NoBloPoMo | BulgingButtons

November 13, 2016
by BulgingButtons Leave a comment

The Dangers of Procrastination and Amazon One Click

I am now the proud new owner of several novels that I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to read. It’s all one click’s fault. Well, no, maybe it isn’t. It’s all Twitter’s fault. Nope. Not it either. Oh my gosh, it’s all my own fault.

You see, I was happily working on my latest novel for NaNoWriMo when I felt the need to look at my phone. I know. I shouldn’t have done it, however, I did.

There, by the little Twitter bird was a red circle, meaning that I just HAD to click on it to see what was new in the Twit-o-sphere. Well, reading Twitter is like eating potato chips. You can’t read just one tweet, you have to scroll down and read 47 of them, at least. And in that 47, if you’re actually following people who are of interest to you, there are several clicks that take you other places. Places like novelists’ websites, where they gush about other novelists’ new books, and tell you things like, “hey, read this book, it’s on sale for just $1.99 and it’s fabulous!”

Well, how can I NOT read this fabulous book endorsed by this fabulous author when it’s only $1.99? I do read a lot on Overdrive, which makes MOST of my reading free, but I also can’t resist a deal, and authors still get something when I buy a $1.99 book, so there’s that.

Well, one click leads to another click which then leads to another click, and before you know it I have several new books downloaded. Swell.

Now I’m not unhappy about this. I didn’t spend a ton of money, and as I said, I’m not opposed to authors earning a little something from their writing, not at all. I’m just saying that those evil geniuses over at Amazon know what they’re doing. Sigh. I just hope that someday they’ll be doing the same thing for me and my books.

December 1, 2014
by BulgingButtons 2 Comments

Building Habits

It’s December 1, which means that I’ve officially succeeded in posting every day for the month of November, making me a NoBloPoMo winner! Of course I don’t think there are actually winners and losers for that particular challenge, but since I missed my 50,000 word goal for NaNoWriMo by a long-shot, I’ll take what I can get.

I’m actually pretty tickled that it’s December, and I still feel like I have plenty to write about. Rather than feel drained, I feel energized. I’ve gotten into a daily blogging habit, and I’m feeling the need to keep on going. Yay me. Too bad I’ve had so much trouble establishing other good habits.

I always seem to take one step forward then two steps back. At least as far as my health and fitness go. I want to lose weight. I want to move more. I want to get off my medication. But apparently I don’t want it badly enough.

Oh sure, I’ve been walking more, and I really am enjoying it, but it’s not enough.

I’ve also been trying to include more fruits and vegetables into my diet, but that’s not enough either.

My situation calls for more drastic measures. Measures that I don’t feel like I have at my disposal at the moment, like strength and determination and willpower.

I’ve heard so many times that you just have to decide to do it, then make the changes. For some reason this approach is generally offered by men. Maybe we really are wired differently in this aspect? Or maybe we’re all individuals and we each have our quirks and hang-ups. For me, it’s my weight.

It seems that for each good choice I make, I make five poor ones. I’m working hard to balance that out a bit. I’m going to try to keep on moving. Today I tracked my steps with my phone (which means not all of them since I don’t carry it around all day), and I had more than I’ve had in the past week. The walk before work got me off to a good start. I have to thank my son and my dog for allowing me to join them.

If I can sit down and conjure words every day, then sure I can lace up my sneakers and take a walk around the block. I may even just walk myself into a new good habit.

November 6, 2013
by BulgingButtons Leave a comment

Let Me Explain

I know that my last post, the photo collage about sleep, isn’t what you’ve come to expect from BulgingButtons. It isn’t what I expect from myself, either, but I did it for three reasons. First, I’ve really admired some of the photo collages I’ve seen on other blogs. I knew there was a function provided by WordPress to create those collages, so I decided to tinker with it and see if I could make it happen. I did, in a very elementary way. Yay me.

I would like to learn how to manipulate the images more until I’m satisfied with their placement and their relative sizes, but for today this was enough. I would also like to spend more time integrating text into the post, in order to explain my thought process and vision (in case it’s not completely apparent). Those are goals for another time and another day, though.

The second reason I actually posted that little collage was as a bit of a reminder to myself that I need to be careful about burning the candle at both ends. I am someone who needs sleep. I become crabby and difficult to be with if I go too many nights without adequate rest. I also become worn down and susceptible to any passing germs that might be in my environment. I teach elementary school kids. There are lots of germs in my environment. I really don’t want to become a walking germ magnet. Early to bed and early to rise and all that nonsense. Except that I like to stay up late, which makes getting up early a real drag.

Finally, I hit the “publish” button because I was a little afraid that I might not find time later in the day to blog. These November challenges have taken over my being, and I MUST complete them! It turns out that I was able to steal a few minutes here, between teaching an after-school group and attending my son’s sports banquet, to clarify my earlier post. I hope you’re at least the tiniest bit sympathetic and can forgive what is clearly an amateurish attempt at what could be a great photo essay topic. Or at least a good one.

Please put away the rotten tomatoes, or better yet get rid of those nasty things! Forgive me my lame attempt, and click somewhere else on the blog for something a little more satisfying.

Until tomorrow, I remain bleary in blogland.