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I don’t want to be timely.

March 13, 2017 By Talya Tate Boerner

I don't want to be timely...
I don’t want to be timely. I want to be timeless instead.

Timeless, writing stories relatable today, tomorrow, yesterday, fifty years from now. A few lines of prose that grips your gut, makes you weep or howl with laughter. Words that spring from the page in bight blue ink, as blue as peacock feathers.

Timeless. Enduring. Like a number two pencil. A number two pencil purchased for a nickel at the bookstore at school, the bookstore just outside the principal’s office, up the stairs, behind the glass counter, the pencils arranged in a row, ROYGBIV, the colors of the rainbow. For a few pennies, add an extra fat eraser squeezed on top like a snug hat.

I want to sit and write and rewrite and never use up the extra eraser, with no regard for time, lost in the moment, lost on the page, lost between the lines in the story.

I don’t want to be timely.
I want to be timeless. Like the lyrics to a song. Always true.

Always.

Alive in a place alive with imagination and exuberance and endless notions. Made up words. Down the rabbit hole, in and out of weeks, and almost over a year.

To where the dandelions grow. Same as it ever was.

No clocks. No alarms. No reminders to go and do and think certain thoughts. A soft meadow to sink into, float above. A sky with no ceiling. Only blue.

Endless.

Timeless.
Same as it ever was.

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]I don’t want to be timely with my #writing. #amwriting[/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:
Talking Heads, Once in a Lifetime

Book Club Questions for The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee

March 8, 2017 By Talya Tate Boerner

The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee - Book Club Questions

Are You in a Book Club?

Since The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee released in January 2016, my book has been chosen for discussion by lots of book clubs around the country. This has been sooooo exciting for me and most surprising. When I can (and when I’m invited), I attend the book club meetings. So far, I’ve attended about sixteen in Texas and Arkansas, plus I have more scheduled this year.

Whether I attend or not, I’m usually contacted by the host and asked if I have an official list of book club questions. FINALLY, I have created a list of discussion questions for use in your book club meetings. Consider these simply as a jumping off point.

If you are a member of a book club, I hope you’ll recommend The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee!

I’ll attend if I can.

Plus, there’a always Skype!

Want to Start a Book Club?

Book Club

If you’ve been thinking of starting a book club, do it! Book clubs fuel discussion, friendship, and expand your world well beyond the stories you read. Don’t know where to start? THIS ARTICLE from Lit Lovers includes great book club organizational tips.

Continue Reading

A Perfect Picking Up Sticks Sort of Day

March 5, 2017 By Talya Tate Boerner

Yesterday was a such perfect day because we spent it working in the yard, and there’s nothing much better than a breezy, sunny, pre-spring day digging in the dirt. (After having been under the weather for several days, I was extra grateful to feel energetic.) John raked and bagged while I cleaned out the front beds. We have so many trees all around which means lots of sticks, especially since the Northwest Arkansas wind of late seems to blow West Texas strong.

hosta

What a fun thing, pulling away last summer’s brittle debris and seeing signs of growth, purple hosta shoots poking through the soil, feathery coreopsis spreading beneath winter’s dry blanket.

When my sister and I were kids, our job was mowing the yard each Saturday, an all afternoon affair which began with picking up sticks, then mowing circles around the trees with the push mower (a job no one liked), and then finally cutting the grass with the riding John Deere (of course) mower.Continue Reading

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Hi! I'm Talya Tate Boerner. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (2022)

THE THIRD ACT OF THEO GRUENE (coming 2025)

Recent Ramblings:

  • Sunday Letter: 03.29.26
  • Sunday Letter: February 22, 2026
  • Our Garden Mission Statement
  • Goodbye, 2025. Hello, 2026.
  • Sunday Letter: 11.23.25

Novels:

Coloring Books:

Fiction-Themed Coloring Books

Backyard Phenology:

Children’s Nature Book:

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