Going Inkless

     We had a big dictionary when I was a child.  It was a magnificent book full of words I hadn't learned yet, with a glossy section in the centre that displayed various bits of interesting categorical information - planets, birthstones, zodiac signs.  This hefty tome was just one of a small reference library we kept.  My parents loved books as much as I do.  The ones I remember best were the mythology, the series on plant, animal and mineral identification, and a heavily illustrated book of World War I airplanes (Snoopy's Sopwith Camel and the Red Baron's Fokker were in there.)  And of course, the set of encyclopedias was a particular treasure.  Everything you wanted to know about was in there, at least to some degree, and we used them often.  Whenever we asked Mom a question she couldn't answer, she'd take us to the encyclopedia and look it up with us.  It was like Mom's spare brain.  I suppose that habit empowered us to bec...

     It's approaching a month since I last posted on this blog.  There are reasons.  As I've mentioned before, where there is silence, there is still activity you're not seeing...yet.      Among all of the usual summer things to do, I've been working at building the website that will display some of the short stories we (my husband and I) have been writing.  It's slow going, and every little piece is a puzzle I have to solve.  There has been frustration and discovery, and enormous satisfaction in the simplest accomplishments like getting the title to show up or getting a menu to work right.  I still feel a little like a fraud, not really knowing what I'm doing, but jumping in and making it work anyway.  The good news is that it shouldn't be much longer before I have the framework ready and can start managing the site instead of just building it.  So, please be patient while my attention is elsewhere.  I'm hoping it ...

     They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks.  It is true that the older you get, the more daunting it is to pick up a new skill.  You've become comfortable with what you can do, and you're pretty good at that stuff. Considering going back to where you're no longer on top of things can be frightening.  You'd be facing a feeling of incompetence and a mountain of new data to absorb, armed only with learning skills you probably haven't exercised in a while.  Insecurity could prevent and old dog from even starting down that road.  But if you've been at anything long enough, you know it always changes.  What you learned at the start doesn't always apply when the years go by.  Adaptation is necessary to keep up with anything.  So, if you're going to be an old dog, you're going to have to learn some new tricks.  In fact, old dogs have more practice than anyone at learning new tricks.      Way back when I was a ...

Whenever we suffer misfortune, the first thing on our minds is WHY. Why me? Why now? Why do bad things happen when I'm trying to do everything right? Don't tell me you've never thought one of these things. I've said them all, continue to say them, and will say them again next time something goes wrong. It's natural to believe there is cause and effect in play or to seek some sort of reason in the mess. We wonder what we did to deserve the misfortune. Or else, we wonder if the Universe, God, or whatever power we believe controls our life, is trying to tell us something. Human though it may be, assuming we have brought bad luck to our door is a dangerous way to think. I firmly believe in a balance, and that what we do affects others and may return to us in time. However, I can't assume that the cause and effect are always so straightforward and easy to see. While we can benefit from examining our actions for clues, our misfortunes aren't always lin...

In writing, as in most things we do, people tend to settle into patterns. We develop habits, both good and bad. The more we write, the more we start to take ownership of the language. There are grammar rules we honor above others (different for each writer, of course) and cringe at the transgressions when we see them in others' work. We form attachments to certain words or phrases and use them time and again in our writing. Yet we also get quirky with language as it becomes a familiar friend. We break rules where we choose and cobble together new words where the old ones just don't seem to fit. These choices become distinctly ours. The style and the rhythm of our words repeats unconsciously in each new story. Though the content may differ, the pattern is familiar. It's the trellis beneath the vines, a comfortable structure for ideas to grow on. Without realizing it, all of these habits gradually develop into a recognizable voice. In a similar way, most write...

My grandfather died when I was fairly young, but I still have a few fuzzy memories of him. They are mostly just a sense of the man, stitched together in the time since then with family stories and old photographs. It all layers into an image not unlike a smiling, sun-browned apple doll, a man who had packed his years full of hard work, full of living. Though I can't remember anything he said specifically, I know that it was probably in Spanish. He had come here from Mexico at fifteen years old and hadn't stopped working long enough to study English. I'm sure he had picked up enough to get by. He was capable of communicating with his German-American wife who spoke no Spanish. He held a job and raised his children, but whatever little bits of English he knew were never as comfortable as his native tongue. My father, his son, is bilingual, as is often the case with the children of immigrants. My generation, however, was raised without that gift. English was the lang...

Think back to when you started learning to drive a car. You haven't learned that skill? Or maybe you're looking forward to that day, but are too young to start? It's no matter. I, myself, didn't learn to drive until my late 20s, much later than usual for those in my area. I only picked this metaphor because it's a common experience for most Americans. And, yes, of course it's a metaphor. Did you think this would be any different? There's a lot to learn about life by looking at how we approach other skills. What I say here can apply to nearly any skill; so if you can't relate to learning to drive, you can think of the early days of a skill you practice and read on. As eager as you may be at first, you are also nervous. You find there's so much more to driving than you previously thought, and you worry over every little thing. You struggle to remember all the steps. Discouragement follows every mistake, and there is a dark cloud of possib...

"What are we having for dinner?" he asks. "I hadn't planned anything. Who are we feeding?" "It's just us tonight." "Oh, we should be able to throw something together from what we have lying around. There's leftovers from earlier in the week and some canned stuff..." "Hmm. I'm kinda hungry now. Do you want to order a pizza or go out?" "That would be OK, I guess." "OK, pizza or restaurant?" "What do you feel like?" "I asked you. What do you want?" "I don't know. What do you feel like having?" "I don't know. You want Italian or Chinese or something else?" "Anything is fine." "Fine? Not great? What do you really want?" "Seriously, anything is fine. It's all good." "But what do you want? Something has to be better than the rest. Pick a restaurant." >sigh "Well, I guess we'll want to go somepl...

One of our daughters has an interest in fashion and recently participated in her first fashion show at her university. The theme was "Green Chic", and all the designs featured sustainable materials and waste-reducing techniques. Participants constructed their creations using organic fabrics and dyes, recycled thrift store finds, or creative pattern making that minimized scrap. The idea was a noble one for an industry often accused of being frivolous. Our daughter jumped in with both feet, promising to design and construct five pieces for the show. She sketched out her visions to begin the project, then roamed thrift stores and begged cast-offs from family and friends. This all may sound mundane, but there was a pretty tall hurdle in her way. Our daughter had never sewn a thing in her life. I don't think she was entirely blind to the scope of her undertaking. Like most of us, she sometimes approaches new things with trepidation, but when the idea is hers, she has admirable...