Good writing session, bad writing session, ho hum, ho hum. When I focus on particular moment in time, it's good; when I try to get beyond the 'here and now,' not so good. As in life, so in writing.
Very very very very tired. Finding it hard to keep it together with the kid. Had the wisdom at least to go for a walk when husband got home. Making jello with kids while overtired, not such a good idea. When struggling with writing, walk away from the computer; when struggling with parenting, same. It's all so simple -- why can't we always just remember?
Monday, March 7, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Day 57
New chapter on the way. Four blissful hours of creation in Starbucks this morning while the kids did an obstacle course with the sitter -- win-win!
Two hours in Target afterwards: lose-lose. Needed yoga class to decompress!
Two hours in Target afterwards: lose-lose. Needed yoga class to decompress!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Day 56
Not a scrap of work done today. Looked at "Sula," thought about reading it, then l lay down on my pillow (this at 2.30pm) and slept like a baby for 2 hours, and I'm still ready for bed at 7pm! Guess my brain is telling me it's time for a break...
Friday, March 4, 2011
Day 55
Started working on a new chapter today. So glad not to be writing about death anymore. I actually felt myself smiling as I wrote.
After school, kids played in the school playground with a million others -- it was absolute chaos (though they were happy enough). Something necessary about quiet and stillness for the creative mind, otherwise we are merely surviving, watching our backs...waiting for our children to fall and bloody themselves. Maybe we cannot work creatively in an atmosphere of fear. Considering what's going on in the world these days, it's a wonder anyone can make art. We are so lucky to have this privilege.
After school, kids played in the school playground with a million others -- it was absolute chaos (though they were happy enough). Something necessary about quiet and stillness for the creative mind, otherwise we are merely surviving, watching our backs...waiting for our children to fall and bloody themselves. Maybe we cannot work creatively in an atmosphere of fear. Considering what's going on in the world these days, it's a wonder anyone can make art. We are so lucky to have this privilege.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Day 54
Blossom everywhere...clocks going forward soon. Ahhhhhhh. Breathe it in!
Wrote up my notes from "Eyes on the Prize" today and realized Martin Luther King's ideals are my ideals exactly. This could be a memo from my heart:
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Also, I think he has it on the money (unfortunate metaphor) when he said that the wealthy (especially whites in America) were "more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality and humanity." When I tried to suggest these ideas to my students on Tuesday night as we discussed a photograph showing a vulture hovering over a starving child, they looked at me with something like terror, because, I think it meant we -- including me -- must not simply do something to help the disadvantaged, but must CHANGE OUR LIVES.
Jumping down off my soapbox, I ask myself, 'So what are YOU going to do, Nicola?' Whatever it is might be the most important lesson my children ever learn. It will take courage, something the Civil Rights Movement tells us we have in spades if we will only use it.
I think right now my body is exhausted by my mind's desire to run a marathon every day...maybe tomorrow I will try to rest (ha!).
Wrote up my notes from "Eyes on the Prize" today and realized Martin Luther King's ideals are my ideals exactly. This could be a memo from my heart:
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Also, I think he has it on the money (unfortunate metaphor) when he said that the wealthy (especially whites in America) were "more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality and humanity." When I tried to suggest these ideas to my students on Tuesday night as we discussed a photograph showing a vulture hovering over a starving child, they looked at me with something like terror, because, I think it meant we -- including me -- must not simply do something to help the disadvantaged, but must CHANGE OUR LIVES.
Jumping down off my soapbox, I ask myself, 'So what are YOU going to do, Nicola?' Whatever it is might be the most important lesson my children ever learn. It will take courage, something the Civil Rights Movement tells us we have in spades if we will only use it.
I think right now my body is exhausted by my mind's desire to run a marathon every day...maybe tomorrow I will try to rest (ha!).
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Day 53
Is it really only 53 days? Feels like my life now -- I guess that's how long it takes.
Wrote an annotation on "Eyes on the Prize" (PBS series) today, and really enjoyed writing in a different vein -- a little bit academic, a little bit critique, a little bit personal. Good to get a head start on the next packet. I have to dive into something fresh with my own writing, and I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time am anxious it won't go well.
Spend the afternoon in the fresh air with the kids -- they do me such good -- force me out from under the desk and into the beautiful world.
Reading Toni Morrison's "Sula" -- wonderful writing and more accessible than some of her later work, I'm feeling.
Wrote an annotation on "Eyes on the Prize" (PBS series) today, and really enjoyed writing in a different vein -- a little bit academic, a little bit critique, a little bit personal. Good to get a head start on the next packet. I have to dive into something fresh with my own writing, and I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time am anxious it won't go well.
Spend the afternoon in the fresh air with the kids -- they do me such good -- force me out from under the desk and into the beautiful world.
Reading Toni Morrison's "Sula" -- wonderful writing and more accessible than some of her later work, I'm feeling.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Day 52
Sent off my packet today -- 100 pages of it, then had a massage at the chiropractor's. While the therapist pummeled my aching hip bone and glutes, working out years of tension and the scar tissue from an ancient injury, I worked out the theme and structure of my forthcoming 10-page essay, and came up with the ideas for FIVE, count them, five stories! Talk about value for money...
Came home from teaching to see my daughter kissing the blossoms on the nectarine tree. Best therapy in the world. :)
Came home from teaching to see my daughter kissing the blossoms on the nectarine tree. Best therapy in the world. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)