I'm Not A Snobby Reader Anymore

I am expanding my reading horizons.

So I read the Twilight Series. And the woman I borrowed those books from had a drawer full (yes a drawer, not a shelf) of romance novels. Romance Novels. And I took them. And I picked up one to read.

In one of my senior seminars in college, a girl read romance novels and wrote a paper on them--I can't remember what conclusions she drew. I do remember how the rest of us important English majors laughed at her. Romance novels? Smut.

But I like it. This book is actually not that poorly written. I mean, there are moments that are silly. I can't take any kind of written sex seriously. But overall, I was really surprised by the quality of the writing.

And I don't hardly know what to do with myself.

What is wrong with me? Have I been out of college too long? I'm going to have to dive into some Dickens very soon, just to edify myself. Or Austen.

But then, there are those books that I can't get into. I love mystery novels, but there are two popular series that I have tried to read. I used to think that too many writing classes had ruined my ability to enjoy reading.

Now, I'm not too sure...

First Rejection Letter

I have been a bad bad writing student all these years.

I had never sent in a story to a review. So, a few weeks ago I sucked it up and sent one around.

I thought I wouldn't hear anything for months, or maybe not at all. But yesterday I got an e-mail that the magazine was "unable to find a place for my submission." Is it weird that I am excited about this? There are several more places that I'm waiting for rejections from, too.

Finally, I can start that rejection letter scrapbook I've been thinking about all these years.

Veteran's Day

And I say thank you for fighting for me. Thank you. Because we all want the same thing. We all want peace.

And though we may not agree on how, we agree.

So thank you, all you service men and women for putting your life on the line for this country that we all believe in, for the future. Thank you for your work that allows me to have my opinion and to believe what I want--because you fight for those rights.

I honor you today--may we all wage peace together.

***

"Wage Peace" by Judyth Hill

Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings
and flocks of redwing blackbirds.

Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children
and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen
and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.

Wage peace with your listening:
hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools:
flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.

Make soup.
Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.

Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Celebrate today.

Thought for the Day: Hopeless into Wholeness

I can't believe my world these days.

A year ago, I was feeling pretty hopeless. I mean, I have always been a glass-half-full type of person, so if you'd talked to me I would have told you things were looking pretty good, that I had a good job, that things were looking up.

Things are always looking up.

But these days, things are more than pretty good. Aside from the occasional lonely moment (there's always something), I am feeling great.

I love my job. I live in a pretty apartment in a city with a lot to offer. Friends visit regularly. I have enough time on my own to read books, to paint. I have enough money to have cable television and pay for my own Internet (sometimes it's the little things).

And then, last week, the country elected the person I had hoped and dreamed about since last year. I am very hopeful. Even with the terrible economy, even with crises all around us, I am inspired by this message of change, of "yes we can," of working together. I am hoping desperately now that our nation will be able to come together rather than ripping apart, that we will embrace bipartisanship, that we will be able to remember what a very few men did over two hundred years ago. Franklin's words still ring true--no matter what else, we must "hang together" or surely we will "hang separately." We are Americans, and I am proud, again, to be one of this group of pioneering people. It makes me want to learn even more about our history, about where we've come from. I'm finally excited about the future, and that makes me feel that I need to learn more about our past.

And so I haven't been blogging because I have been doing all these other things. I have been praying. And reading. And painting. And knitting. And spending time with my family. And writing stories.

This is the biggest development yet since moving back here--the writing.

A few posts ago I talked about my life and how much reading and writing used to be such a big part of it. Maybe I had to take a break and live for a while. Maybe I just took a break.

I stopped writing when I met the Boy and the Boy left and then my computer crashed and I lost the six years of writing that I did have and then I got all mopey about writing and felt sorry for myself...and mopey-ness and pity don't get you anywhere. In fact, they are the best writer's block around (unless you're Hemingway--but ugh, who wants to read that, anyway?).

Hope does feed creativity. So, as the nation grows and changes I, too, will grow and change, and I am trying, trying harder than I have in a long time. I am daring to hope again that I will be able to write something worthwhile. I am daring to think that my future might have something to do with my past, too. Acceptance is important.

As a nation, we accept that we have made mistakes, that we have caused irreparable scars because of the way we have treated each other. I am not comparing my personal "scars" to these, but I do believe that all of us have done things that we need to think about, and forgive ourselves so that we can forgive each other and move on.

I bet that if we all look back to the thing that made us happiest, where we felt the most like ourselves, it would be a good place to start. It's hard to be divided if we start from a place of wholeness within ourselves.

I'm moving toward wholeness. I hope that the nation is, too.

Hope

Oh yes, I have it.

Thank you, America.

Too Hot

Right now? 65 degrees Fahrenheit
The high tomorrow? 81.
It's November and I've got the air conditioning going.

Oh I wish it was cold and I could layer myself in hand knits! And drink hot tea...

I may have to make iced tea, instead.

Catch Up

Shall we have another list?

1. I am having trouble blogging because I saw a satire of blogging (as in "and then she said to me..., and then I said to her..., and we were all like..., and then...) and my father turned to me, laughing, and said "It sounds like your blog, Shannah." Sigh. I suppose I must learn to write only when I really have something to say.
2. Speaking of writing, I am doing that, too. And, surprisingly, enjoying it. It's so much more fun when I know it won't be picked over by a class workshop.
3. I finished the Twilight series. It was very, very good. It was so nice to be transported to another world. It's been a long time since I've read a book that I couldn't put down. I would highly recommend the series. All the books were page turners, indeed. I was surprised by the twists and turns--in a good way. There are some little things that bothered me, but since I am as yet unpublished and sans English degree, who am I to criticize?
4. I am halfway through two Christmas gifts. I feel waaay too proud of this.
5. Tomorrow is the election and I am filled with nervous hope. I am praying for our nation tonight...praying that we can all have the "audacity to hope," that we can elect someone new and different. I think there is opportunity for real change here, change for the better.