grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Are you a list maker?

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I’ve always been a list maker.

When I was a kid, I kept a list of all the books I owned, books I had read, and books I planned to read on a piece of notebook paper in the front of my binder. In alphabetical order, of course, which meant I was always rewriting it. I think in a way, this list making routine was a form of collecting for me. Collecting the names of books.

Maybe I should have been a librarian?

Even today, I have a strong urge to buy an old wooden card catalog case. It would make a nice place to store seeds packets. Or a catalog of book names, not that I have one anymore.

card catalog for seed packet storage?

Really, I don’t.

But I do have To-Do lists.

Since we started this process of moving from Texas to Arkansas, I start a new list every morning, adding and marking off as I go throughout the day. I admit sometimes I add things I know I will 100% do, just to have something to mark off. Like the dentist. Last week when I had a dentist appointment, I added “go to the dentist” to the list so I would absolutely have something to mark off that night.

The whole marking something off is satisfying.

Each morning I rewrite the list, including those things I didn’t accomplish plus new items. There are always new items. I’m not sure what any of this says about me, but I do stay organized.

Are you a list maker?

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Paul Simon, Rewrite

Wild Side of the Road

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The road to Hana.

Driving to Hana. Maui, Hawaii

 

Warm sunshine, the glare brilliant. Cannonball! My toes plunge to an icy spot deep beneath the surface of the lake. Relief on a hot July day.

Pressing seeds into the damp earth, I inhale the freshness of soil. The beginning of life.

Wading in the ocean, the tide yearns, pulls. The moon watches.

Alone in the woods, the black forest encircles me. What if I get lost?

Pen to paper, I release thoughts buried inside my mind. Memories stir.

Only one footstep from normal, the wild side of the road awakens the soul.

“And now let the wild rumpus start!” 
― Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Musical Pairing:

Take a Walk on the Wild Side, Lou Reed

Writing a book. Ignoring everything else.

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I have big plans. Things I intend to accomplish around the house and beyond. Really, I do. Like the empty flower pots on the front porch and the planter boxes overgrown with mint. This is the first summer those pots have been ignored. Yesterday I thought about planting red and white flowers for 4th of July, that’s what I envision anyway, and maybe caladiums for height. This morning those pots look the same. Ignored. I’m surprised my neighbors haven’t intervened.

empty pot

I also plan to get back to yoga regularly. And the messy bookcase in our bedroom needs attention. I want to help cook lunch for the VBS kids this week. Really, I do.

Yet all I do is write. All.I.Do.

For those of you who occasionally ask when can we buy your book, I offer this excuse/explanation.

I’m rewriting my entire manuscript, changing it from memoir to fiction, novella to novel, 125 pages to 300. This has taken a while, but I’m at the editing stage. At least I think I am. When I began this book writing journey, I had no idea what I was in for, but I am obsessed, and I love it. Manipulating sentencing, choosing words, bringing something ordinary to life. Except when I want to pull out my hair.

What’s my timeline? I’m still not sure, but I’m writing as fast as I can, and I’m getting closer (I think). My neglected flower pots out front are certain proof.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

“E.L. Doctorow said once said that ‘Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.’ You don’t have to see where you’re going, you don’t have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice on writing, or life, I have ever heard.”
― Anne Lamott

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!