Six-word Memoir Reduction

computer crashed

no words

no joy

I can reduce this whole memoir to one word: hell

Priorities

Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least. ~ Goethe

After being gone for two and a half weeks, I am chomping at the proverbial bit to get back to writing. However, there are bills to be paid, mail to be answered, and the fitness program that needs to be resumed. Health and sanity are as much of writing as stringing words and thoughts together.

Underneath these priorities, an ancient, familiar song calls to me, like the mermaids and sirens in The Odyssey. “Do this, do that. Get organized. Complete this task. Do just one more thing. You can write tomorrow.” If I heed this song, I will drown, and my stories with it.

Vacation Writing

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. ~ Ben Franklin

I am taking Ben Franklin’s advice to heart. I am on vacation, which is worth writing about, but certainly not worth reading about, and that is all I have to say this week.

Grammar

Grammar: The difference between knowing your shit and knowing you're shit. ~ Author Unknown (sent to me via YourCards.com)

How many times have I spelled grammar as grammer, or misspelled misspell as mispell? (I had to override my spell check feature to misspell mispell. And horrors of all horrors, sometimes my mistakes end up in print.

There is something visceral about my reaction when I make a grammar mistake—perhaps forged by years of corrections by parents and teachers. Me: “I am going to bring this book to Linda.” My mother:“No, you are going to take this book to Linda.” We didn’t have the “whatever” response yet—the only option was to learn proper English, which I did willingly.

Now, I see how people chastise themselves when they make a mistake. Some might be more prone to apologize around me, assuming that since I am a writer, I must know how to spell and construct a sentence. Little do they know…