Saturday Morning and We Will be in Turkey Soon

It's Saturday morning, I've been up for a couple of hours, and I don't feel like writing.  But I am going to push myself to write, because, as I have decided, I must write every day (emails don't count).

Today we will say goodbye to Ireland, for the time being.  It has been a productive and successful if somewhat miserable trip, with rough living conditions, high energy costs, usually nowhere warm and clean to sit, no simple way to exercise, and a lot of illness.  I have to admit I am very, very happy to be out of here soon. 

This afternoon we will fly to Turkey, spend the night in a hotel near the Istanbul airport, have a day in Turkey, and fly the next evening to the Balkans.  By Sunday evening we will be at home at last.  In our own home, where we can turn on the heat when we need to without qualms, wake up to a clean kitchen every morning if we want to, walk a few minutes down the street any time we need meat or vegetables, and have a distraction free (and clean!) work space.  I look forward to this very much.  I will also be able to go on long walks with my audiobooks.  It is winter there, but it is a Medditeranean winter, not so cold and damp like here.  I will be able to put on my jeans and hiking books and my old traveling coat and walk all over town with my audiobooks, to the river and back if I like, to the castle and back, to the lake and back, and maybe I will even take a big long walk to visit those old ruins I have been meaning to visit.  When the spring comes, if I am still at home, I will start my morning bike rides again, along the river and the lake.  I feel I have gained weight.  I haven't wanted to step on the scale.  I don't want to know.  I just want to do what I know to work for three weeks, or a month, or three months, or whatever it takes, until the other signs of progress give me confidence that I can step on the scale again without waking up miserable in the morning.

And what about writing?  I'm supposed to be writing about writing, right?  Well, actually, I'm supposed to be writing about anything.  This is where I get myself to write every day.  This is where I ensure I write every day.

I have been doing moderately well with my iPad in its new mostly-distraction-free configuration.  The fact that YouTube and social media are not a click away does help.  I would have to install the apps at least, and possibly log on.  It discourages the impulse to "just quickly check something" or "do some quick related research" which can lead to me falling down that app rabbit hole, and losing most or all my reading time for the evening, and keeping myself up too late.  I have not been perfect but I believe I am improving every day.  Last night I read my eBooks and listened to my audiobooks.  Some fiction, some on the subject of writing itself.  Let's see how I do on the plane.


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