It might have been a very young Ruby who used to say: “Doing?” as in “What are you doing?”
Knitting, reading, and revising and submitting two stories and four poems. And working on the novel. You remember that? The book? I meant to take a break from the novel, slow down, get some rest, but it’s almost as hard to stop as it was to get moving so fast last month!
When I was teaching high school English, I kept a Bible and the Qur’an on my shelves. I had the American stories collected by Erdoes and Ortiz. (Most of my books were free to borrow and generally came back, but that book and the side-by-side original Spanish and English translations of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda had to be replaced again and again.) I had many novels, books of poetry, collections of short stories, literary journals, nonfiction, science fiction, fantasy, realism, traditional and modern stories. I urged my students to be respectful of what is called “myth” because that word has become pejorative. Myths are most often the sacred stories of other cultures. Have respect.
My own book is not a myth, not sacred, magical, nonfiction, poetry, or even published. But it is done.
Yes, there will be further drafts, editing, revision, new words, passages cut, rewritten, moved. I may have crossed a line with Nadya’s or Amani’s story. Just for the next hours, let me say it is done. Just for today.
And if you or someone you know might be willing to help me make the story better, please let me know. [See below.]
Continue readingA review of my writing and plans for April. No kidding.
“Vogue Philippines released its April issue on Friday and its newest cover model is an 106-year-old indigenous Kalinga woman, Apo Whang-Od, also known as Maria Oggay.” It would have been more impressive (on the part of Vogue) if this had been the cover of the US edition.
Our granddaughter had her second heart surgery this morning. It went well. Minimally invasive and she may go home this afternoon. Incredible.
There’s more goodness…
Continue readingMy story was already live on Metaphorosis before 6am when I first checked just a moment ago—both the text and the podcast. ALL THE DAUGHTERS SING. [updated link to start of story… hopefully. A response on the Metaphorosis website or here is much appreciated. Bloggers may click “like” at the end of the story text. Anyone may add a comment.]
IMPERFECT PATIENCE 