“May the favor of the Lord rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us- yes, establish the work of our hands.” -Pslams 90:17
“Restore us, O Lord God Almighty; make Your face shine upon us, that we might be saved.”
-Psalms 80:19
Is there some rule somewhere that states it is illegal to be reading so-and-so amount of books at the same time? Is there a country where you could be arrested for having bookmarks in more than three books in a pile? No? Oh, thank goodness. I had been worrying.
There’s this pile on my headboard, which had been established after I had taken down all of the books in my shelves, created a papery nest of books around me, dusted them (became distracted and engrossed a few times), and then reorganized them.
Books need to be reorganized every now and then, you know. If they don’t, they can get depressed, and then when you finally decide to open them up, they refuse to work for you.
Anyway, the established pile. On my headboard, I had stacked only the big, heavy books that wouldn’t fit in any actual shelves. You know, the hardback copies, the kind that would probably kill you if they fell and clobbered you in your sleep.
Sweet dreams.
But as the Summer of Two-Oh-One-Eight continued to roll along with its bird-filled mornings and firefly-riddled evenings, and there were chairs placed under trees that needed to be occupied whilst reading a good book, and more and more books were discovered to read…the piles sort of piled. I think it’s excellent.
As some of you will already know, Thomas Wolfe is especially excellent when read aloud. Like Shakespeare, or, occasionally, Milne.
I love Milne. The way he writes is such a lullaby of words, I can never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, everrrrrr get too old for A. A. Milne. Ever. Never.
And the Comma Queen strikes again! Point made.
And speaking of Summer, I had planted some vegetables rather late in the season (although we’ve had vast gardens in the past, this is my first time flying semi-solo), and I wasn’t sure what to expect. HOW-EH-VER, when I was watering the cucumbers, I almost fell over in shock when I spotted THIS:
And not only that, but THESE:
And THIS:
I had pasted a magazine article years ago to my cork-board, and it’s this quote from our past President Thomas Jefferson: “No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.”
There’s hardly anything that helps my imagination stretch its wings out more than spending time out in our gardens.
I like to lay in the grass between these two Hickory trees, and watch the clouds catch and slip through the branches, rain or shine, grass or snow.
Wait a minute. Waaaaaaaaait a minute.
What?
What was it we were just discussing earlier this week? About that phrase you just used?
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Yes you do you little imp! “Rain or shine,” such a boring phrase, overused, abused, faded, meaningless!
Oooooh, right. Whoops.
HOW DARE YOU!
Sorry. Can I get on with this post now?
I suppose. Tarry on. Just don’t use words you don’t mean!
Nothing gets Johnny’s goat more than using words you don’t mean, you’ll have to excuse him. Anyway.
There was one thing I wanted to say in this blog post, and it still hasn’t happened yet! Here goes: remember in the latest post, when I had said that my book was finished, but my EWIP (Editor Whom I Pay), hadn’t even realized it yet? Because it felt incomplete to her? Well, now I
know why. Because it wasn’t finished yet.
I discovered myself writing more, an unexpected page, and then another half of an unexpected page. Two unexpected, unplanned pages. And within those pages, stories were magically concluded, ideas opened for another book (surprise, surprise!), and final ideas were finalized. Then my EWIP knew it was completed. This is why I pay her.
EWIP then wrote: it’s not too bad! But make it even better than not bad.
I think I’d better listen to her, because obviously, she knows what she’s talking about. Sometimes.
Moral of the story? You never know when something good is about to happen. Always wear an open mind, and, really, you should consider growing your own produce. It’s so refreshing.
Never write yourself into a corner, fellow writers. Always remember that each word is a gift (even this one!), and you would do well to expect the unexpected at all times. It really keeps you on your toes, and, as Oscar Wilde once put it on this little yellow piece of paper that I have tacked to my cork-board: “One should always be a little improbable.”
Write on! And look forward to completing our Wall of Writers, er-(flips frantically through the nearest dictionary), -series, in the next, upcoming blog post!
Oh, and Marjorie would like me to add that, if you were to happen upon the rabbits special space in this site (which can be discovered on the “Home” page), you will be able to view Marjorie’s very first, “Vlog,” post, which she is inordinately excited about. Marnie wanted to call it a “Mlog” post (M for Marnie, of course), but I had to put my foot down. Brace yourself, it can get a little intense.
Write on!