“the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes, aww!” — Jack Kerouac
What I've Been Meaning to Say
There's so much I've been meaning to write, say, sing, dance that I've become overwhelmed and haven't written anything. Instead of veering away once again, I'll forgive myself and report less eloquently than I'd wished and simply list what I've been meaning to write, say, sing. Dancing will just have to stay in the kitchen, where it belongs.
- Perigee Moon 2012 - afternoon shadows at midnight
- Kennedy Space Center - a kid's dream realized 40 years later
- Falcon 9 Rocket - how space exploration has evolved
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - "the Sixth Borough"
- Holding one's tongue - think of how thoughtful that is
- How amazing silence can be - proverbial pin dropping
- Not holding one's tongue - dangerous
- How some words are louder than others - fireflies vs. fireworks
- Drinking Blanton's bourbon - sipping, really
- Baseball! - the boy's final high school season
- The beach - fishermen at 6 am, sharing bait with a wounded heron
- Reading hundreds of manuscripts - exaggerating
- Longing to read the story collections and novels on my shelves, and then reading more manuscripts - not exaggerating - Megan Mayhew Bergman, Caitlin Horrocks, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Lori Ostlund, Myfanwy Collins, Claire Keegan, Nell Freudenberger, and Shannon Cain are just some of the authors whose books are waiting
- Spending far too much time on unimportant things - Facebook
- Proofing galleys - and compromising on edits
- Discovering "En Couleurs" - les chansons de Feufollet!
- Writing, not writing enough - the novel
- Thinking too much - the novel
- Submitting stories - not the novel
- Coming up with a plan - at the end of each day for the next
- Heading into days of graduations and goodbyes - how to cry while laughing
- Summertime - the weather and the song
And that list is long enough.