Writing Practice

 Pages of a novel I wrote while in high school have been lurking in this notebook since the 1960s.

I can remember writing in study hall in Mrs. Tronetti's reading classroom near the high school library, in one of those desks with the book rack under the seat. I favored a fountain pen - blue ink with the cartridges that slid into place. and it tended to smudge a bit on the coarse paper - even though the cover of the tablet boasts of superior quality paper. I remember the vague discomfort of stockings attached with garters under my dress and the care taken to be ladylike in posture to keep from giving anyone a glimpse under the skirt. We girls were not allowed the luxury of wearing pants or jeans to school except on the last day of the year.

After 60+ years I'm still writing.  I've filled pages and pages with words put together in notebooks of all sorts since those Goldenrod tablet days. My youthful handwriting is unrecognizable to me - much like my handwriting of 20 years ago and even a couple of weeks ago.

Much of what feels like my 'real' work is accomplished these days on my little laptop computer. Hard drive, thumb drive, backup drive - all available with a few keystrokes. There's a novel (or two) in progress, a memoir of sorts, family history stories, short stories, essays, blog posts.

It's rather solitary work - just me and my computer trying to avoid the myriad distractions of life that take me to less solitary pursuits. But still I persist - and sometimes I'm getting it right. And sometimes, it all feels wrong and clunky and like yet another cliche.

Writing Practice - of the sort taught by Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron - still calls for writing by hand, even if it's for 10 minutes, every day, no editing, no judgment. Pick a topic - any topic - set the timer, and write. "Keep the hand moving," she says even if you write over and over the same thought. 

And this new year, I have the joy of opening a new notebook - and the joy of putting on paper those first few lines with a new fast-writing pen!

ADDENDUM: JANUARY 25, 2024

Arthur stomped the snow off his shoes on the porch before stepping into the steamy kitchen where I was stirring a pot of pasta for our dinner. He had made the late-afternoon trip to the mailbox and handed me a manilla envelope. "This is for you," he said. And this is what I pulled out.

A brand new Goldenrod tablet and I bet he paid more than the 25 cents stamped on the cover. 

Mille Bornes

December 26, 2023:

It's quiet this morning after Christmas at our daughter' s home in Arizona. The coffee's strong. The heat is cycling on, the dog has been out and is crunching on her breakfast. Two red Christmas stockings lie on their sides, random boxes of Tic Tacs, lip gloss and Lindt chocolates spread across the coffee table, along with the spurned new toothbrushes.

We played a new game last night, divided into two teams of two as the sumptuous Prime Rib dinner moved through our digestive systems.

It's called Codenames - billed as "a fast paced party game that's sure to keep the whole group entertained, great for families, friends and total strangers alike." 

The six of us divided into two teams and it was interesting to see how everyone worked through the puzzles - both as clue givers and clue receivers. You see, part of the fun is giving clues that you think might strike a chord with your team - while at the same time baffling your rivals.

Addendum: January 10, 2024:

 I think that when we packed up the car to depart on Wednesday, we were likely even in our wins and losses though I'm sure the children, being rivals as well as siblings, would disagree.

Codenames wasn't the only game we played together. Many rounds of Monopoly - or Mono Poly as Rowan dubbed it, along with Apples To Apples, Yahtzee and one more try with one of our old family favorites - Mille Borne.

Mille Borne has been English-ized since Arthur and I played it back in the 1970s. Gone are the all the French words with the exception of "coup fourre" and of course, the game's title.

Our old cards underneath the smaller
modern ones

All Mille Borne players look to the coup fourre to win the game for it provides certain advantages as well as adding to your point total. Coup fourre translates from the French as as 'dirty trick' or 'foul play' when you take a cursory glance at Google. But it actually comes from the world of fencing where it is a counter-thrust where one parries his opponent's thrust and counter attacks in the same maneuver.

The children and their parents were not fans of the game when we introduced it to them a couple of Christmases ago and it's still true after giving it another go this year. As the kids would say, "Grandma, it's lame."

So that new version of the Mille Borne game came back with us and if you'd like to play it, I'm donating it to Goodwill and maybe it will still be there when you check.

And Arthur and I might just give our old card game another try one of these winter evenings!