Sunday, September 04, 2016

A Single Leaf, Fallen

Am I the only person who doesn't mind the end of summer?

I don't miss the looseness of summer. While (theoretically) I have more 'time' in summer to write, I find writing comes harder when the days blaze hot and long. With the advent of autumn, my time shrinks into manageable packets, and it's in these packets that I can write because I need to--time is scarce. With summer, time looms to infinity, and the urgency to write dissipates.

It's been a week since my kids have returned to school, high school for them both, and I welcome the schedule like a favorite pair of worn-in jeans. As my children edge into young adulthood, I find myself worrying more about their well-being than when they were helpless, reckless toddlers. Having them in school gives me that emotional break for a few hours during the work week.

While glad summer is ending. I'm less happy that darkness comes sooner and leaves later. The past few mornings I've barely been able to edge out of bed because of the dark, cool air. I amble down to the kitchen and my coffee tastes better, has the edge it lacks in summer.

My writing feels mired in possibility. It seems I am forever editing and marketing, and the desire to write new words waxes and wanes. And what to write? I have several new stories in my heart, but they all call out equally. And there is something new, an idea that is not fiction, and that calls me, too. I need to decide which to pursue, and when, and stop pondering. I need to write.

I finished Lidia Yuknavitch's The Small Backs of Children. What to say other than this exquisite story makes me giddy and sad all at once? She's graphic, pushes the reader to the edge of alive. And the writing? Here is an example of not a wasted word, and where each word pulls double duty. I want read all of her now. 

FINE, a small fiction, launched at Blue Fifth Review. A huge thanks to editors Sam Rasnake, Michelle Elvy, and Bill Yarrow for publishing my work. It's a fine issue, and I'm humbled to have my words alongside those of poets and writers I admire.

Let me know what you're reading and writing and thinking.

Peace, Linda




4 comments:

  1. Fine is powerful and poignant. A word to hide behind, to use as a bunker to fire off salvo after salvo...
    Here we are moving into Spring and I am already dreading the advent of the sweaty season. Energy and brain sapping. The cooler months recharge my body and my brain.

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  2. Thanks EC! I like your interpretation of 'fine'; yes, it's all true. I keep forgetting you've moving into heat, as we are moving into cold. This time of year is my favorite. Peace...

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  3. I'll take your summer, you can have my autumn. :) Though I love the colors of autumn, I can't separate the thought that winter comes fast behind it. Winter makes me hurt. In summer, I play. Nice piece. High school for your kids. Doesn't seem possible, but I guess we all keep growing older. High School can be hard for kids and parents. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.

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  4. Just read "Fine". Excellent. Will be thinking of you and yours tonight.

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