Saturday, November 2, 2024

My Dunkin Dilemma

 On November1st it only feels right to write.  I have written 1000 or more words every November 1st for the last 14 years, often starting at the stroke if 12am.  Today, with no Nanaowrimo worth participating in, I feel a little lost.  I did not think about or organize an outline for a novel in October.  I didn’t meet with my writer friends and plan an event to kick off anything.  There was no overnight party or writing frenzy at midnight.  This year feels so quiet and uninspired.   I miss it all and yet I am somewhat relieved to have it behind me.  I can still write.  My writing buddies are all still here and will meet from time to time.  We can get together and plan our own events in a month not hounded by the pressures of the upcoming holidays or the impending cold season.  Maybe March can be our new novelling month.  The coming spring will inspire us to bring new life to unknown worlds and create unforgettable characters ready for their own epic journeys.

I find myself still itch9mg to write.  I often feel compelled to start writing my blog again each January for the new year.  I frequently make a pledge to write daily in the new year and I have never managed to do it.  I last maybe a week.  A few years I managed to get some posts done over the course of several months, but never the daily writing I first intended.  I know that the discipline to write everyday is necessary for me to improve my skills and reach my writing goals.  Why is it so hard to do it? 

My new plan is to use November, not to write another lame unfinished novel, but to practice writing every day.  I will post to my blog.  Eventually I want a new blog, but for the sake of not putting this off I will resurrect a very old blog.   I won’t be reaching Nano word counts, but I am putting forth an effort.  Somedays there may be a couple of posts.  I have a lot to say, and I am constantly lecturing in my head.   If I can express even a little of it in the written word, I will feel accomplished. 


 

My Dunkin problem.  I can’t walk yet.  I am working on regaining the strength and balance to walk independently again, but it is a long slow process.  I am also on clinic hemodialysis three days a week.  So on those days, my husband goes to work at the normal time, then has to come home to get me.  When he gets home we have about fifteen minutes to get me washed up, dressed, onto my scooter, out of the house, down the ramp, load me and the scooter into the car, and leave.  I am at dialysis until he gets out of work, leaving me gone from the house for almost 7 hours.   I am not allowed to eat at dialysis (policy) so if I don’t eat breakfast, I don’t eat until dinner.  On the way to the clinic, we drive near 3 Dunkins.  It’s New England, surprising there aren’t 10.  I get the $6 meal with a medium hot coffee, breakfast sandwich, and hash browns (the hash brown is part of the deal, it would be rude not to eat it). 

I scoff down the food on the 20-minute ride.  Then sit, hooked to a machine, for 5 hours.  Dialysis takes a lot out of the body, figuratively and literally.  It removes toxins the kidneys would remove if they functioned.  It also removes 1 – 4 kilos of fluid, depending on one’s gain since the last treatment.  That is roughly 2 – 9 lbs removed from the body in 4 -5 hours.   It can be quite hard on the body, not to mention sitting in an uncomfortable recliner for that long.  When I get in the van, I am weak, tired, and famished.  The only things I want at that moment are caffeine and food.  This often leads us back to Dunkin on the way home.  I do love the Berry Spark’d  drink.  My routine works for us…timewise; but not so much budget-wise.  I have asked for Dunkin cards instead of gifts for anything and everything.  I am not proud. 

If you would like to help support me getting to dialysis fed, please feel free!  You can gift Dunkin cards right from the Dunkin App… upper left menu  >  Send Gift Card>  fill out the form and choose a card.  You can send it email or text.  My email is Nikitazkya@aol.com. You can use my given name (if you know it) or Nikitazkya.  I can also receive help @nikitazkya on venmo.

Friday, November 1, 2024

Nanoless November

 On November 1st it only feels right to write.  I have written 1000 or more words every November 1st for the last 14 years, often starting at the stroke if 12am.  Today, with no Nanaowrimo worth participating in, I feel a little lost.  I did not think about or organize an outline for a novel in October.  I didn’t meet with my writer friends and plan an event to kick off anything.  There was no overnight party or writing frenzy at midnight.  This year feels so quiet and uninspired.   I miss it all and yet I am somewhat relieved to have it behind me.  I can still write.  My writing buddies are all still here and will meet from time to time.  We can get together and plan our own events in a month not hounded by the pressures of the upcoming holidays or the impending cold season.  Maybe March can be our new novelling month.  The coming spring will inspire us to bring new life to unknown worlds and create unforgettable characters ready for their own epic journeys.

I find myself still itching to write.  I often feel compelled to start writing my blog again each January for the new year.  I frequently make a pledge to write daily in the new year and I have never managed to do it.  I last maybe a week.  A few years I managed to get some posts done over the course of several months, but never the daily writing I first intended.  I know that the discipline to write every day is necessary for me to improve my skills and reach my writing goals.  Why is it so hard to do it? 

My new plan is to use November, not to write another lame unfinished novel, but to practice writing every day.  I will post to my blog.  Eventually, I want a new blog, but for the sake of not putting this off I will resurrect a very old blog.   I won’t be reaching Nano word counts, but I am putting forth an effort.  Somedays there may be a couple of posts.  I have a lot to say, and I am constantly lecturing in my head.   If I can express even a little of it in the written word, I will feel accomplished.