Writing update, gardening update

In this busy autumn term at school, I’ve been taking time to write when I can. I have a daily goal of devoting 85 minutes to my writing each day (and I include in that time blogging here on Words Like Trees, sending out story submissions, meeting with my writing group, as well as my actual work on stories). Most weekdays, I don’t get there. I do my morning 60 minutes as I’m slowly returning to the world from sleep. Usually the time I would like to return to writing in the afternoon I find myself needing to work.

I’m seeking more balance, and this week I feel like I’ve been able to more confidently say no to a few more things. I’ve taken some time in the evenings too to get back into exercise, which I hadn’t been able to find time for for a while. That felt good. I’m hopeful, moving forward, I can find more ways to prioritize the things that give me health and joy and peace. Writing is one of those for me.

I haven’t written as much quantity as I had hoped for. There is a short story I’m working on, which I write and rewrite and restart again. I keep getting stuck at the midpoint. The characters don’t feel quite true. The dialogue isn’t working. I’ve been reading some really incredible short stories in literary magazines for my bedtime reading. One that’s sticking with me over the last few days has been Darby Jardeleza’s “Sign for Animals” in American Short Fiction. I want to learn to write a character voice like that.

I watch late fall spread over the land here. How did it become late fall already? Time goes and goes, and I look up and there aren’t any wildflowers anymore, and the rain falls. It gets dark early now. We had Daylight Savings a week ago (we’re only a week off the US this year). We’ve started wearing our reflective vests to and from work. Trees have disrobed without my noticing. When the sun emerges, the colors are different–deep browns, the reds of exposed stems.

In the spring, I had planted up a pot with some old beet seeds that I found. I was thrilled to find that two of the little sprouts survived my summer away and kept growing into little but persistent plants. We harvested them last weekend. It was hilarious. The smaller of the two was about a quarter-inch in diameter. The larger, three-quarters. We made a great show of it. We roasted the roots in a little measuring cup. We sautéed the greens in a little oil. They were so small, and really delicious. They tasted like beets.

I’ll sign off now. I want to write a good long post here–I want to write about imagery. I want to do a full update on my writing goals. I’ll come to those when I have more time. In the meantime, I’ll keep doing what I can and I’ll work to make that balance for myself.

Thanks for stopping by. Best wishes to you with your writing and with everything else in life.

With love,
Jimmy