Tuesday, January 1, 2013

New Years Day

     I spent today quietly, rotating between two very pleasurable activities - workin' on the book, and reading R.J. Palacio's WONDER - and one very unpleasurable activity - obsessively tracking the ongoing Theater of the Absurd production of "Congress and the Fiscal Cliff."  Really - How can some of our duly elected officials stand to look at themselves in a mirror?
     But let's talk about fiction so we don't have to start throwing things.  Let's talk about fiction so we can be calm and rational and civilized. Let me report that, at 75 pages, my book is now beginning to feel like a book, or at least a first draft, rather than an amorphous blob.  Let me tell you how excited I am to have finally reached the stage at which I can put it on a leash and take it out for a walk.
     And let me say that WONDER is pretty wonderful.  I'm still only about a third of the way into it, except that for years now, I haven't been able to read books in any normal way.  I flip forward, backward, completely randomly.  I'd flip sideways if I could.  A paragraph here, five pages there, whatever strikes my fancy.  And then I go back and read the whole thing in linear fashion, and that way I can understand how it's constructed.  That's the way I learn.  So I already know everything that's going to happen to Auggie in fifth grade, but I'm still reading.  See the difference?  Anyway.  More later after I've read it from beginning to end, but it's been a satisfying companion to me today.
     And I guess that's my New Year message: be grateful for the little things.  A good book to read.  The time to write, and some well-turned sentences to show for it.  A warm house.  Two excellent dogs.  A peaceful day (if you don't count the Congress part, and I won't).
     Wishing you all those things, and other appropriate blessings, for the coming year.

4 comments:

  1. Yay for you with your writing progress :D That's a great feeling!

    I'm not one for New Year's resolutions or anything that needs a specific date to begin. To me, it's just another date that reminds us that time is going by. I've been working my way toward making writing my focus, and I'm standing at the portal waiting to step through that door. It won't be long I'll be "walking my book" too :D

    Enjoy!

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    1. Donna: I can't wait for us to cross paths as we're out taking our books for an airing! Yeah, I think New Years is pretty meaningless too, but I hope yours is happy and productive anyway!

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  2. Yes, let's not count the Congress thingie...other than that, I like your sane approach to getting your writing done.

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    1. Hey Miz B! I honestly don't know whether my approach to writing is sane or the opposite. All I know is that when I spend all my non-writing time stressing about not writing, it makes it that much harder for me to accomplish anything when I do have the time to write. So I try to be at peace with myself to the extent that I can. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't! Thanks for stopping by.

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