Flames

This morning, because of a furnace malfunction, I sat in front of our fireplace watching the flames of a warm fire.  We talk about flames in so many ways in literature.

Fire and flames lend themselves well to metaphor.  They easily can represent passion, but just as easily destruction.  Anything we think of that involves heat both figurative or literal can be described in terms of flames.

But, I suppose as I watched the fire this morning, besides being grateful for it's warmth, I was intrigued by it's dance.  It may be an overused descriptor for fire, but dance is what a fire does.  Each flame follows it's own course.  It is alive with twisting and turning, sometimes reaching high while at other times staying low and more controlled.  It is not predictable for we cannot see the air currents and how they move it this way and that.  We cannot see the fuel and how it feeds the hungry animal.  We only see the fire, alive, dancing, dancing, never stopping, forever dancing.

I can see why it excites us, why it scares us, why we write about it.

Diversity

We hear a lot about diversity these days.  It is usually along the lines of - we're all different and we need to accept and love those differences, 'cause we're all in this together.  This blog is not about that kind of diversity.

What I'm talking about is the "thank goodness we're all different!" kind of diversity.  I have a friend who loves to read horror novels - think Edgar Allan Poe or Stephen King.  That's not my favorite genre.  I like literary classics or a good mystery.  (And yet, she and I were able to swap short stories we had written to critique each other's work.)

As I write, and wonder what readers want, I am grateful for all the genres out there.  I know not everyone is going to want to read my book, but I have hope that, because of our diversity, there will be some who will.  And my book crosses many genres - think mystery, romance, chick lit and you're getting warm - so hopefully, there will be a wide audience out there for it.

On the other side of things, I'm also thankful for all of the different books I can read.  I do have my favorite type of books, but I like to mix it up from time to time as well.  Fantasy isn't my first choice, but a good fantasy novel from time to time is fun.  And despite what I said earlier, Edgar Allan Poe can intrigue me at the right time.

It is a wonderfully diverse world, and much of it is positive.  Thank goodness for that!

Sudden Changes

A good novel of suspense will be full of sudden changes, twists we call them.  They keep us on the edge of our seat.  But it is not just the novel that does this.  Life is full of unexpected twists.  

Saturday evening I listened to an excellent speaker.  On Sunday morning I had the opportunity to listen to the same speaker on a different topic.  He spoke off the cuff, sharing with us that the previous evening, after his speech, he spoke with his son on the phone.  This son is married with a couple of small children.  The speaker could tell something was wrong with his son.  The son finally admitted that they had just been to the doctor where they learned his young son, the speaker's grandson, had an incurable disease.  He was going blind and there was nothing they could do about it.

We felt of this man's anguish for his grandson and that child's parents.  Life changes on a dime.  But unlike in a book, these things affect us to the core.  They change the course of our lives.  They expose our true character.

Much as I like writing and reading novels, none of them will compare to the true life drama going on around us.  Not all of the sudden changes are bad, many are good.  The bottom line is that the only thing that doesn't change is that change is inevitable.  Life is all about how we respond to that or how we create positive or negative change in our lives and the lives of other.  How will you respond?

A Book Worm Family

It’s that time of year when the weather forces us to make a transition from being outside to cozying up to our indoor activities.  So, while reading is a great pursuit all year, it lends itself well to the cooler months that are soon upon us.

We have a family of readers.  And while some of us have had phases of non-reading, we all come back to those books in the end.  My oldest child couldn’t get enough books.  We read to him when he was little, and before long he was reading books himself.  Then along came my daughter.  She was happier climbing and running than sitting down to listen to a book.  So, I’m sorry to admit, after a while I stopped offering.  But eventually she discovered that books were pretty amazing, as well.

The three boys that followed have all fallen in love with one type of book or another.  When they have gone through those stages of being reluctant readers, I have been grateful to discover series that might catch their interest.  These can be the series that have stood the test of time like Lord of the Rings and Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe or the more recent Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Lightning Thief, and even (although I cringe) Captain Underpants.

      My youngest is in that stage where noises emanating from various body parts is his favorite thing in the whole wide world!  Can I just say here that it isn’t mine?!  So, he’s gravitating towards books that highlight such things.  I’m torn.  But, I remind myself he’s reading and it’s not actually that bad, just mildly annoying.

I’m also torn about when my children read.  It’s not in the afternoon when they’re bored.  No, it’s at night when they are supposed to be going to sleep!  Having been a member of the flashlight-under-the-pillow brigade myself (my husband included) I’m even more conflicted.  Quite honestly when it’s really late I say something, but often I turn a blind eye.  (Don’t tell my kids!)

Our family has some great memories surrounding books.  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was an early favorite of our oldest and youngest because, even though it was a long book, we read it out loud to them when they were small.

        Later on we all discovered the Harry Potter series.  By the time the fifth book came out my kids and I were hooked.  We bought Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix the day of its release.  Since we all wanted to be the first one to read it (and I wasn’t about to buy four copies), we read it out loud together.  Everyone could hardly wait to finish chores or jobs so we could all gather together for as long as my voice would hold out or until it was way, way past bedtime.  We experienced all of the surprises and twists together.  It was delightful.  This same scene was repeated for book six.  We even speculated together who the mysterious R.A.B. might be.  By this time our oldest was off to college, but we even discussed our theories over the phone with him.  When book seven rolled out my husband joined in, having watched the movies or read the books leading up to the last one.  We experienced the heart break and the joy of this book together.

       As my kids have gotten older reading had remained a connecting force.  Three of us read the Hunger Games series at the same time, literally.  We read the first and second books one right after another.  My son bought the third book when it came out.  I would read it while he was at school.  Another son, being homeschooled at the time, would swipe it when I set it down, and then when the actual owner of the book returned from school he would pick it up.  We managed to have multiple bookmarks in the book at the same time.

Now that three of my children have left the nest we still talk about books.  My daughter recently read a book I recommended and loved it like I did.  She returned the favor by recommending a couple of books to me that she was about to read.  I liked the one she liked and disliked the one she disliked – for the same reasons.  One of my favorite books, The Book Thief (not a book for young children), is also one of my children’s favorites.  And I read it because he recommended it to me.

I have been working hard on my first novel.  In the process of editing and publishing I need a lot of readers’ feedback.  I've only let my daughter have a look at it.  It probably doesn't make any sense, but I don’t want the others to read it until I've got a publishing contract in hand.  I guess I’m afraid they won’t like it.  Oh well, such is the foible of being on the other side of things.

Note: If you have a reluctant reader, try reading a book together by taking turns reading every other page.  It makes the book seem not so daunting.  Also if you can find a popular series or author, it can hook them and keep them reading.  Our Cuyahoga Library is one of the best in the country, and the librarians always have great book suggestions.

To Blog or Not to Blog That is the Question

Isn't it great that you immediately recognize the phrasing from my title?  You can thank Shakespeare for that.  Some other famous quotes from Shakespeare are:

- To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.

- Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

- Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.

What a wonderful tribute to a writer, that we remember his or her words, and use them as part of our vernacular.

Connections

My oft blogged about seven-year-old likes to make "connections."  His first grade teacher last year taught him to look for connections in what he was reading - maybe something he related to or had in common.  So, every once in awhile he will excitedly point out that "he has a connection" to whatever we're reading or talking about.  It's a great way to engage him.

I wasn't taught in that same manner, but I recently made a connection.  You know, one of those "Aha!" moments.  If you will recall, I recently blogged about my hickory tree and the edibility or inedibility of the hickory nuts.  Well, I discovered (with a little more research and a taste sample) that the nuts landing all over my yard are indeed edible.  (I just have to fight the squirrels for them.)

Here's my connection and a nod towards my age.  I recall as a child Yule Gibbons, a naturalist, hawking for Grape Nuts cereal.  I thought I remembered him saying the cereal reminded him of the taste of wild hickory nuts.  To check that memory I found an old commercial on youtube, and that's exactly what he said.  At the time I didn't have a clue what a wild hickory nut even was.  But now I do!  It seems like such a simple thing, but it was great to make the connection!

(And by the way, I don't agree.  A pecan is a type of hickory, and my hickory nuts are also a soft nut and taste a lot like pecans.  But who knew?)

Word Definitions

I spent the better part of the day at the hospital yesterday while my husband was having same-day surgery.  (To start with - it wasn't really the "better" part of the day - I can think of a lot of "better" things to have been doing!  And same-day surgery?  Aren't all surgeries done in the same day?)

Are you getting a sense that my blog is about the way we use our language?  Well, my specific issue is the meaning of the word "privacy."  When we arrived at the surgery desk, we were met with a sign telling us to wait at that spot until we were called by a receptionist to check in, for the sake of the privacy of the patients.  So far so good.  I can understand not hovering behind someone while they talk about what body part is going to be worked on, etc.

When it was our turn with the receptionist the only "private" information that was discussed was my husband's name and date of birth.  With identify theft, I guess this should be kept private.  I was also handed a slip of paper with a number on it.  This was my husband's assigned number for the day.  Using this secret code I could check his status on an electronic board hanging on the wall.  The board told me where he was - in pre-op, OR, or recovery 1 or 2.  I can certainly see why that info would need to be kept private.  (Really?)

I still can kind of understand this, in a general sense.  However, I lost all sense of the meaning of the word privacy when I was with my husband.  He was in a cubicle with a curtain partially drawn.  And although hospital gowns are better than they used to be, they still ain't much!

But the real kicker was when the surgeons would come out to talk about how the surgeries had gone.  All of us were waiting in one big, open waiting room.  The surgeon would explain to the family about the surgery.  They almost always started with, "It went well."  I know this because I could hear every single one of them that came out!

With my understanding of "privacy" I would think that the actual physical body and the intricacies of what was done to that body would be of utmost importance - not whether he was in the OR or the recovery room.  I'm thinking I need to go back to school and learn the politically correct meaning of some words, because they don't seem to mean what I think they mean.

And, by the way, don't even get me started on the meaning of "government shut-down" with congress members still getting paid!