hungry or thirsty or tired, I just couldn't get my head in the right place to write. This happens so infrequently with me that it still serves to worry the hell out of me.

I think one reason I might be freaking out is so ludicrous I almost can't bear to write it down. See, I have my promptfest fic all thought out. I know what's going to happen and why, and you'd think that meant I could just sit down and bang away at it. But it's almost like I know it and I'm scared I won't write it well. Ergo, my mind draws a big uninspired question mark over what to do next. I never write with a script. I usually just wait for DMuse to tell me what to do. Am I worried that I can't do it alone? Or that what I write won't end up the way I want it in my head? The last time I felt this way, it took me a year to get up the nerve to finish it. I have a little over a month.

Oh, well. I suppose I just need to walk away for an evening. Like everything else, I just have to wait on it. Sorry for such a buzz-kill of an SED tonight.

I will endorse ShockTop Pumpkin Wheat beer, though. It's darn tasty for your pumpkin lovers out there. It's very smooth and sweet and goes great with food.

Watched episode 4 of Downton Abbey. I'm so not liking the direction this season is going. I think they are starting to fish for ideas, and it shows.

Enough, Teddy! Stop harshing the mellow already.

I'll leave you with a nice recipe, though. Apologies to my Facebook friends for being repetitive:

Slow Cooker Breakfast

Want breakfast tomorrow without lifting a finger? Place 2 sliced apples, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, pinch salt in the bottom of the crock pot. Pour in 2 cups of oatmeal, 2 cups of milk and 2 cups water. Do NOT stir. Cook overnight for 8 - 9 hours on low.

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I tried that recipe. I ended up with a gluggy mess that was almost impossible to get out of the crockpot. It tasted ok, but not that special.

And yeah, the whole "not lifting a finger" really means "not doing the work in the morning". I just spent a whole day making stuff for "not lifting a finger" meals in the future - it's just a re-timing of the effort. It *sounds* good, but the reality is a little different - at least in my end of the world.

Although I *have* now got 3L of Tom Kha Gai base (just add chicken) and 3L of lovely chicken stock for use in soups, paella, etc...

i love your analysis of that whole 'not lifting a finger' aspect. i guess if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

For me, "not lifting a finger" means that I usually make twice as much as I actually need of foods that are suitable for freezing (chili, baked ziti, almost any pasta dish) and freeze them until I need them. (Always making sure to take them out to defrost a day or two ahead of time.) Then all I have to do is nuke it.

Which sort of works for me, except that my freezer is now officially FULL!

Good: Discovering that throwing a mystery container of frozen stuff in the slow cooker leads to lovely-surprise-dinner in an hour's time. I think our best find was Red Thai Duck.

Bad: Spending a whole weekend making sure there's enough pre-made dinners for when I'm doing teaching placement (or something else I know is going to leave me exhausted), letting the person who's on Dinner Duty that night know "look, there's three serves of casserole here - just cook some rice and heat this up and it'll be a fast and nommy dinner. Just please make sure it's ready at 6 because I will be a zombie then", and getting home to find that they've not started anything and can't understand when I burst into tears when they suggest calling out for pizza.

*hugs* Can't say much in comfort because I'm in my own frustrated place right now, but I do understand the feeling (with more reason to worry, I hasten to add).

i have not had shocktop pumpkin, but i had the apple and it was quite delicious.

and we all have our off days. you will get past it - you always do, right? ;)

Sweetie, might it be that you can't concentrate on the writing because you know you have a limited amount of time to write because, as you said in a previous post, work is going to be a bear this week? I find that if I have only a limited amount of time to do something, I tend to spend most of my time agonizing over the fact that I don't have enough time to do it. Ask Dahlra for his help; you know he will give it.

I read a spoiler about Downton Abbey, and now I really don't want to start the season. I'd rather keep my memories of a happier time.

I was blocked too yesterday. I wound up taking to my bed with a tablet and pen and roughing out the first chapter there. Is it that we need that sense of panic in order to produce?

The thing is that TheHubs(r) and I roughed out a part that was really bugging me. I thought it was the reason I couldn't proceed, and we resolved it. But yesterday it was as if I just couldn't concentrate or focus on it enough to do anything coherent. I'll keep trying. I have a lot more to do in this fic than I did on my last promptfest, so I need to get going.

Downton Abbey is very UNDownton right now. It smacks of just sticking something on there. The fact that the Julian Fellows and the actors involved are defending it so vehemently tells me they know they've tripped up a bit. It's lost its X-factor and now is trying on all the standard show-resusitators. Very disappointing.

SED - 13 October 2013

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