I know there’s been a dearth of writing going on here…
I’m writing. Just not here.
And I’m reading. Reading about writing, reading the next great novel that hasn’t been published. Reading blogs. Reading for… pleasure!
Tomorrow, there will be a little celebration/giveaway for my birthday, and then, time to buckle down and blog again.
I have an old copy of A Swinger of Birches: Poems of Robert Frost for Young People.
Before Felix was born, I filled the bookshelf my father built for me when I was a child with all of my childhood books. Lovingly arranged with the Sandra Boynton board books I got at my baby shower and Guess How Much I Love You are my copies of The Dark Is Rising and A Wrinkle in Time. Miss Rumphius, Bread and Jam for Frances. A Swinger of Birches.
So, every now and again, from between his many favorite stories, he pulls out a memory, pages slightly yellowed and musty with age.
Two nights ago he pulled out the Frost. I read him Birches, The Oven Bird, and Canis Major, before moving on to his current favorite, Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton.
Last night he pulled it out again,we read The Road Not Taken and The Drumlin Woodchuck. Then it was on to Dumpy the Dump Truck (a very sweet story by the incomparable Julie Andrews).
Tonight for a third time he pulled it out. I opened it to Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. He said, “No, Mama. I want the Birches one.”
No, Mama. I want the Birches one.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.
In all seriousness, friends and readers, my pal Katie, who, in addition to mothering, teaching, and bonding with me over how hilarious Andy Samberg is, is one of the writerly trinity at The Red Dress Club. Busy, right? Now, I’ll tell you about her eleventy-seven three websites. So, there’s the blog about parenting and marriage and life and love, Sluiter Nation, the blog for her creative non-fiction (and occasional fiction), Exploded Moments, and her book review site, Katie’s Bookcase.
Katie recently opened up her forum for guest reviewers, and I maybe jumped on it with a review idea I’d been tossing around. Katie’s running that review right now. It’s my favorite book in the history of ever. The Eight, by Katherine Neville.
So, go read Katie’s gajillion blogs, go follow her on twitter: @ksluiter, and enjoy my first ever book review!
Posted in Blogging, Books, Guest Post
Tagged Andy Samberg, book review, books, Katherine Neville, Katie's Bookcase, reading, review, The Eight
A year ago, I asked the question, “Can Anyone Think of a Clever Name for Oatmeal Milk Chocolate Cherry Hazelnut Blondies?”
A year ago I was a human in crisis. I was five months into unemployment, despairing of finding a job, bored, too heavy, more than a little depressed, and very nearly done with this blog.
Then came spring, seasonally and astrologically, and there was a sea-change of sorts, and I began to become, as Shakespeare said, something rich and strange. I started writing again, started reaching out into the void, searching out new voices, and the world reached back.
A year later, I am employed, and while admittedly, my job makes me crazy, it does keep us out of the poor house. I have shed some of the heaviness, and am continuing to do so. I feel far less isolated because of the wonderful community that I’ve gathered around me via my writing and reading, and yes, tweeting.
And the blog? Thriving. A lot has changed. More fiction, less fluff. More deliberate topics and prompt/meme choices. I think, too, and tell me if I’m wrong, that my voice has changed–for the good, I hope.
I never did get an answer to last year’s question, though…
3.) What were you blogging about last year at this time? What has changed?
