My grandmother sipped whiskey on the rocks in the evenings. In the summer she sat facing the wide window looking out at the lawn, the […]
Writing Update: Letting It Settle
Tuesday Writing Update! I popped in on Sunday to say that I had finished the Shitty First Draft/Trash Draft of my novel. The week leading up to my deadline was overwhelmed with writing as I found extra time whenever I could to bang out some word count. It was exhausting … and I loved it. Spending hours everyday writing felt right.
I Am So Lucky
Spending a weekend with my mom shows me the brighter side of the coin: how joyful it is to just be together and have fun. We spend more time sewing seeds than trimming branches. More time painting vision’s for the future than spreading balm on the wounds of the past. I love that about my mom. Even when I was a child, she took what I said seriously. I think it gave me faith in my voice that saved me in the foggier moments.
Mother’s Day Haiku
The noblest love Through shopping trips, crying fits Mom always means Home
Muti, Uchida & Mozart
“What do you think about when you’re listening?” I asked my Mom during intermission. We were at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra: Muti, Uchida & Mozart. […]
Bonus Writing Update: Trash Draft is Complete!
A quick update … I have technically finished my shitty first draft/trash draft! It was cutting it close but waiting for mom’s flight to get […]
The Magical Mumbo Jumbo
Do you remember when the book The Secret came out? I was in high school when I remember the craze. Every time I checked the book out of the library for a patron I really just wanted to know what the secret was. One of my friends read it and loved it and tried to explain. But I didn’t get it. It sounded like magical mumbo jumbo and this from the girl who would do nearly anything to believe in magic.
The Spiral
My coworker described it like this to me a while ago: it’s a spiral, revolving around a fixed point but we’re at a different vantage each time we come around. I can read the same sentence and it takes on new layers of meaning with another six months of life and experience.
Writing Update: Can’t Talk, Writing
My trash draft deadline (agreed upon with my friend Lin, who’s also finishing a first draft of a novel) is this Friday, May 10th. An arbitrary deadline, but one I’m trying to take seriously.
Solitude
Cal Newport argues in his book Digital Minimalism that our modern technology and social media addictions have led to “Solitude Deprivation: a state in which you spend close to zero time alone with your own thoughts and free from input from other minds.”