Haunted when the minutes drag

I spent just about the entire day today without the slightest idea of what I was going to write.

It happens. It seems to happen a lot more often than it used to and that's a little concerning. But I wasn't worried. I'd think of something.

The bout with writer's block all began last night actually.

I felt it when I woke up too early this morning.

It was 10:41 a.m.

That's well into some people's day but I'm not some people. I had gotten home from my job the previous night a little later than usual. There's one key guy on vacation and when he's on vacation I basically have to do his job and my job and that means getting some things done after deadline.

But I arrived home at 1:57 a.m., which isn't too bad considering.

There's always some unwind time after work -- that time when people usually vegetate in front of the TV between 8-10 p.m. That time for me is from 2 a.m. until whenever I get sleepy.

I was just about to turn in for the night, when suddenly, the dog decided he really, really had to go out.

I looked at the clock.

For crying out loud it was 4:01 in the morning!!!

But I let him out and he stayed out there for far too long. But eventually he came in and I went to bed and then dammit, it's 10:41 in the morning and I'm wide awake.

I knew instantly that I didn't have any post in mind, but I still wasn't worried.

I went out for a walk at 12:35 p.m. This was my workout for the day -- I half walk and half run the route. Walking often unearths blogging ideas and I thought that might happen today.

It didn't.

I got home around 1:15. It was too hot out there (we got to 80 degrees today!). I made myself a quick lunch and sat down. The clock said 1:22 p.m. Still no blog idea.

"Guess it's going to be a trade post," I thought to myself.

From 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. I did some yard work. It was overdue. And it's another good "thinking" exercise to get the blog ideas flowing.

By the time I was done I was pretty tired. The heat had gotten to me and the lack of sleep. I had to take a nap.

I slept fitfully for a little more than hour, partly because of the noise outside, partly because the dog would not relax and partly because the family would be coming home soon. Oh, and partly because of no blog idea.

At 4:34 p.m., I got myself up. I didn't feel rested.

At 5:35 p.m., we were having dinner.

At 6:15 p.m., I was doing the dishes -- another excellent way to think up a blog post. I wasn't feeling confident. Even the trade post ideas weren't working in my head.

I went upstairs to stare at my cards as a last-ditch effort to think of something. Anything.

And then it hit me.

I walked across the hall to look at the clock in the bathroom.

The clock said 6:36 p.m.

That's when I got my idea.

From there it was a frenzy of pulling cards, scanning them. Cropping. Uploading. Writing.

The minutes flew past for the first time all day. 7:10, 7:11, 7:12, 7:13 ...

More cropping. More uploading. More writing.

Finally I was done.

It was 8:06 p.m.

I had my idea and post written.

Nothing like waiting until the 11th hour.