I’ve been under the influence of a trifection (my word) of the sinus, bronchia and ears for the past 10 days. I drift a little in the next paragraph, but don’t worry, it’s good stuff so read it, and then I come back to my point, or 10 11 points, actually. So … c’mon, let’s go….
The posts I’ve managed to eek out have been under the influence of those infections. The Ceftin I’ve been taking since Friday (so today is Day 3) has been nothing short of miraculous, completely eclipsing the inert but well-intentioned Zpack I was initially prescribed. I knew something was amiss when after I took the first dose, a double dose, and was feeling great that when I took the next dose, a single dose that I went back to feeling like a can of generic cream of minestrone soup (my soup, I just made it up and I won’t be cooking it… or maybe I might; that cream could be pretty good, actually, especially if I add in some lobster and rename if Newberg and buy it from a restaurant where they set linen napkins).
So this morning I awoke with these thoughts because last night I laughed at my sleepy-headed notions of brilliance saying to myself regarding other thoughts, “Ooh! That’s good! remember it!” quickly followed by, “write it down” which was immediately run over by the comment, “no, you’ve got this, you won’t forget it; it’s great… say it again to yourself…” annnnnnnd >poof!< it was gone.
Because I am clear-headed (well, as clear-headed as I was before the trifection, which I’ll admit is debatable), I woke with the following new thoughts you poor bastards:
1. We will all disappoint someone or be disappointed. This is a universal truth, just like its inverse: we will all astound someone and be astounded. Revel in the glory that is your humanity: that we make mistakes and that we achieve greatness, sometimes in the same hour. Know this and never forget it.
2. Stay away from drama and it won’t find you. We all know these people: they walk around without signs that say, “Touch my surface, you will get burned.” Or “Please be nice to me, I will vastly humiliate you one day.” Or “I am nice until you decide to do your own thing.” Just stay away from them. Learning the lesson once is all most of us need: heed it. If it keeps happening to you, I’m sorry but I think you like it… go away from here and never come back.
3. Women need to be nicer to one another. We need to accept kindness without suspicion and extend kindness without expectation. When I was waiting on my Ceftin, I saw a teenage girl at Target the other day shopping the make-up aisle with great intensity. She was already beautiful and didn’t need an ounce of anything on her skin. I told her so; she lit up like a sunrise.
4. I need an astronaut pen. Writing this stuff down on a pad of paper in my bed is hard enough as it is; I could use some anti-gravity pressure to help keep the ink flowing.
5. If I don’t write things down I will forget them. So will you. If a Fantastic Idea pops into your mind, it’s a gift from the muses. Please write it down; I want to read it one day under a blanket with a cup of coffee by my side.
6. If you have a hunch, follow it. I had a hunch Friday that my meds weren’t working and I went back to the doctors despite my inner suburban housewife telling me not to meddle. I don’t know who that bitch is, so I showed her the door — the fact that I thought I was meddling on behalf of my own health confirms for me that something was wrong. Asking for medical care is not meddling, folks. It’s reasonable; unless you’re a hypochondriac, in which case I can’t help you other than to say, “go for a walk, you’ll feel better.”
7. If you know what you want then go for it. I was talking to the publishing house liaison the other day and she asked me about goals for my book and I said to her that I didn’t want Danielle Steele fame; I am a writer, yes, and also a mother and a wife. I don’t foresee myself traveling around the world on behalf of this book to get people to buy it. I believe that if it is good, it will self-germinate. Homer didn’t have a publicist; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John didn’t have agents (horrors! blaspheme! she’s comparing herself to the Bible! – no i’m not, so shut up); the Joy Luck Club was a fluke. My book’s intent is to help people, perhaps change a life for the better; encourage someone to seek professional help if they need it or if they see themselves in my writing. The goal is to write a solid, excellent book with good intention and near-flawless composition; I truly won’t put out anything short of that. The next thing I knew, the phone was making that >GAAK! GAAK! GAAK! GAAK!< alert it sounds after the other line disconnected 3 minutes prior to rouse the talker from its monologue. Just kidding, she was still on the line and she told me I made perfect sense and thanked me for my time. Just kidding again. She got it. As usual, I was getting ahead of myself. I just need to finish editing.
8. If you don’t know what you want: start with knowing what you DON’T want. I know I don’t want drama, I know I don’t want sadness, so I veer away from them. When you look at your haves and have nots this way with credence, you will often find that you have everything you need.
9. “You don’t have to get out of the trouble you don’t get into” was advice my dad’s old editor used to tell him all the time. It is SAGE.
10. The data suggests I don’t feel my blog followers don’t like fiction. If you like fiction and you like how I write, check out these links in this order: https://mollyfielddotcom.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/fiction-friday-1-garret-the-woodsman/ and
https://mollyfielddotcom.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/fiction-friday-2-years-later-garret-sees-cynthia/ — I really want to hear what you have to say. So far I have mostly comments from the other bloggers in this challenge and I think they’re being nice to me because they don’t want me to hurl a really nasty prompt at them next time.
11. I have considered doing a “week in review” post, but I frown on them; I feel like they give my blog some weird imagined importance. If you’d like me to do a wrap up, would you please tell me?
Well, that’s it. I said it was momentary…
Thank you.
Grass Oil by Molly Field 
Not sure of the lucidity part …………………………….your post does not show up 😉
Hope you feel better soon!
Grass O
it’s up now. not sure what happened there. argh.
it’s up now!
I like your fiction! did I not click like? I meant to…. Your number two point here is brilliant. Well, all of them are, but #2 is more brilliant than the rest. Avoid and ignore the attention seeking drama whores who are hell bent on making everything revolve around themselves and suck you in with their barely disguised pleas for sympathy. Well, my way of saying it is a bit more rude. But this would not have hit home so hard if we hadn’t recently been sent an “I’m so hurt and disappointed and you should be ashamed” message from someone who sincerely needs to get over herself, at a time when our grief meant very little to her compared to her own I guess. We decided to delete and ignore. It was very liberating.
I see it now! Thank you! Something was wacky this morning with the WP system for me. I think I had my browser open too long. Yes, #2 – essential. I am sorry you are having to witness someone else’s projections. Backhanded compliments and passive aggressive behavior suck. I hate it… i hate it… OOOOOoooooh i hate it. It is liberating to delete and ignore! That’s what’s great about technology. Thank you for commenting. I loooooooove hearing from you, Grandmalin… 🙂 xoxo
Sweet liberation! This is fantastic advice.
Grandmalin is the BOSS. i heart her.
I am glad that you meddled; and are now reaping the benefits from it. I loved all of your pointers through number nine. I had a problem with 10…………
How lucid were you when your wrote this: “I don’t think my blog followers like my fiction.”? I looked to see the comments on the two parter fiction and you had many, if not all, appeared to be positive……………….Were there not enough??? There seems to be a contradiction, and I think the Molly I know is not going to get bogged down with the “numbers”………..
I am not trying to blow smoke up your “arse” but you are “GOOD” MOLLY, really ‘GOOD”, at writing. To produce the fiction writing that you have, in such a short amount of time is crazy GOOD. I do not know what makes a GREAT writer, but I believe that you probably are on your way to being GREAT, if you are not there already…………
So, keep doing it!!!! Your fiction had great potential…..maybe it is not in your wheelhouse, but I rather enjoyed it…….If you are enjoying writing about Garret and Claudia, keep doing it…….if not, shelf it for awhile……..
Look forward to reading more………..of whatever you have to write…….
Your fan,
AC
hey, AC, thanks. i appreciate all your comments about the fiction — it’s hard to do and i really appreciate your candor. i know i’m pretty good at it and so i need to look at the form rather than the data. the data suggest: my numbers go down with the fiction despite the modicum of increased traffic from the participants. but that’s OK, i enjoy it and i feel strongly that i’m pretty good at it. we are all our own worst critics and so yes, you are right as usual: this is a numbers thing. i do practice what i preach about the numbers thing — that quality is better than quantity — but when you try something different on an otherwise established forum, there is bound to be a couple burps. it’s OK. these are the thoughts i woke with and that i wrote down — most thoughts are succinct, that one was a little more sentient. I will keep writing about Garret and Cynthia … she’s rather like me I’m noticing. I’d bring a chair to a friend’s house to make them talk to me after they were released from prison if they ignored me the whole time during their incarceration.
hmm… after i put it that way…. maybe i wouldn’t! thank you. i’ll keep it going for you. (how’s that for a guilt trip!) haha! those two will find their way… or they won’t i just let them tell me their story. 🙂
xoxoxoxoxoxo
ok…………..can you tell I do not have a blog??……I was not thinking of all the data that the author sees after they make a post…..Your comments make sense to me now……..
BTW, I can handle a guilt trip :)……………………………………says the gal who cries when reading Hallmark cards……………………………………………….nah, who am I kidding :).
Hugs,
AC
Love #2. Many of us grow up with chaos in our lives and find some strange, unhealthy comfort in our adult lives when are surrounded by it. Took me about 45 years to realize that they weren’t finding me, I was allowing them in.
Glad you are feeling better
yes, kelly, i know exactly what you mean. my book is about this unhealthy comfort. i wrote a post about that a while ago, https://mollyfielddotcom.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/familiarity-doesnt-equal-healthy/ that is like a touchstone on my own recovery… i was yes: allowing them in. sadly, most people don’t come with signs, but we all come with radar. my radar was clouded by my confusion over the “comfort” you mention. i am feeling better! loving the ceftin! 🙂 thanks for your comments!
This is such a terrific post. I keep a notebook with me at all times now to write things down when they pop into my head. It is serving me well. All of these points are spot on. I like the fiction and I’m glad you are doing it. Have you considered doing it on a different day? Maybe people aren’t reading blogs as much on Fridays. I have seen that on my blog sometimes. Friday is a hit or miss kind of day it seems. I’m glad you are feeling better too!
i LOVE the fiction, as you know, so i’ll ask the team about the fiction day change – good thought. if they would prefer another day that works for me… i really have no idea which days are more busy than others. i am all about the notebook now. and i love pen and paper. it has immediacy to it.
Hey Sarah, I understand what you mean. I wish you were feeling better. I agree it was pretty decent of your doctor to come in without checking you. I have kept your comments private, I don’t want to disclose your medical stuff, that’s personal.
What is you new prescription? The Ceftin started to make a difference in 2 days. Yesterday I was able to sleep in and wake without a headache. That was the first time in probably 2 weeks. The zpack did nothing for me, which is a little creepy because I usually respond well to antibiotics.
I’d remove my own comment about the fiction because it sounds so pathetic, but that is what most people replied to!
I wonder if taking a couple days off from the computer would help? Just rest? Now that you and your husband are sick, it’s even harder. You know the drill: rest, fluids and eat well. I’ll be thinking of you. Feel better, the world needs you and the Evil Genius.
Xo
My zpack worked for the first 1.75 days, but after I had my 2nd day’s dose, I noticed I wasn’t feeling the same amount of wellness as assertively as I had before and after day 4, I felt the same and the headaches were worse. So she put me on Ceftin. It worked but I’m still pretty tired. Just came back from walking the boys to school with the dog so we took a little stroll and I’m wiped out!! Glad you’re taking time for yourself today. Feel better! Chicken soup actually has some medicinal properties in it apparently, so have some if you can avail yourself of some! Molly