Choice Words From Others
What a Character
Lionel Shriver is an American novelist and journalist. She has been oft quoted, and I can see why. I couldn’t help but go the trifecta route. Once just wasn’t enough.
“I never let people get away with using ‘enervated‘ to mean ‘energized,‘ when the word means without energy, thank you very much.” I have never gotten enervated right and likely never will. It makes no sense to me.
“Writing is fundamentally dull, and there are no real secrets to it:You sit down, you type something out, most of the time if you have any self-respect you throw it away.” I must not have any self-respect.
“I am not as nice as I look.” Does she say that to people she has just met?
I think I have been provoked to read some of her work. How about you?
Chicken Soup For The Soul
Kinda Tongue in Bearded Cheek
“There was an old man with a beard, who said: ‘It is just as I feared! Two owls and a hen, four larks, and a wren have all built their nests in my beard.” Edward Lear 19th century English author.
It was a sunny day in 1973 that I visited home, and my mother, for the first time, met the bearded version of Bob Rubin. The anguish on her face as she stared at this new facial concoction stunned me.
I guess I must be getting old since I was 28 at the time, and today’s beard fad draws the same reaction for me. How can you cover up your face, diminishing others’ ability to see you and assess your feelings in total?
As I look back on the unforgettable experience 51 years ago, I am reminded that was akin to a bramble bush plastered against my face. It was thick and black and nasty. I guess I am getting old and crusty, but I am at the very least unbearded.
And Tomorrow?
The Important Thing
“There is more than enough time for everything. The important thing is not to waste it. Camilo Jose Cela, the late Nobel Prize-winning, Spanish novelist.
Certainly, at 78, wasting time is something I try to avoid. I don’t know how much I have left, but I know most of it is behind me.
I appreciate that we are all different. But, I have trouble understanding one friend who hasn’t retired yet for fear of boredom.
Boredom? Curiosity didn’t kill the cat, but boredom might have done it. Thank God I have a lot of curiosity and am rarely bored.
In retirement, I’ve written books I have always wanted to write. We have traveled much of the western U.S. for our first time. Kristine and I have gotten to the wonderful city of Jerusalem, the highlight of my ten years of retirement.
Had I spent these years of retirement without Kristine, much of my time would have been wasted. Our love for God and each other is what makes each day precious.
The Price?
A Writer’s Duty
That Editing Process
”Learn to love editing, or at least accept it as one of the most important parts of the process.” Jennifer Niven, an American writer.
For whatever reason, I have always enjoyed editing my work. OCD? Perfectionism? The Holy Spirit’s voice heard with more clarity? Hope it’s the latter.
It’s a journey in creativity, in engaging the reader with clarity and, perhaps, poetic prose. It’s a real trip as many of you writers are aware.
No question with books as opposed to blogs, I need a pair of outside eyes. Perhaps I do with these blogs but I think they are short enough to settle for just my own. It does bother me, when I peek in a little later, the basic, grammatical errors I detect. So much for pushing 80.
Pilgrim on a Long, Long Journey 