Small stone: Jan. 2

Small space, dogs at my feet
hovering. Big eyes, sweet faces,
I cannot move without their evident affection.
Most times I love this,
some times it drives me nuts.

#smallstone #honestwriting

Small stones: January mindful writing challenge

As has been evident on the blog these past few months, I struggle to make it all fit. With work, home and life, the effort of noting the everyday gratitudes and inspirations and writing them down has proven one task too many. Cooking happens, but it's pretty ad hoc, and is more often than not along the lines of assembly rather than creation. When creation happens, the act alone takes my focus, and remembering to record it in any fashion seems like a faint memory. Golly, that sounds so pathetic as I write it! It's not, really. I think it's just called life.

As was the case in April with the blogging challenge, and again in November, if I am faced with a commitment, something I said I'd do every day, I somehow rally the Puritan work ethic and soldier on. Go freaking figure.

Well, here I am with a challenge again. This one too had its promptings from Lisa (who pointed me in the direction of the April challenge), and when I saw that the theme is 31 Days of Waking Up, well, I knew I had to sign up!

The idea is to observe one thing every day and write about it. They're called "small stones," meant to be unintimidating, I suppose. Though for me, fewer words tends to mean editing, really paring down the blather. Yikes.

But, quotes like:
“Use your life to wake you up.” ~ Pema Chodron
and
Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it. ~ Mary Oliver

...further sealed the deal. I must participate, mustn't I?

Stay tuned. Play along (I would love the company!). My goal is for January to be a month of observance: small stones, daily.

Sept. 2: Monday morning inspiration: Just write

Day 2: Challenge update: Soon after I posted yesterday, dear friend Jen texted me: "Hey, let's blog challenge together." Apparently I'm not the only one feeling the need for a little blogging boost... This morning, our mutual friend Sunshine also posted that she has undertaken a challenge for the month of September. Obviously the back-to-school mentality is alive and well in the moms of my world; fresh starts, new ideas, challenges! (More on that tomorrow.)

As Jen noted in her first post, if you would like to join in, just message me and I'll send you our list of prompts. The more the merrier! One of things I'm most interested in seeing is how Jen and I (and you?) approach the same prompt. Can't wait to see how it goes.

Monday mornings usually mean inspiration for me (even if it's a holiday morning around here): what will help me make this week the best it can be, and how can I plug into the inspiration around me to accomplish that? In that vein, this morning I am looking for inspiration in writing, from writers.

This piece with writers having written advice on their hands is amusing if not necessarily new or particularly insightful. My favorite is this one, I think because it's a bit brutal, but honest:

I recently saw this beautiful passage by the lovely writer Adrienne Rich below; the last sentence fairly sings to me.

An honorable human relationship—that is, one in which two people have the right to use the word “love”—is a process, delicate, violent, often terrifying to both persons involved, a process of refining the truths they can tell each other.

It is important to do this because it breaks down human self-delusion and isolation.

It is important to do this because in doing so we do justice to our own complexity.

It is important to do this because we can count on so few people to go that hard way with us.

I've never thought about the concept of writers not writing for a full year--to give the rest of us a chance to catch up on information overload--but now that he's mentioned it, I kind of like it. (Usually I just think I need to find better filters for the information I really want to take in, and carve out more time for reading.) How's this for a horrifying stat: "...according to the New York Times, 81% of Americans feel they have a book in them." What a hoot. Imagine how many of them you'd really want to read?

How do you know if something is really worth your while--are you someone who stays with a book or even a longform article to the end, or do you bail if it's not doing it for you? I used to be the former, I am now someone who will give a book a fair shake and then let it go; too many good books in the world to waste time on ones I'm not engrossed by.

Where do you find inspiration for writing--or reading?

Sept. 1: Getting back in the saddle

It's a thing amongst bloggers, to take a break from blogging over the summer, for a month or a few weeks. While I haven't done that, exactly, I have been rather sparse around these parts, other than my gratitude moments. Between work and then the lack of energy re: sickness, it's been quite the summer.

So, how to rejuvenate? Where to begin again, dive back into the blogging deep? A blog I follow, communicatrix, recently got back into it by kicking off a "good enough" run of 21 posts. It's true, once one is out of the rhythm, it can feel like you really have to write something pretty special to get back into the groove. This phrase in Colleen's kick-off post really spoke to me: And I wonder why I wander away from writing.

Because it's true. Whether I'm posting a recipe, or something that inspires me, it really all comes down to putting "pen" to "paper" and getting the thoughts out. There are times when my creative well runs dry, so to speak, but more often than not I simply allow other things to crowd out the writing, the creating. And miss it, as time goes by and the page stays blank.

So, where to start?

Well, I went looking for an inspiring blogging challenge out there in the interwebs. There are certainly a lot of them (I'm not alone! Others have this predicament!). But none spoke to me in entirety, so I am left to create my own. Not unlike the blogging challenge I took part in last spring, I am going to set out to write daily in the month of September.

Here we go.

Today we were blessed to catch up with folks who moved from the area eight years ago. Young Sam (on the left above, first picture) was a dear friend of Seth's (and Andrew's, on the right) in first and second grade, and moved the fall of their third grade year. His dad is in the military, and they first went to Hawaii (where we visited them in the spring of '07), then Virginia, followed by Germany. They just moved back to Washington state, to the Fort Lewis area over on the east side, and were in Walla Walla checking in on the home they still have here, as a rental.

Seth and Sam gave Andrew a call and together they wandered and chatted away an hour of the afternoon, catching up. It reminded me of my own childhood, and friendships that ebbed and flowed, and the value of long-time friends. People who knew you "when."

Sam told Seth and I that he is really glad to have moved a few times in his childhood, but is happy to be back in Washington state. He also said he thought never having moved would be boring. Seth, on the other hand, loves having been in the same school district his whole school life. Goes to show that what you know, what your experience is, is just that. Yours. And making your peace with it--moving or not moving--is a part of being a kid. Both boys could probably be content having been in the others' shoes, they just aren't aware of it.

It's remarkable to think of the paths that our lives take because of decisions made around us as children. I spent a good deal of time thinking about that today, as Seth and Sam and Andrew visited. I didn't arrive at any real flashes of brilliance, but I did reflect on my own childhood with gratitude. Proving once again that what you know, you know, and it makes sense to you. ;)

Did you move many times as a child? How did that impact you, and does it still influence how you see the world today? Tell me!

Monday morning inspiration

A few days ago (Friday, I think), I remarked that I had completely lost track of days... the holiday during the week rather than a Friday or Monday kind of threw me off, I guess. But in the best of ways. What day is it, anyway? Friday felt like a Monday all day, because the night before felt like Sunday. Or some such logic... Well, yesterday did feel well and truly like a Sunday, replete with all the things that make a productive Sunday shine--husband and I both got good and filthy doing some yard work, I did some deep cleaning in some areas that hadn't seen my Swiffer strong arm in a good long time, and we did a little road trippin' with the dogs with a stop at one of our favorite soft-serve ice cream joints (they sell a lot more than ice cream, but that's all we ever get) on the way home. A really lovely summer day!

A few things have come across my path lately that have inspired me, and of course I wanted to share them with you!

This letter written to an author was a great reminder to me that taking the time to let someone know that they have made a difference in your life is a really worthwhile thing. Last week, partly prompted by reading this, I took the opportunity to write a note of thanks to a local oncology caregiver for the color she breathes into a room when she enters it. Her cheer and positive words have made all the difference in the world to a local woman I know who is currently fighting cancer.

All that is to say, if there's someone you've been meaning to write to, or has been in your thoughts in a way of gratitude for an action, big or small, take the time to say something. Do it. You won't regret it, even if (maybe especially if) you never hear a word back about it. It's just a good thought, out there in the universe--and YOU put it there!

Viral wedding toasts and dances are all the rage these days, but every once in awhile one will stand out as unique and sweet. This one was, for me. (See my note below the video about how to actually know what she's saying.)



Click over to YouTube and watch the video there (rather than above), and click on "transcript" below the video to read along as she sings. Very clever for old ears like mine that don't hear every word in a rap!

If you think about writing, about putting your thoughts out to the world, but can't ever seem to make it happen, this post might be for you. I am warning, as the writer of the post does, that the language in the post is Not Safe For Work (for those of you who may not know what NSFW is). Which means you probably also shouldn't start reading it aloud to your mother (or mine) on a road trip. But put the language aside, and grab the gist of it: just get writing already.

This sweet thing was posted to my Facebook wall just yesterday by dear friend Jen. It reminded her of me, I guess. I'll take it, even though I'm Northern, not Southern. But the tea is sweetened there too...

I do love love and family, and I've been known to adhere to a tradition or two, as well. :)

Hope you have a sweet, inspired week ahead!

Midweek reminder: I needed to tell myself a long story about life

I learned to garden the way I learned to write--out of necessity. We needed vegetables and flowers, and I needed to tell myself a long story about life--I am still telling it--a kind of beanstalk that grows and grows, and I can climb it, both to escape the possibility of life at the bottom, and to find another world where giants and castles and harp-playing hens are still to be found.

Gardening, like story-telling, is a continuing narrative. One thing leads to another. Like stories, there is always something going on in the garden long after the gardener has gone to bed. The thing grows, unfolds, changes, develops a maddening life of its own. For me, as a writer, I go to sleep with an idea in my head, and it takes hold during the night. I open the back door in the morning, and the tulips that refused to look at me the night before, have opened in the sun.
-Jeanette Winterson

Midweek reminder: Honesty is inherently generous

Honesty is not the same as confession. “Be honest” (often “brutally honest”) is a fundamental tenet of memoir writing. But that does not mean you include every detail, play out every emotional drama, chronicle everything you did during the span of time over which the book or essay takes place. Honesty means not skirting uncomfortable truths and not pulling punches when it comes to recounting situations and feelings. Confession means blurting out a bunch of stuff and just leaving it there for shock value rather than doing the hard work of organizing it and pruning it and deciphering its relevance to the larger picture. Confessing means asking the reader for something—for forgiveness, for punishment, for some kind of response that makes you feel less alone. Honesty means offering something to the reader—a piece of yourself or a set of suggestions. Honesty means making the reader feel less alone. Honesty is inherently generous. Confession is inherently needy and intrusive. -Meghan Daum

From Salon, a recent piece on memoir writing.

Link love: 13 links and quotes on writing and writers

n my wanderings online and gathering of tidbits, themes at times arise. Of course, trending issues in the news help toward that end as well.

This week I'm sharing 13 tidbits--links and quotes both--related to writing and writers.

1. “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” -Ernest Hemingway

2. I adore this post. If you don't read anything else here today, please read it. Very human, and humorous, relative to the ego and envy between writers.

3. “The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them--words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a tellar but for want of an understanding ear.” -Stephen King, Different Seasons

4. Molly Ringwald wrote a book. It is on my must-read list, just because Molly is an old fave. Yes, I am from the Pretty In Pink generation, if you didn't already know!

5. Recently I enjoyed this post on semi-colons in The Opinionator section of The NYTimes. Me, I'm a semi-colon girl. Not overly, but certainly not to be avoided, a la Vonnegut.

6. Of course, this piece is ripped (insert loud ripping noise here) from the headlines relative to Joshua Leher's recent nosedive.

7. This quote made me laugh out loud! “I haven't any right to criticize books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.” -Mark Twain

8. “If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories--science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.” -Ray Bradbury

9. Some rules for writing.

10. One writer's quest to unseat 50 Shades of Grey. I wish him luck!

11. “All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.” -E.B. White

12. Some good tips about Copyblogger's success at writing blog posts. Now if I actually remembered them when I'm writing...

13. “I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of. ” -Joss Whedon

I hope there's a nugget or two there to inspire your creative muse!

Happy Thursday, and for more Thursday 13s, go here.

Ten Word Tuesday: Inspired by reading "Power of Less"

Each editing pass eliminates clutter, in writing and in life.

Update, following my advice above:
In life, as in writing, each editing provides additional clarity.

Daybook: Aug. 24, 2010, first day of school

riend Jen has done the daybook practice a couple of times lately, and each time I think, "Oh, good one! I should do that one of these days..." Apparently, today is the day! What better day for taking stock than the first day of school?

Outside my window... it's very quiet except for the lawn sprinklers. And a few birds. Oh, and the dogs. But still, quite quiet. And cool. I'm amazed at how quickly it's turned from "too  warm all night, I wish it would cool off just a bit" to "wow, where are my fuzzy slippers?" That's first thing in the morning, of course; looking out at the cloudless sky, I'm thinking it will warm up to a nice sizzle by the time Seth takes his first cross-country run this afternoon.

I am thinking... that the world can be a sad and crazy place and almost everyone I know has a slice of the pain/disappointment pie, on some level. Thank goodness for love, that's what I'm thinking. Because loving each other through the pain is about the best we can hope for, most days. (And if you're feeling like the pain/disappointment pie has passed you by--roll with me here, I know that metaphor doesn't quite hold--just wait for a minute or two. Or, take up post in a public place and people watch. Really watch. There's joy, there's laughter, but there's also a lot of pain. Sorry for the downer paragraph here, it's just what it is, not always sweet tea and sunshine!)

I am thankful for... time. I realize more and more how quickly it's all going by, and the ability to pause and breathe in and out and be appreciative is a skill I'm still working on. It's going to be a lifelong thing, the learning to pause...

From the kitchen... I'm making a nectarine coffee cake for a mom's get-together later this morning, and it's spilling over in the oven, oh joy... yes, the kids go off to school and we celebrate. A fabulous thing, really. Also just made husband his breakfast shake and Seth an egg "mcmuffin." Smells good around here.

I am wearing... my favorite black skirt and a tan polo and my favorite Teva flip-flops too. Comfy.

I am creating... a physical space to create in. And mental space that is more focused than it's been lately. Trying to pare down the scattered thoughts. Wish me luck.

I am going... for a run later today. (If I say it out loud, it will happen. That's a theory, right?)

I am reading... How Did You Get This Number by Sloane Crosley. It's my palette cleanser after the heavier reading of the summer. Well, one heavy book. Give me a break. (Oh, and I just noticed there's no question mark in that title. That could well and truly drive me nuts. That title needs a question mark... I wonder how many editing meetings took place over that title? I hope the copy editor went down swinging, that's all I can say...)

I am hoping... to achieve some clarity and direction in a meeting later today. Love a little hope!

I am hearing... that bedbugs are back as an epidemic. This is dampening my travel "bug" a little, so to speak, but not a lot. I'll get past it. And buy some bug spray.

Around the house... Seth and I did some good work on Sunday, getting a few problem areas in the house under control--my office, for one, and then his game space in the basement, and my crafty space too... feeling much better about the clutter, but there's more to be done. Hello, fall energy, I am glad to see you!

One of my favorite things... about summer has been the absolute cornucopia of fresh fruit. I have loved it, as always. And already feeling nostalgic for berries...

A few plans for the rest of the week... Just getting into the groove of the school routines, making lists for fall plans and getting our schedules all on track...

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

 Mr. Eighth Grade, heading off into the world

If you'd like to try out this exercise, go to: The Simple Woman's Daybook.

Home, sweet moth-filled home

Time away from the daily grind can be so rejuvenating. You're out of your routines, where the daily push and pull keeps you in ruts and grooves that seem virtually impossible to break out of. In returning back home from vacation, I used to have all kinds of expectations for my "normal" life--on top of some fabulous new exercise routine, there might be a nutritional push or some other list of "musts" to integrate into my life...

Ah, aging. With it comes some degree of lowered expectations, a grasp on reality that takes some wrinkles to understand.

So I'm coming home from vacation with only two things on my list of things to do:

1. Journaling. I've recently discovered a new blog, chookooloonks, and she posted an entry on journaling that really spoke to me. I'm going to give it a whirl, in the interest of writing daily, and see what comes from it. I've had all kinds of journals in the past, from prayer journals to "who do I have a crush on this week" journals (that was probably 1983 or so... thankfully), so this one will open up the windows and let all the ideas come in, from poetry and essay ideas, to to-do lists and goals, to conversations I've had with Seth, menu planning, blog writing... I'm eager to see where it goes.

2. Apple bread. Ha. You've seen the pictures. Now see the French toast. It's not often I get a bee in my bonnet like this one. And I really shouldn't--I can't imagine that it's really a necessary healthful addition to our diets. But. I. Can't. Help. It.



And yes, I still want and need to get back into my exercise rhythms, keep eating healthfully, get my good sleep, etc. All the stuff that makes up life on the farm, kinda laid back. (Ain't much an old country girl like me can't hack. Sorry. Couldn't help it. I love my old John Denver. Sniff.)

Caveat: Since first writing this in anticipation of being home, we are now home and have been welcomed back by many a moth. We seem to have been overrun by them, especially in the pantry, not sure how they got in (I'm not going to name names, but a couple of local grocery stores come to mind...), but from all the research I've done online, it seems the only sure way to be rid of them is to clear out all dry goods. Period. So my pantry is about to be bare. And apple bread will have to wait. I am looking forward to a better organized pantry--it's gotten a little wild and crazy in there lately. But I am not looking forward to throwing out every little pantry supply around; seems wasteful. But I'm not wild about eating moth larvae, so we do what we need to. Stay tuned.