It is Thursday night and this week has gone by like so many moments that just go by. I have been reading a lot lately, mostly to finish a book that I was reading for my book club at work. And I started a new knitting project. I haven’t gotten much sleep this week. Lucy was sleeping with us a few nights, and she has this knack of waking up at 2 am, crying, and needing to go to the bathroom. We’ve been potty training her and she has finally gotten the whole “when you have to pee you need to pee in the toilet” thing.
So when tonight rolled around, I figured I would pour a glass of wine, retreat to the attic and write about whatever I’ve been up to.
Something I’ve been wanting to do all week is write my book. I’ve been writing it for a while. It’s gotten to the point where I know almost everything that needs to be written, but I haven’t had time to sit and write it. Story of my life (pun intended). Literally. Someday I will share with you the story that I’ve been trying to get out of me for a while now. But not tonight.
I have tons of books about writing. Probably too many. Each one I relate to. And I agree with all that is said about writing. And the exercises are very good, when you have time to write. But sometimes the act of reading about writing gets in the way of actually writing. It’s a vicious cycle. Sometimes the need and passion for writing is overshadowed by lack of energy, sleepiness, and just plain exhaustion. And when you need to wake up in the morning to work, sometimes your brain just says no. I don’t want to think about anything tonight.
I’m looking forward to lots of time this weekend where I can sit and relax. Especially Monday.
And so here I go. These are some things I’m into right now. I may be influenced by the project runway episode I’m watching at the moment, but who knows. It could be all the things I’ve been thinking of that are making me explode with creative energy.
- We Need to Talk About Kevin
For two nights this week I sat on my bed and read “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” by Lionel Shriver. I’ve had the book for a few years now, but I never had any time to read it. One of my friends in the book club I’m in picked it as our book to read for the month, and so I finally read it. And I liked it. I always knew I’d like it, despite the fact that it’s about a boy who ends up killing people at his school. I have to say it was written very well.
What I think I took away from it wasn’t really the massacre plot line, but more the dynamic of the family that the book centered on. Yes, the mother wasn’t too keen on being a mother at the beginning. But I could see how she could be a bit scared about having a child. All of a sudden you have to think about other people, and not just yourself. For me, I always knew I wanted to have two children. I wanted girls. And eventually I got two girls. The universe has given me quite the set of children. They’re both unique and awesome in their own way.
I tend to think that my girls aren’t the kind that would do harm to others. As I write this, one of them is screaming and crying at the other one. But this is sisterhood. The younger one wants what the older one has. And when she doesn’t get what she wants, she whines. I think in order to be a parent you have to be creative and think like a child. You have to think the way they think, and remember what it was like when you were young.
But you also need to have a sense of authority, so that they know they can’t walk all over you.
I can’t say what I would do if one of my girls ended up killing their classmates. I would hope that I would see in advance that they were planning something and stop them before it happened. I really can’t see either of them doing anything violent to another human being, mostly because they’re so afraid of bugs and other things. My girls are sensitive, and caring, and they have a piece of me inside of them that invites curiosity, adventure, and a senese of wonder that makes them want to know things, and not violate things.
- Benedict Cumberbatch
And here is the Benedict photo of the week. You’re very welcome.
3, 4, 5. Before Sunrise/Before Sunset/Before Midnight
For a long time I’ve been meaning to watch these movies. I love Ethan Hawke. The first two films came out quite some time ago. The last one in this trilogy was just made a year or so ago. The first one, Before Sunrise, was on TV a few weeks ago, so I watched it finally. I loved it. It has this quality about it that makes you really think something like this could happen, where two random strangers meet on a train and then spend the rest of the day and night together.
I still need to see the other two films in this series, and I will soon. Before Sunset is On Demand and I can most likely track down Before Midnight somewhere. If you haven’t seen the first film I highly recommend it. It’s somewhat of a quiet intellectual film, so don’t go expecting a lot of action or that much going on.