Yes, that is a mock up of Winnie the Pooh. No, you may not skin my bear.

I'm going to work. That means, I'm sitting in my reading/writing nook, and will shortly work on more stories for my immediate and your eventual enjoyment.

Ah, a writer's life for me.

Yes, I did get the reading nook cleaned up. Some. I'm not done as it's not fully set up as I want it, but at least I can use it in the meantime—and have, staying up late last night in the all-out battle climax of Ranger's Apprentice: Book Four: The Battle for Skandia—and be further inspired to continue my work. Not bad for less than a full week into a three-week challenge, right?

It's a start.

Reading Nook

Let's keep things real, eh? I've been reading a lot more since I graduated, because during school (high school and college) I was busy with academics and taking care of family things and generally stressed. And because I wasted a lot of time online. Nevertheless...

I have a reading nook, just waiting to be useful. Right now it's not, because there's a pile of clothes and I think a pillow and blanket are hiding in the mass on my rocking chair. Also, there is a spilled mess of various boxes and papers (some school, some story...most story was for school, heh) in front and on either side of the chair.

I think papers may be my worst enemy on this earth.

As such, I want to read in my rocking chair nook (and it may also turn into my writing corner), but it'll take a lot of determined de-hoarding to get there, so I just read on the couch instead. The problem with that? The couch is located in the living room, as is the TV, which is on more than not, and when it comes to moving pictures, I'm like a moth to flame. Which means I don't read as much as I could, and reading time ebbs into doing other things time, which means less gets done all around.

Sometimes I'm too easily distracted.

Okay, risking another kick in the rear from Ami Hendrickson or others, I'm going to make a goal, because sometimes public goals with a grade looming get me moving (unless I never post this, ha!), and it's just not okay for this cycle to continue. February 13th seems a good deadline to have my reading nook ready for snuggling in.

And when I say "nook," I don't mean the ereader, 'cuz I bought a Kindle.

Am I alone in this cycle, or do some of you have difficulty setting aside a secluded area for reading? If you had that problem and overcame it, please share how you did it!

 

Warrior Matron

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Warrior Matron

by Dorathea Maynard

 

Go off, my love,

Accomplish thy tasks.

Come home to me, 

Day's end at last.

 

My work unseen,

You'll wonder what I've done.

But if not for me,

You wouldn't call this "home."

 

I work all day,

So you'll be fed,

The house clean,

And made, thy bed.

 

My tasks unending,

Yet rarely known.

My work is mending,

What all needs sewn.

 

I work for you,

My love, my champion.

Striving all day,

Against a battalion.

 

You fight in the field,

Where money wars wage.

The mouse, my enemy;

The dust, my plague.

 

You are my warrior,

And I thy matron.

This home is ours,

Our love unshaken.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

More poems at my poetry page.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

"You don't know anything."

Have you ever been told that, because of your field of study, you don't know anything? Or maybe you don't have a specific area of expertise so people think you know nothing. The line may have been delivered nonchalantly, or the speaker may have seemed intent to knock you down a notch. Either way, the message was delivered.

I've been told that, too. I usually think about disagreeing but decide to go along with the speaker in order to avoid an argument. Love conflict in fiction; hate it in real life.

But the statement remains inaccurate.

Using my own field of study, English and writing, I can tell you what I do know and how much is open to me to learn about.

As a writer, I have to know how to use the language I write in. I use knowledge about English grammar and punctuation (and slang, phrasing, word choices, et cetera) to construct my sentences when I'm writing. Often when I'm editing, that knowledge helps me see problems and areas of confusion and choose how to correct the issue. I have to know when and how to end a sentence and paragraph and how to begin new ones...and how to string them together (something I sometimes have fun ignoring on my blog). I need to know the rules of English in order to avoid confusion and communicate clearly, either by following the rules or by bending them.

Now, fiction writing. Not a very useful field, right? I don't know a thing about science or economics or architecture or bowling alleys or underwater basket weaving. Right? And I certainly, stuck in my fictitious realms, don't know anything regarding how the real world works. Not a single thing. Right? Of course right.

Um.. No, that is inaccurate.

As a world creator, I have to know at least a little bit about a lot of real things. Including science, economics, architecture, and possibly even bowling alleys and underwater basket weaving. Also, how people relate, different personalities, skills and trades, weapons and fighting, religion, politics, terrain, travel, music, culture, and more. Essentially, the world is my field of study.

One of the reasons why I love being a fiction writer is because I get to know about tons of things without focusing too much or too long on one thing. Call it A.D.D., call it the inability to settle down, call it geekiness, call it being a homeschooler (not the same thing as a geek), call it curiosity, call it a lack of depth. Whatever you want to call it, I love it. I don't need to be a scientist or an architect or a professional kegler or a scuba weaver.

Other people can be those things. That's fine. I say more power to them. It's just not for me. That doesn't mean that I know nothing, and that's not to say they only know about their specialty to the exclusion of the rest of the world.

"You don't know anything" is a sadly arrogant statement. It shrinks God's vast creation and diminishes the one spoken to simply because the speaker focuses on a different area of expertise.