Thursday, September 06, 2007

A Day Late & a Dollar Short: Thursday 13

It's been a full day. A best and worse day. Up and down. In and out. Near and far.
Is this my life?? Could be.....

1. I am back to "serious" writing. A publisher has asked me to re-calabrate and re-pitch my Career Counseling book, to come up with a new angle aimed specifically at people who have to or want to change their careers. I can do that. I started today. I don't know if my effort will result in a contract with them, but it feels like second base. I was afraid when I left my agent I would be lingering off the bases, so this is a good step. Writing and refining book proposals is the marketing and commerce side of my evolving writing career. No complaints: today it feels great.

2. I like writing poetry best because it is quick and compact. But the in-progress story of Casey and Izzy is my very favorite. I won't be surprised if it will remain so 20 years from now.

3. I have a formal appointment book, but I usually keep my to-do list on the front of a blank envelope. This morning I had about 10 things on it. I finished them all. After a period of slacking off from life's daily chores, it looks like I'm mostly organized again. Then again, I'm glad I've learned to slack off, finally.

4. My mind gets stuck on something and I just can't let it go. If it's something even potentially sad, I might cry while I think. Plus I'm am too often impatient and fail to let things play themselves out. I can live with that for myself, but sometimes I end up pulling in and/or hurting someone else who doesn't deserve to have to deal just because I'm acting out. I did this again today. Damn.

5. "I'm sorry" can get pretty stale if I keep walking down the same road.
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6. Finally I parboiled and skinned a couple of dozen tomatoes from the garden and made spaghetti sauce. This is a specialty of mine, recipe handed down from my red headed Italian father, but the homegrown tomatoes gave the sauce a sweetness all its own.

7. I've decided to set up a studio in a corner of the cellar. I will make a cozy little space for myself. There I will paint wood and make whatever mess I want. I used to paint birdhouses, some with polka dots and other neighborhood expressions, and then make up a story about who lives there. I might do this again.

8. Our hedges got trimmed today. JB and I started them last week but they were so overgrown we couldn't reach the middle. So now they look very spiffy, even a little funky. I gave our lawn guy creative license to make a few waves and wiggles and he joyfully did.

9. It is Fall in New England. Fresh apples, pears, blueberries, acorn and butternut squash, pumpkins. The leaves are just beginnning to change colors. In a couple of weeks they will be red and yellow and orange. It is a splendid sight.
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10. The Big Yellow writing group starts up again next Monday. There's something in that livingroom air that makes writing there effortless and fluid. It is just wonderful to write and read aloud there. And it's just as wonderful to hear everyone else read aloud.

11. Here' a # 1 reason to rejoice.


12. My insecurity has a life of its own. I really am an optimist but waves of sadness toss me every which way. I don't know if I can or want to change this. I don't know much these days, really. I can't tell you if that's good or bad.

13. Here's a small hardware store in one of the nearby Hill Towns. It's one of four buildings that make up the town center. You couldn't make up this kind of authenticity.

Click on the photo to see all the small town details

Have a good day yourself. If it's full of dualities like mine, well, maybe that's just the way it is sometimes.....






20 comments:

  1. So much I could say...I love your 13s.

    I love #11.

    And as for #10, listening is best. To hear you, Nerissa, Julie, Laura, etc. etc. read your work aloud, to follow your stories...it is the greatest joy. Then there's October!

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  2. aimed specifically at people who have to or want to change their careers.

    Does going from prospective law student to becoming a full-time stand-up comedienne count?

    Stop by over my side of the blogosphere and let me know if I'm a prime interview subject. If not, just leave an insightful comment--I'm always psyched about relevant ideas from new blogger buddies.

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  3. KJ, I'm trying to catch up after being away but you have been SO busy and continue to do so!

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  4. life is always full of dualities, and honestly, that's what makes it so damn good....kinda like that speghetti sauce with the sweet homegrown 'maters! Happy Friday sweetie~
    peace~love

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  5. About 3: I have such a list on my computer. It is a small handy program and it gives also a calendar and a notebook. But an envelope is also handy :-)
    About 6: Yammie, tomatoes from your own garden!!
    About 7: Oké, KJ. Go for it, girl! And don't forget to show us the results!

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  6. Hooray for fall!! I love the idea of you painting birdhouses. I can identify with #4 and #6 -- Eli has been setting off the smoke alarm lately as he roasts peppers of all colors on his roaster and then freezes them for winter use. Charlotte thinks we're the Ingalls family!

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  7. You know, Ive given up trying to catch up...although my inner perfectionist keeps harping about that....I realize that everyday I plan to take over the whole world, and in the end, Im lucky just to keep the fires put out - and heck! Lifes too short, right? Im gonna 'fake it till I make it'....too bad Im not better at faking making sense :)

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  8. Autumn is a beautiful season - but I'm quite enjoying our spring over here as we had a looooong winter1 :)

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  9. There is so much on this post but what beautiful photograph of Jess and Ryan. His eyes wide with amasement and wonder. A gift indeed. Little children are such treasures. Oh fall is just my favorite weather - cool without the snow and to be surrounded by magnificent rainbow of foliage - alas I see no fall foliage but I see the leaves fall, life goes on...

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  10. 12 : I have that too.
    13 : Looks real cool, good photo !

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  11. I haven't stopped by for a while, but I'm glad that your Thursday 13 was here on top of your blog. I'm very excited about your book! You know I will be first in line to purchase an autographed copy:> As for your insecurity having a life of its own... perhaps Iwe could introduce yours to mine and then they could entertain each other and leave us alone... what do you think? Spaghetti sauce...mmmm... and playing around with paint...yes! Fall is a great time to start projects! (Love that Ryan:>>>>)

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  12. Add my insecurity to yours and Carla's and they can have a laugh together! Whoever says she/he is not insecure is a liar.

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  13. There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.
    -Carl Gustav Jung-

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  14. So nice to see one of your Thursday 13s again kj.

    I'm sure the fall colors are going to be gorgeous. Wish i could see it firsthand. :D

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  15. Where are you KJ? Come out, come out wherever you are.

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  16. time to say hello back!

    kris, soon we will be writing and reading again. yay!

    lucy, welcome. i visited your blog and am sure i will laugh my way through it! and yes: moving from law to comedy definitely counts. :)

    anon, have you caught up yet?--because it's always good to see your avatar here. :)

    singleton, i hate those dualities sometimes!!! but i know you are (mostly) right. thank you back, sweetie!

    wieneke, we could so easily chat together over that apple pie. i hope someday...

    melissa, i've never thought of freezing roasted peppers. ces: you love peppers! here's an idea for you.

    lavender, some mornings i don't know what i'm even capable of until my feet hit the ground and i see what happens from there!

    chief, i get such a kick out of that--here we are writing away and you're in spring and i in fall. your area is sooo beautiful. is everything coming throught the soil now?

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  17. ces, "i see the leaves fall, life goes on". forgive me, but screw that!! haha

    hildegarde, yes, we share a sensitivity. from across the ocean we know that...

    carla, my insecurity wants to know if yours wants to go out for pizza?
    :)

    ces, see above. hope you're coming too. :)

    sidney, you are a fascinating man. this is the truth: if i were asked to choose three people--heads of state, celebrities, etc--i would like to meet, you would be one of them.

    mench, i'm going to take photos and post them.

    here i am, ces. back from a reminder of what matters most!

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  18. Say what?! Screw the falling leaves? It's getting ready for winter and then spring and summer and fall again...

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  19. ces, oh, ok, as long as there's rebirth after the fall...

    :)

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  20. i love real life posts, and toast to yours!

    virginia woolf was close, but what women really need is a room of their own they can leave a mess ")

    "to creativity! fluid writing, agents and lucrative contracts!"

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