I’ve been on break for the last two weeks. A staycation. Actually, I broke from one thing only: my struggle with a plot that wouldn’t cooperate.
Since I stopped fighting it, I had nothing to run from. That freed my mind and my eyes. I could see what was around me. Piles of paper to be sorted. And a bookcase I’d been avoiding—for months.
Dust
I hate dusting more than any other task around the house. One particular bookcase in my bedroom has been gathering dust for a long time. Why? Because it was going to be a major project.
Having no more excuses, I began emptying it. Admittedly, the dust was thick. But the main issue has always been: These were books I intended to read. Some had been there a long time. Several had to go.
I emptied the shelves and washed them down with Murphy’s oil soap, and polished it with lemon oil. Then I sorted its contents.
With everything back in place, I did the same with the remainder of the bedroom furniture. By then I was more than ready to relax with a good book!
Reading
Sorting out that bookshelf provided me with two of the three books I’m currently reading.
I thought I’d already read Alan Alda’s Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, but a glance in the middle triggered no memories. I kept reading, before going back to the beginning.
Alda offers me some excellent advice. He says “Be playful about the most serious things in your life; you’ll enjoy them more and have them longer.” Another passage recommends trusting in the darkness; answers will come.
I finally opened the patiently waiting middle grade novel by Caroline Starr Rose, Miraculous, a beautifully written book set in the era of medicine shows.
And book number three is an ebook biography from the public library. The Woman They Could Not Silence, by Kate Moore, has more plot ups and downs than a lot of fiction. The very sane Elizabeth Packard’s husband condemned her to an insane asylum during the Civil War, depriving her of her six children and home. I can hardly put it down.
My break provided needed time for refocus. I’m ready to bring playfulness and a trust in the creative dark to my writing.
Plus, our heat wave has finally subsided. We’ve had rain, clouds, and cooling winds.
I hope you’re happy with your weather, and your lives, wherever you are, dear readers.
Kate Harrington 