One of Those Days

I am living proof that editors are human and have days we would rather forget. As evidence, I offer you my accomplishments for today.

• I woke up an hour before I wanted to, then went back to sleep and overslept by half an hour.
• I rolled out of bed, got dressed, and tried to meditate, but my mind kept going back to the blog post I was supposed to write for a client.
• I quit trying to meditate, made coffee, went to my desk, and tried to write the blog post. I couldn’t think of anything to write. The idea I outlined last night looked stupid in the light of day. I thought of several new ideas. As I began to work on them, they all started to look stupid too.
• I ate breakfast and drank some coffee, hoping the nourishment would fire up my brain cells.
• Back at my desk, I tried writing again. After some more false starts and a fair amount of swearing, I finished the post (which I am still only mildly happy with) and sent it to the client.
• I edited part of a book. This actually went OK. Nevertheless, I felt a headache coming on.
• I attempted to print some marketing materials that had to go in the mail today. The printer had a paper jam. I swore some more, moved all the things I have to move to get to the back of my printer, and fixed the jam. I tried to print again. Page 1—no problem. Envelope—paper jam. I turned the &*$! printer off and addressed the envelope by hand.
• Thinking a little exercise would help clear my mind, I decided to take the dog for a nice walk. She took off after a squirrel and almost pulled me up a tree (I guess I should be happy about the “almost” part).
• Back at home, I thought a piece of fudge might be just what I needed. As I was raising the fudge to my mouth, I somehow lost control of it (the fudge, not my mouth) and dropped it on the kitchen floor. A sad death for an otherwise excellent piece of fudge.
• At this point, I considered bagging the rest of the day and going for a drive. I decided against it though, as by now I was afraid to leave the house.
• I edited some more. Again, it went OK, except for the whopper of a headache I got trying to sort out the dialogue.
• I finished editing earlier than I had planned and decided to write a blog post for myself for once. But there was a problem: I didn’t have anything to say today, and I already had a headache. To whom could I complain about my lousy day?
• I decided to write this post. I am moderately happy with it, and it is the best thing I have done all day. Thank you for reading it, and if you did not enjoy it, I really don’t want to know.