A December Miscellany

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Why a blogpost today? Where should I begin? (Where does anyone begin?)

On Sunday, my three daughters came over to make cookies and help us pick out a tree — just my girls and no boyfriends (which is rare!). I always enjoy seeing the whole noisy bunch of them, but it was a joy to see my trio hanging out and talking together.

Then, they were gone, leaving behind a completely naked tree in my living room, and a million memories of their younger years bumping inside my head and my heart. (I decided to feel grateful and happy instead of bereft.)

Lately I’ve been awash in memories of my childhood. For years I’ve wanted to write a Christmas story to share with my family — something about the Port Orford cedar that stood in our front yard. This is me, setting a marker. Why not write it?

And, I really, really want you to read this poem, “Christmas Mail,” by the phenomenal Ted Kooser.

Is that enough for a blog post? Mostly, I just spent an hour making one of my favorite quotes pretty so I could share it with my women’s circle — and now I can share it with you, too.

Abbey of the Arts

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I’m blissed-out and and blessed. My daughters and their SO’s are coming to dinner. Hubby is in the kitchen (cooking up a storm). I woke up very, very early and put in two hours on my novel, then I had a long walk early this morning in the crisp cold air under blue skies. (Now, to bake pies!)

And — on the heels of two wildly successful readings last weekend, I discovered that my feature at Abbey of the Arts had gone “live” — so nothing but thanks, thanks and more thanks in the writing department. (I hope you’ll explore the entire Abbey site — it features the work and wisdom of poet and teacher Christine Valters Paintner and I’m confident you’ll agree that it’s a treasure.)

Then, taking a moment this morning to catch up on email — I found this delightful poem at a blog I follow, The Poetry Department…aka The Boynton Blog. 

The Unsinkable Priscilla Long

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If you have been my student or talked about writing with me, then you probably already know that Priscilla Long, author of The Writer’s Portable Mentor and other books, has been my friend for 30 years.

We met while I was studying for my MFA in poetry at the University of Washington and Priscilla, for her fiction MFA. Or, she was supposed to be studying fiction. After taking a workshop with Colleen McElroy, we decided to exchange poetry manuscripts, and we began meeting for dinner almost every week to rework and deepen our poems.

At our table at the old College Inn in the university district, I confessed to Priscilla my very un-feminist craving for a baby and she told me, “For heaven’s sake! If you want a baby, have a baby! Don’t blame feminism!”

When my twins were a year old and I stalled on my Ph.D. dissertation, Priscilla saved me. “Send me seven pages! They can be terrible! Even with two babies you can write seven terrible pages!” She coaxed that dissertation out of me, never rewriting a single sentence, always telling me, “Of course you can do it!”

So, for those reasons and many others, I am very pleased to direct you to this bio, newly posted at History Link, the free on-line encyclopedia of Washington state history.

https://www.historylink.org/File/20845

Sheila Bender interviews

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This morning Ed Harkness sent me a link to this interview series with the wonderful Sheila Bender.

https://kptz.org/podcasts/in-conversation/

I am frantically preparing to attend PNWA this week, but wanted to share this resource with you.

I hope you write!

 

Bethany