Perspective

"Without words, without writing and without books, there would be no history, there would be no humanity."  ~ Hermann Hesse

I loved the fact that Julie Powell blogged herself to fame in Julie and Julia (okay, so she had to cook too, and that was even harder than blogging).  However, sometimes her blog was whiny and self-absorbed, so when I started my blog, I vowed to remain chaste and shrill-free. It’s too late, the “poor-me” cries are taking over, and inserting themselves like hyphens in my blog.

It started with the endless power failure, followed by a trip to Albuquerque to move my daughter. On the day of the move, we hit some unexpected snags that if I even begin to describe them, I am afraid I will get lost in the Blogmuda Triangle. Upon returning home, the damage from the snow storm (not a metaphorical one, but the one that caused the power failure) had left us with a huge plumbing problem. Today I helped my husband bleed the hot water tank, clear the sediment out of the washing machine, and fix 2 toilets.

In the middle of it all, I managed to write, and despite my complaining, I enjoyed the daffodils and crocus that didn’t seem to notice that there is still a bit of snow on the ground. I suppose if the flowers can bloom in the midst of this weather, I can put a few words on paper. And if I ever really lose my perspective, I can turn on the news, and weep over the tragic earthquake in Japan, and then be grateful that I just went through a little snowstorm.

Writing Chasms

"The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes." ~ Agatha Christie

This week I have had to manage a series of writing obstacles that made me relate to Sylvia Plath. Perhaps I am exaggerating just a tiny bit. Four days of no electricity or Internet created a serious disruption in my schedule. Now I am in San Diego at a conference, which is cutting into my writing time. I heard a wonderfully inspiring talk about a woman who self-published a book which was picked up by a major publisher. It made me want to write even more, but I haven’t had time to read her book let alone write mine.

Sometimes the chasms between where I am and where I want to be seem so deep that I doubt my capacity to navigate them. That’s when I find I can jump farther and higher than I realized.  

Unconnected

I nearly had a writer’s breakdown – 3 days without Internet—2 without power altogether. Normally it would not have been a crisis, but I was in a writing groove. I am dubbing my near nervous breakdown as composus interruptus. It was horrible. Reading was the only solution, and fortunately I am reading a fabulous book—Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. Beautifully written.

Now that I am connected, it is back to work. I have a lovely assignment for Liver Health Today. I am writing a feature piece on spirituality and prayer. It’s a nice break from hepatitis C.

Odd Titles

The Bookseller, a British trade magazine, awards an annual prize for the oddest title. The award is called the Diagram Prize and it was first given in 1978 to Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice.

Here are some other previous winners:

• Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes
• The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification
• Bombproof Your Horse
• Reusing Old Graves: A Report on Popular British Attitudes 
• The Joy of Chickens
• Oral Sadism and the Vegetarian Personality
• Natural Bust Enlargement with Total Power: How to Increase the other 90% of Your Mind to Increase the Size of Your Breasts    

So in the spirit of the Diagram Prize, I propose the following title for my book: The Happy Hippy Hepper: Health Tips for the Contented Beatnik with Hepatitis C

I Am an Author

“If you want to be a writer-stop talking about it and sit down and write!” ~ Jackie Collins

I finished my manuscript, mailed it to my publisher, and said, “Now I am an author.” To me, a writer writes, but an author writes books, although technically they can be used interchangeably.

When I started this project, I talked about it, thought about it, agonized over it, swam in it, and danced around it. Then one day, I sat down and wrote for an hour. Hour by hour, word by word, it got done.

Now I get to start my next book.

Near the Finish Line

“A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end... but not necessarily in that order.” –  Jean Luc Godard

I finished my manuscript—sort of. I am writing the glossary and doing a final rewrite, but for all intents and purposes, the book is done. I chose this week’s quote because it is missing one component; a story also needs a title. This week I committed myself to a title: Free of Hepatitis C (A Guide for Your Journey from Diagnosis to Treatment). I know that only 4% of titles that the author comes up with are the ones that end up on the book, but I wanted the manuscript to have a name on it. So now, I have a beginning, middle, end, and title. Add in a glossary, and I am done.

The Passing of Life and Time

“Life is short and often stingy; feast the heart with what it craves, short of cruelty, and let the world wonder.” – Reynolds Price

The dear writer, Reynolds Price, died this week. His passing spurs me to write, to feast on words, and to fall headlong into a love affair with life itself. Life is short, but the length of the day is always twenty-four hours. Each day, the question for me is simply, what am I going to do with my precious twenty-four hours?