A Month of Mother's Days

"We thought that, perhaps," said I, hesitating, "it is right to begin with the obligations of home, sir; and that, perhaps, while those are overlooked and neglected, no other duties can possibly be substituted for them." - Charles Dickens, Bleak House

For me, Mother's Day is not merely just a once a year holiday. Mother's Day is every day. These are the days that Mother is obligated to take her daughter to dance classes, recitals, sit with camera in hand at the many school performances, pick up brownies at the grocery store for class snack (there is no time to bake), doctor's appointments, play dates, choir practice, meals, baths, and oh so much more. Therefore, I am reminded every single day of the gift that God has given me; my little girl.

That being said, there is hardly time for creative writing at the closing of an average school year. By the time the end of the day draws near, I want nothing more than to crawl under the covers and read...whittling down my stack of Southern fiction novels, a few non-fiction tomes thrown in for good measure.

So, when there is so little time, what should a writer do? I have found that you do whatever you can to stay focused on literary activities, even if that means you do nothing but blog, network, send off manuscripts, attend book clubs, scribble down story ideas in the carpool lane, and even write a poem while sitting at an ever-lasting red light. Even when a writer is not writing, he or she is still a writer. Life happens. If a writer goes a week or two without producing anything of significance, that does not make one less of a writer. This is the mantra that I attempt to remind myself while snuggling down with a good book at ten o'clock at night, when I feel as if I should be writing and my brain is too exhausted to think.

"The story I am writing exists, written in absolutely perfect fashion, some place, in the air. All I must do is find it, and copy it." - Jules Renard author

Time sure does fly when you're writing, have the flu, take trips, and spend more time at pre-school dance class than you do at your own computer. During these times I have to take creative inspiration where I can get it! I keep cursing myself for not purchasing a notebook to keep in the car and find myself scribbling poetry and story ideas on the back of receipts stuffed in my jumbled up purse.

I have recently submitted some short stories to the Oxford American magazine and the New Orleans Review. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed and am determined not to let these magazines and others forget my name. The Tennessee Williams Literary Festival in New Orleans has created a poetry competition that I intend to take a stab at in the near future as well.

To add to my monthly schedule, I am starting a chapter of the Pulpwood Queen book club. I'm excited to gather my local friends for book discussions and various projects and road trips. Speaking of road trips, I have recently taken another excursion to New Orleans and I doubt it will be very long before I return once more. I just can't get enough! Each time I load the trunk of my car with plastic sacks of new and signed books to bring back home. The Garden District Book Shop is a Southern reader's heaven! Many people drink, gamble, smoke...I read and drink coffee.

Where is human nature so weak as in the book store? - Henry Ward Beecher