Chapter 10: Plan
I’d only seen tumbleweeds in movies and cartoons. This was my first glimpse of the real thing, and realizing that is movement depended on violent, threatening gusts, I decided to stop comparing myself to a tumbleweed.
Ann should talk to Dena Dyer, who grew up in the Texas Panhandle. Dena knows that a tumbleweed isn’t something you want to emulate.
But sometimes you do anyway.
Tumbleweeds
By the time you see one, you
should’ve sought shelter
already. I am so tired of tumble-
weeds. Need that wind
to blow itself out, head south
for the coast.
Leave me be. Sick of tumpling.
(A note: I’m not saying this is a great poem. It’s just a poem I wrote after reading the chapter.)
Then Charity quotes the great Annie Dillard with one of the best writing quotes of all time, the “spend it all” quote. I’ve quoted it on my blog before. Charity also quotes L.L. Barkat:
There is no hurry. The things we cannot write about today , we will surely find we can write about tomorrow. We should not worry about the process, but simply trust it and move on.
I’m not much of a planner when it comes to writing, so I’m going to trust L.L. and not worry too much about the process. This morning in my freewriting time, I wrote about how grief literally chills you. I trust that’s what I needed to write about. Tomorrow? The forecast says it will be clearing up and 20 degrees warmer. Who knows what words will come out of me when I get some sun.
Want to set a spell.
Sit still.
Can’t think for the gusts.
