I'm sure that isn't a very common headline for many people but this thought just occurred to me while emptying my dishwasher. (something I'm sure I'm doing incorrectly according to my daughter) Irene is a blessing!
A good friend of mine is due to head East this weekend to do something many of my friends are dreading. She is taking her son to college in the midst of the largest natural disaster to hit the East Coast in decades. Some say, oh no, how terrible, how dangerous. I say, bring it! While worrying about the storm and the changed travel plans and the power outages, I am guessing that she has had two, or three days less to think about how sad she is going to be leaving her child at school.
I know that while we have been chatting about the storm and her getting there, I have worried less about leaving my child at school next week. Distractions are wonderful tools to draw us away from the things that are most troubling. For the most part, we can't cause our own distractions so today I say...thank you Irene :)
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
The Star
This has nothing to do with my inner thoughts, just a little mom bragging. Taylor's award winning photograph from the Washington State High School Photography Competition will be showing at the Tacoma Art Museum in September. They will install the exhibit on August 30, 2011.
In the winter months, undetermined at this point, the exhibit will be at the Seattle Art Museum. I'm sure she will take advantage of showing off to her Cornish classmates.
I'm very proud of her - in case you can't tell.
In the winter months, undetermined at this point, the exhibit will be at the Seattle Art Museum. I'm sure she will take advantage of showing off to her Cornish classmates.
I'm very proud of her - in case you can't tell.
The horizon
A good friend of mine gave me a lot of books, or book suggestions, several years ago to help me with my writing. I don't know why I need help with writing because I have so much to say. But I find that I go about my life with all of these things running through my head that I want to write about and by the time I get home and finished with dinner and my daily nagging, I can't remember all of the things that I had to say.
Today, I started reading one of the books! The biggest thing I took from my reading was that I need to just sit and write. Maybe a blog isn't the place for that because as the author put it, I can be messy and not punctuate things and not worry about typos or spelling and just let it fly. I find that I'm not so good at that. The author also said not to go back and read what you are writing as you write because you worry too much about how it sounds and not about what you are saying. I think that is why the blog was so good early on. I was typing the entire thing on an iPod Touch and I couldn't see an entire sentence, let alone a whole paragraph. I was consumed with what had happened during the day and needed to get it on paper(?) before I forgot how it felt. I just went back and read the preceding paragraph, thus already breaking the new rule. Focus!
Another thing that struck me was that the author spoke of being present in your life and how that would inspire you to write things. I think my depression at being home from our trip sort of clouded my ability to be present. I was looking at life as a series of "have to do" things that just got me from one day to the next. I'll work on this but I think it involves leaving the office or the house more. I love to be in my house and with my kid - just being. But that is soon to end and my being will be different. I fear the number of thoughts that will run through my head on a daily basis when she isn't here for me to talk to about stuff. I'm not sure I can type as fast as I can think and I don't think my answers will be as interesting because they will all be my point of view...but again, something else to work on.
This doesn't have much to do with the book I was reading, but more about the book I want to write. I have several topics in mind but I think that what always keeps me from starting is that I don't know how any of the stories end. If you write from your own experiences, they are usually ongoing feelings or people around you that affect you in one way or another. None of these stories that float around have endings or conclusions and I'm not even sure I have learned all the lessons that I was supposed to from them.
I did it, I went back and read this over from the top. I found some words that scared me such as hear instead of here and paragraphy. These are things I can't just let slide in my wanton typing exercise. Problem is, now I've broken the flow coming from my head. I distracted myself with punctuation and went and got a drink of water and just like that...I'm out. This writing thing is going to be hard!
Shawn
Today, I started reading one of the books! The biggest thing I took from my reading was that I need to just sit and write. Maybe a blog isn't the place for that because as the author put it, I can be messy and not punctuate things and not worry about typos or spelling and just let it fly. I find that I'm not so good at that. The author also said not to go back and read what you are writing as you write because you worry too much about how it sounds and not about what you are saying. I think that is why the blog was so good early on. I was typing the entire thing on an iPod Touch and I couldn't see an entire sentence, let alone a whole paragraph. I was consumed with what had happened during the day and needed to get it on paper(?) before I forgot how it felt. I just went back and read the preceding paragraph, thus already breaking the new rule. Focus!
Another thing that struck me was that the author spoke of being present in your life and how that would inspire you to write things. I think my depression at being home from our trip sort of clouded my ability to be present. I was looking at life as a series of "have to do" things that just got me from one day to the next. I'll work on this but I think it involves leaving the office or the house more. I love to be in my house and with my kid - just being. But that is soon to end and my being will be different. I fear the number of thoughts that will run through my head on a daily basis when she isn't here for me to talk to about stuff. I'm not sure I can type as fast as I can think and I don't think my answers will be as interesting because they will all be my point of view...but again, something else to work on.
This doesn't have much to do with the book I was reading, but more about the book I want to write. I have several topics in mind but I think that what always keeps me from starting is that I don't know how any of the stories end. If you write from your own experiences, they are usually ongoing feelings or people around you that affect you in one way or another. None of these stories that float around have endings or conclusions and I'm not even sure I have learned all the lessons that I was supposed to from them.
I did it, I went back and read this over from the top. I found some words that scared me such as hear instead of here and paragraphy. These are things I can't just let slide in my wanton typing exercise. Problem is, now I've broken the flow coming from my head. I distracted myself with punctuation and went and got a drink of water and just like that...I'm out. This writing thing is going to be hard!
Shawn
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