Tuesday and Emerson

I can't believe it's almost July. I remember as a child feeling like summers stretched on forever. This one seems to be zipping by on a freight train, flashing one month to the next with total abandon. I swear we just finished April.

I'm in the thick of this story I'm writing, taking it page by page. How long will it end up being? Maybe I'll know by the end of the summer? By the end of the year?

Cora is being quite adamant. She also is dealing with a rather long and tiresome cold, making my heart skip a beat when I remember our recent, awful winter months of isolation and sickness. This morning we bought new paint brushes and she spent the morning dabbling in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. I stuck one of her masterpieces to the refrigerator with magnets. She took a bath afterward.

You've probably noticed by now that I have a thing for quotes. My mom gave me this book for my 20th birthday called A Guide for the Advanced Soul, a bunch of quotes compiled by Susan Hayward. The idea is that you close your eyes and ask a question, then open the pages and find insight.

Here's my quote for today:

"Do the thing and you will have the power."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Chapters 2 and 3

I recently read that Barbara Kingsolver wrote her first novel, Bean Trees, mainly at night during her first pregnancy. She was suffering from pregnancy-induced insomnia. How often do you lie in bed at night tossing and turning, trying to find the right position to induce sleep? It happens to all of us at one point or another. Imagine if you got out of bed and started a novel.

One of my professors told me his friend wrote his first novel at the office, after work hours, by pulling all-nighters and showering in the locker room in the morning.

It's an interesting exercise writing a story while your baby naps. It's like 1, 2, 3 - lunch, potty, wash hands, read story, sing lullaby, snuggle into bed, kiss and - GO! Write that thing!

So, I'm off to do just that, except I'll also share this quote I have always loved:

"How much longer will you go on letting your energy sleep?

How much longer are you going to stay oblivious of the immensity of yourself?

Don't lose time in conflict; lose no time in doubt - time can never be recovered and if you miss an opportunity it may take many lives before another comes your way again."

--Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh