New Lists, Old Lists
And also, time to forget about the lists
The kids’ school year is rapidly coming to a close, which means I’m checking things off lists of self-imposed spring deadlines and creating new lists for the summer. Last week I made a baby step’s worth of progress on my thesis, which could (!!) propel a burst of creativity very soon. Here’s hoping I find a summer morning groove.
For now, I didn’t leave enough margin in the busyness of the last few weeks, and I am tired. But as those deadlines are being met, the afternoons are warm. Four out of five kids can ride two-wheelers; the youngest says he rides a “three-wheeler.”
Watching these particular people grow up is gift upon gift.
Some updates
Tonight I have the last session of my “Foundations of the Catholic Literary Tradition” course, led by Ryan Wilson. More than any other class I’ve taken in the UST MFA program, this one has shown me how much I don’t know. I’ve read works I’m not sure I could have appreciated on my own, never mind gotten through.
Now that I’m at the end of the syllabus, I wonder if this is the course that’s helped me grow the most. Isn’t that how things normally go?
What I’m reading
I had the opportunity to review Jellybean: A Baby’s Journey to God, published by Holy Heroes. It made me weep, because it is so well done and reflected so perfectly what we believe about the child we lost to miscarriage twelve years ago. It’s unfortunate that there’s a need for books like this, yet it’s so good to know it’s available. Highly, highly recommend having a couple copies around if you have friends or family of child-bearing age or if you have a place for something like this at your parish or elsewhere.
Separately, on a just-us trip to Florida for a wedding, I read all of The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett. I’m on a mission to read all of her novels (I think I’m up to eight) and learn everything I can about writing as I go.
What my kids are reading
We have three chapters of Charlotte’s Web left. It’s silly that I edit children’s books and hadn’t read this before now, but I’m really happy to be experiencing it together with two of my kids. We fell out of read-alouds for a time. I’m hopeful this summer that will change.
Something I love
Continuing on the theme of “Old Friends,” from the quote hast month, we surprised our dear friend with a dinner party celebrating his five years of priesthood. A bunch of us had been in youth group together twenty years ago, and we can still laugh and enjoy each other—perhaps even more so today.
The kids were bummed it was a party for adults, but they decorated a sign for our friend. He loved it so much he took it home.
What I’m creating (knitting, lettering, embroidery, etc.)
My brother-in-law got me LEGO flowers for Christmas, and I finally started putting them together. So therapeutic, and so pretty when they’re done!
Where my work is
I tried to focus this semester on taking more in, rather than producing work. It made me aware of how I enjoy the lift of having a piece published. Sometimes a little creative/professional success can offset a rough morning or challenging bedtime. That’s not what it’s all about, of course, but that’s the reality for me. All this to say, I’m grateful for the placements I’ve found, and also for this time of more listening and less speaking.
What I’m working on
This month I have some editing work and then I’ll be revising my essays from class to see if they might find a home somewhere. Then—and for the rest of the summer—it’s novel or bust!
A quote to sit and sip with
Our writing needs to be grounded in material reality, in creation. But it also has to move toward the Creator. It has to be firmly placed within the realm of flux, but it has to lead toward the eternal.
—Ryan Wilson