For what it's worth, it was supposed to be a wistful post in which I reminisced about July 4th in San Diego, which is a military town and therefore overflowing with patriotic pride.
Here's the beginning.
Our July 4th holiday was abnormally subdued this year, seeing as we arrived home from family camp just the day before. We managed to grill some Cajun turkey burgers, make some from-scratch guacamole and salsa and whip up some homemade vanilla ice cream. (It struck me funny at dinner that our favorite all-American meal was mostly Mexican food.)It deteriorates from there. And since I'm tired of working on it, I'm declaring it dead at 8:39 Monday morning.
But otherwise, we laid low, lest the whining coming from out overtired kids drown out the bottle rockets screaming toward the stars.
And truthfully, I'm OK with that. I love the Fourth of July. I am incredibly grateful to call America my home. But it's hard for any July 4th in the Midwest to equal July 4th in San Diego.
Do you ever end up with a Frankenstein-style post, one in which you start with ideas and good intentions but end up with a thing that is both disjointed and grotesque? Or is it just me?
I think we are all "hung over" right now - without the alcohol of course.
ReplyDeleteFrequently! I delete at least one post a week that goes awry somehow. If it is any consolation--you had a great beginning.
ReplyDeleteQuite a few...and then I post them anyway. ;)
ReplyDeleteIsn't it awful when you have a wonderful post in your head you just can't make sense of on paper? I find it so frustrating! And all my good, lyrical sentences come when I am falling asleep and I fail to write them down,
Totally been there. Have deleted entire posts because when I went back to read them, they stunk.
ReplyDeleteBut, your post began amazingly. Keep it for next year.
Yes! Oh the stories my draft folder could tell! Or NOT tell, as the case may be. Sometimes my best (or perhaps just most well received) posts are the afterthought ones--that I threw together on a whim, not knowing what my point was going to even be. And the ones I labored over with a specific conclusion in mind...end up staying in draft or publishing as duds!
ReplyDeleteBut I agree-you had a great start. And I do want to hear about patriotic San Diego someday!
All the time, and they end up on my blog anyway, because I give up and just figure I'll post them so my mom has something to read. She thinks I'm an astounding writer no matter what I post--ha! :)
ReplyDeleteOh yes! All the time. I remember last year, during the mormon polygamy texas ranch thing, writing a beautiful post in my head comparing it with mauritanian views on marriage. It would have been great. And I just couldn't make it work and finally just tossed it.
ReplyDeleteOh yes. Just this morning actually. I had a 4th of July post going...and going...and going...and just scrapped it after I couldn't pull it together. Blech.
ReplyDeleteYAbsolutely! And you are such a phenomenal writer, you don't know how happy I am to know it happens to you too! That encourages me!
ReplyDeleteI have posts so dead they need Michael Jackson's memorial service to drum up the proper sentiment to put them to the delete button.
ReplyDeleteCan I just forward my drafts box link to you?
This is why I don't have a blog! :) I have some funny/good ideas, but just know that the ideas in my head wouldn't translate to much of anything on paper (or on the computer screen)... :)
ReplyDeleteIt started out great though! I think Frankensteinism is more a state of mind than a state of the post itself. And yes, happens to me all the time. I can't tell you how many untitled posts there are in my drafts file that just peter out mid-sentence somewhere in the middle of the third paragraph.
ReplyDelete