KICKING THE TIRES OF MONDAY AUGUST 22, 2021

A 2021 Resolution Shot to H–!

The resolution was to post every day without fail as this was my personal record tracking my use of imagination as a means of tracking the third semester of my allotted “four score and ten.” Sigh! I couldn’t manage to string words into a sentence. Once upon a time, somewhere someone stated forcefully “there is no such thing as writer’s block.”

It’s true. I certainly can’t claim writer’s block. I lacked the stamina for noodling through half-baked ideas and pushing limp words into sentences until one morphs into a paragraph.

For seventy-four years, I asked myself “if I don’t write up to my standards, should I write at all?” If one can’t write deathless prose, what is the point of writing at all? Personally speaking, the point of “getting my hands dirty” putting  words on paper is that I learn to appreciate good writing. I have certainly stumbled across some great writing that will never appear on the curriculum of a university English. Except for mine of course.

There are books that I read three times for the story then five more times to analyze and admire how the author constructs sentences, or establishes a mood or arcs a small  recurring event through the story until it explodes as the turning point of the novel.

Here’s a thought. What fun it might be teaching my own English class, using my own favorite books as a curriculum.

Think about it!

KICKING THE TIRES OF AUGUST 22, 2019

No law that says you have to think about “problems”

Light bulb Moment AKA Aha

Halfway into my morning cup of coffee, I noticed that I was feeling glum because, because, because my mind was busily engaged with “figuring it out.” In a nutshell, I was resenting an item on my “To Do” list that I was doing for another person instead of myself.

Resenting the situation felt bad; thoughts ricocheting between the pros and cons of the matter was only adding more to the pile of bad feeling. Then I woke up to the fact that I didn’t have to think about “the problem” at all. I could simply start thinking about something else entirely. So I started thinking about my exciting project of replacing the crap carpet on the sun porch with Flor tiles: soft sage and grey that will go splendidly with curtains. Just thinking about placing the order has jazzed me.
Today is a very good day indeed and I am feeling fine.