I am at the last section now – desserts! I thought I would format the document while taking a break from writing recipes. OMG!! What a mess I have made.
There are 126 “sections” in the manuscript because I used one and two column sections, for the ingredient list for each recipe. It looks really nice on the page, but now I can’t get the page numbering OR the footers working. Just when I get it started going right, I notice there are 2 odd-numbered header/footers in a row. Then 2 even-numbered sections in a row. All the even-numbered pages say “Page 2”, and all the odd-numbered ones disappear after the first 20 sections. I do not know how this happens.
If I had a secretary, or an assistant, I could make them do this. Since I have to wear those hats during this point in my career, I must suck it up and learn how to format a many sectioned document. I have had MS Word training. I’m a woman, so I can (and do) ask for directions from “Help”.
There are many help pages on how to format a long document. There are no pages for help with fixing a messed up one. Perhaps Microsoft does not think people could mess up this bad. Well, they do.
I need to know how to “hide” sections that I don’t want to count. I only want TWO real sections. Not 126 sections I can’t “link to previous” with, or make sense of. Sigh. It looks like I need to sign up for more ^&*#@! training…
My daily post will be late today because I’m involved in a writing exercise..
BEFORE:
I have been called worse.
My posts are returned from the grammar checker full of green underlined phrases . There are red underlines popping up too, but those are expected, because I can’t spell while I write. My muse can’t be bothered with semantics. It must be allowed to flow unencumbered by such mundane things like grammar.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AFTER:
I’ve been called worse.
My posts return from the grammar checker full of green underlined phrases . Red underlines also pop up, but I expect those, because I can’t spell while I write. My muse isn’t bothered with semantics. It wants to flow, unencumbered by such mundane things like grammar.
Dear Diary,
I know I said goodbye at the end of June. I also said I wanted to move on to other topics because I was bored, blah, blah, blah.
The Bitch
The truth is I needed to stop blogging about quitting because I was thinking about smoking all the time. I needed to break away before I drove myself crazy or to the liquor store for a pack of cigarettes.
I recently figured out that the hardest part of the journey has begun, and it would be down right selfish of me to not mention this last phase that is the most important one of all – Phase III: Maintenance.
In other words, staying quit. Watching out for my addiction (a.k.a. “The Bitch”) because she lurks and patiently waits to catch you in a weak moment. You know it’s her when a craving smacks you right between the eyes, and you weren’t even thinking about smoking. The sudden interruption of your thoughts is jarring, and upsetting because it’s been x many months now, damn it! Withdrawal is over! You want to throw a tantrum like a little girl.
Take immediate action. STOP THINKING! NOW!. Before you start to rationalize. Before you justify (to yourself), why it’s OK to have a cigarette. You deserve one. Or two… The longer your mind travels this destructive train of thought, the more logical your thinking seems to you. But it’s not your thinking anyway, it’s your addiction‘s thinking.
A psychologist, I know personally, taught me a technique called “Stop Thought”. It sounded too silly to really work, but in the spirit of cooperation, and the fact I knew no other techniques, I gave it a try. (I used to try reason. But that Bitch is SO unreasonable.)
“STOP!!” is the simplest and fastest one. I visualized the word STOP in bold, bright red and font-size 14K, as I screamed (very loudly inside my head) “STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP!” . Very cathartic .And it works. Your brain switches over to defensive mode and your only focus now is slamming the door in the Bitches face.
Other Stop Thoughts that help me are: “GO AWAY“, “UP YOUR NOSE WITH A RUBBER HOSE“, “CA-CA“, “KNOCK IT OFF“, and “NOT TODAY“
And don’t be shy – throw that tantrum like a little girl if you want, by stomping (as loud as you can) in circles, flailing your arms about, with your fists tightly balled up. Then you add in shrill whining and hiccuppy* sobbing. If you are the adventurous type, try the rolling around on the floor version. I’m too old to do that anymore, but I think the vertical tantrum is more fun anyway.
OK. You slammed the door against your Bitch. So what now?
You can do whatever. Continue on with your day like nothing happened. Good News: Cravings only last one or two minutes and you handled those minutes beautifully. There will be other minutes down the road. Some worse than others, but do not be afraid of them. You don’t have to listen to the Bitch’s lies anymore.
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