#Golly willikers how to#

Still, I felt too ill to work or go anywhere, really, which was a good thing since on Monday, I retook the dang test, and you can probably guess the results. I proceeded to go about the activities of a normal miserable, sick person with a bad head cold, doing what I could and trying not to breathe or cough directly on my husband. Lo and behold, that test came back negative, just as I anticipated, so I texted the whole family and let them know not to worry it was just a cold. I didn’t know the exact nature of the bug at first, of course, thinking and hoping it was just a nasty head cold with body aches, but just to be careful, and because I had been with my kids and grandkids the two days prior, and because my husband needs to be around people for work, I went out and bought a home COVID antigen test. And right when I had planned to get my booster the following week. Yes, it was a particularly ugly one that I’ve been trying so hard to avoid for a year and three-quarters. I woke up two Saturday mornings ago with an unwelcome visit from another kind of bug. Oh, and I would be remiss if I failed to mention one other little thing that has recently sapped my energy.

#Golly willikers how to#

In the past month, I have written two new poems that I published on Medium, started working my way through a writing Masterclass by Margaret Atwood, attended an online lecture about how to get into publishing, and signed up for Story Club on Substack with author and professor, George Saunders, where I am learning all about the art of short story writing. Meanwhile, there is evidence that the writing bug is returning. Assessing the whys of my lack of writing productivity so that I don’t erase reality and beat myself up for not living up to my goals. Let’s just call it taking stock of one’s life. I hope I don’t sound like I’m complaining (wah-wah-wah). So, I am also seeing a physical therapist and have added new exercises and stretches to my daily routine. It also doesn’t like when I stand up and cook or hold my grandchildren or garden. On top of the emotional and psychological angst, I have a worrisome back that is not being nice to me because it doesn’t like the fact that I sit at a computer for work all day and then try to sit at it even more to write or do the many other things that we all do on our laptops. Though energy sapping, the process is a good one and has actually involved a lot of writing that you will never see (remember, I write to process). There have also been a few angsty personal issues to deal with, quite a few in fact, which led me to start seeing a counselor, something I’ve never done before. It sure felt like, at long last, life was getting back to normal! We had visits from parents and visits to parents, and then there were the vacations we took just for the fun of it where we actually flew on airplanes again. Our fifth son graduated high school and headed off to college, our fourth son graduated college and headed off to non-school and planning his wedding, and there were at least a dozen family birthdays, including one-year-old celebrations for our grandchildren born six days apart during the early days of the pandemic. It seems like spring and summer brought with them more family events than we’ve had in a long time. (Writing is fun! Writing is fun!) But writing is also work, and the past few months have been filled with other energy eaters.įirst of all, let me share the good ones. If you don’t know this already, let me remind you that I love writing.

This edition will be a little different than most - more like a brief bloggy piece to catch you up and justify my unintentional ishy lying in other words, to explain my lack of communication, which I am partly processing myself as I write this. And I hope that at times I humor and encourage you as well. I just appreciate you being my friends and humoring and encouraging me whenever you are up for it. If you haven’t, no apologies needed on your end. Then again, I seriously doubt any of you have been sitting around thinking, “When will I be getting another edition of The Not Too Long and Short of It ?” If you have, I apologize.