I started to write a short story in long hand a few months ago. This past week I have been editing it and working on some other writing projects that have been on the back burner for a while. It's wonderful when out of nowhere the words just start falling like great fat raindrops onto the dry, white page. So cathartic! I have been reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott which has some excellent advice for writers of all kinds. I love her ideas about just writing in stream of consciousness during a first draft. Perfectionism over every word and comma is inspirations worst enemy I am certain. I have just ordered Ursula Le Guin's Steering the Craft too as I've heard so many wonderful things about it and of course her writing is exquisite. Her advice to a young writer is something I re-read again and again when embarking on my own humble word-smithing. I've also enjoyed listening to Marilynne Robinson readings and interviews on youtube. Her characters radiate humanity and her prose shimmers with stark yet graceful imagery. If you haven't read Gilead yet, I highly recommend it.
The girls wanted to look through old photos the other day. We dusted off our Wedding album and there were lots of ohhs and ahhs about how young we looked. Well it's true but that was four children ago so we have a right to a few wrinkles and grey hairs by now. I remember being equally fascinated, as a child, by my own parents wedding pictures. Looking back at old photos brings up so many emotions. Time and the way memory processes it is such a mysterious thing. In some ways the us in those pictures seem almost like strangers and yet in other ways it seems like we were standing outside that beautiful old church only days ago, our teeth chattering with both excitement and cold ( why did we decide to marry in March?) It's funny how time goes by with it's bags packed full of story and experience yet deep down inside at the core you feel just as confused and thrilled about life as you did when you were three.
Boo bought (with her own money) a beautiful gardening planner for me last year. It has some very quaint recipes in it and little envelopes for storing seeds. The sewing, planting and harvesting calendar included is very helpful and it's just plain, lovely to sit down and write notes on what seeds we've planted and what is blooming and when in the garden. It's practical too as it helps me plan the following year based on when certain flowers are coming up this year. I love to potter about the garden and dream about what plants we'll put where. I love the way gardens change year on year. I like to scatter wildflower seeds as well as raising seedlings to plant out, along with all the self seeding varieties this makes room for plenty of surprises.
I'm looking forward to a weekend of peaceful pottering around. xx
Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul.
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A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
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Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week.
What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends?
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Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments.
*
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
*
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week.
What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends?
*
Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments.
