Thinking out loud on a Sunday morning …
Years ago, I read someone’s thoughts about the way we get used to things and settle for putting up with the status quo. They even had a term for this – I’m sorry to say I can’t remember who wrote it or what the word they called it was* – but the concept stayed with me. They were mostly talking about small stuff and how it could be easy to get on top of things, and I loved the idea. Not that you’d notice, looking around my home / life this morning! It kind of sneaks up on you, this putting-up-with / not-doing: things pile up on shelves and tables, the car needs cleaning, I haven’t posted anything anywhere for ages, practically all my T-shirts have suffered one too many washes and have given up any semblance of shape, Mother Nature is reclaiming the garden in ways that don’t do our veggies any good, etc. etc. There’s a gazillion relatively minor and easily sortable things I’m just not getting around to though they nag at me every time I walk by. I think it builds up like sludge around your ankles, this not-quite-right / yes-I-know-it-needs-doing-but / oh-it’ll-do / I’ll-do-it-some-other-time. And anyway, does it really matter?
Yes it does matter! If it didn’t, I wouldn’t keep noticing and I sure as heck wouldn’t bother writing this. It clutters up your mind, it zaps your energy. So, here’s what I’ll do about it: pick two things I can do right now** … and two more I can do tomorrow***… I’ll try it for a week. Of course it’s not rocket science and you may well be rolling your eyes just about now but if I pull this off, by next Sunday I’ll have done away with fourteen minor annoyances that have bugged me for yonks. At which point I’ll celebrate with a piece of home-baked apple cake!
Comfort Reading
When I’m writing a book, I don’t really want to read books that are new to me or in the same genre: I need to stay in my own creative headspace, so to speak. But I do still want to read, and so I fall back on old favourites. Books that have nothing whatever in common with the books I write, and that I am happy to welcome back into my reading life like the old friends they are: Sue Grafton’s Alphabet series, Donna Leon’s Brunetti books, Tony and Anne Hillerman’s Navajo cops series, and a set of German-language police procedurals set close to where we live. Currently I’m knee-deep in Venice’s Acqua Alta**** and enjoying it immensely!
Seven Blessings
Here’s what comes to mind right now: fresh blueberries – beloved husband watering things in the garden – the beautiful garden – drumming first thing in the morning –sunshine, but not this infernal heat anymore! – head full of ideas to move my current story along – pending walk in the close-by forests…
That’s all folks. Have a joyful week!
* If anyone knows, please tell me, I’d love to be able to give credit and/or post a link!
** In case you’re interested: clear out the top shelf of the cupboard in the blue room, thin out Mother Nature’s contribution to the patch of garden in front of my study window.
*** Take the empties to the bottle bank, put the car through the carwash.
**** Donna Leon – Acqua Alta (book 5 of 33)
