An Amazing Journey

“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours – it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.”
Bob Moawad

Yesterday was my 9th wedding anniversary. Nine years, seems like only yesterday I was trying on dresses and planning my reception but then again it seems like Portland, Oregon is a lifetime away. I couldn’t have imagined we would still be running a restaurant, lived through the failure of another one, and would still be living in Colorado. Next year I will have officially lived in Colorado as long as I lived in Oregon. Instead of doing something fun yesterday, I spent most of the day working in my office trying to get caught up on paperwork. Which seems to take a backseat to my schoolwork most days. I vacillate between large bouts of poetry and this week I am obsessed with story. Maybe because I’ve missed my short story obsession. Because the books I find are my textbooks they really have to inspire me to keep reading and writing. If they don’t I’m out searching for new ones. This week’s recommendations:
Poetry The Art of Attention-A Poet’s Eye by Donald Revell
Creative Writing The Making of a Story A Norton Guide to Creative Writing by Alice La Plante

Today, an exercise from Alice La Plante’s book.

Choose a person in your life who has influenced you (parent, sibling, friend)
Write a list of things that have taught you.
Write a list of things they didn’t teach you.

For example from my list:
Things my mother taught me
How to make each holiday feel like it’s the most important day of the year even Valentines Day with pink-tissue paper wrapped gifts at the table and pick strawberry cupcakes with heart sprinkles.

Things my mother didn’t teach me
How to balance my checkbook and write a check; Mrs. B. taught us that in a Girl Scout meeting in 7th grade and I think of her often when I’m writing checks because I don’t write paper checks very much anymore.

Try to write about six for each list. I think you will be surprised at the memories this brings up. Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

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