Long Story Short

At a Crossroads or Mental Training:


They say there is a benefit in practicing things out in your mind.  If that is a true fact then my mind has been hard at work despite the fact my fingers have been taking a hiatus. 

The last week has been filled with Halloween candy.
To begin with I purchased a lot of candy two weeks ago with the lofty goal of keeping it stored in the house to pass out on Halloween night.

I am now at least three stable pounds heavier...  There was a little wavering up and down in that weight with five extra pounds topping me out.  Mind you this is only the first of a series of snowed in Holidays whose celebration is often based around food.  Snow equals less naturally occurring physical activity- and I struggle forcing myself to increase physical activity when I'm aware of the act of forcing myself. And since the snow started falling mid October and won't fully melt until mid May beginning June I can anticipate severe repercussions if this pattern continues.

I bought additional bags of candy two days before Halloween.  Since I have been training myself to expect a sugar spike midafternoon every day those bags were opened pre-event as well. 
So the candy coma has been a bit of a distraction.    

In order to mentally train my brain for the moment I might be out of my sugar haze and thus able to focus on some writing goals I decided to nap frequently- allowing my brain to ponder the areas of my stories in progress (I now have three in progress, not helping myself.  If I'm being honest at least two of those are NOT going to survive). 
I did much pondering.  All the way through three Winnie the Pooh episodes in a row.  There was a SpongeBob Squarepants marathon ponder as well...

I feel like my mental training is off to a good start.  I have thought about the same fact of which I am already aware.  I suck at including detail in scene set-up and physical descriptions- including character descriptions. 
It's a brutal fact.  I'd go as far as saying this fact alone distinguishes me from talented writers as a genuine hack-of-the-art writer-wanna-be.  I'm coming to terms with that fact and still have high hopes of improving at some point. 
I admit that I am astonished at my ability to be aware of this fatal flaw and my inability to remedy the problem with a well-intentioned session at the keyboard.   

So, I thought about that flaw...  I thought about it a lot.  There were dreams with no identifiable physical settings and characters in the dreams with no distinguishable facial features or hair colors.  It is a little known fact that I have a slight case of Facial Recognition Blindness.  So the indistinct faces in my dreams didn't freak me out too badly- that's pretty much how I go through the grocery store.  I literally wave at anybody I think is looking my way.  I've confused many people into thinking we're good friends when it turns out we've never met before.  I don't think this brain-glitch can be blamed for my lack of descriptive skills though.
My dreams have been vague, yet useful.  My brain realized I was in problem solve mode with my physical writing activity downtime and came up with a great solution to date nights with my husband. 
I dream solved the babysitter cost issue by swapping every other Friday with a family who had children too young to tend themselves and also had no family in the Valley to help watch kids when they went on a date.  That way each family had two babysitter cost free dates a month!  It was genius considering the last date I had with my husband was at the county fair in late July- four months ago.  Great idea, but I don't actually know anyone who matches the parameters.  Everyone has family to call on, or they have a child over the age of 12 (and they also have family nearby).

Miracle of finding yourself with substantially less savings- I did purchase a flight to accompany my husband on his work related business trip this coming week.  So, that's like having five days of dates all crammed between seminars and layovers.  It's going to be awesome!  Not to mention his conference is in one of our pizza lover's dream destinations- Chicago!  (not included in this account is the agony of Mother's guilt I've been struggling with at the prospect of leaving our three young kids for multiple days.  I'm trying to focus on the excitement of the alone time with my man of choice because he trip is shockingly present).
Do they sale deep dish pizza pans to tourists?  I mean the authentic nice ones?  I'm going to find out.

Hopefully I will employ some of my downtime working on writing goals...  Or I might just have to continue the mental pondering. I think I have a real talent for pondering.  I'm still working to develop/improve my talent for writing.

Also, the night before we leave I get to feel like a celebrity and do a book signing for my children's book- it being my one finished project.  Maybe I'll update how that highly intimidating yet thrilling experience turns out before I go dark for at least a week.  I need time to unpack, clean house, and most importantly reassure my babies that I will never leave them again- even when they get married I'll move in and creep out their spouses with extra loud toots or something.