by Theresa Garee | Sep 29, 2018 | Blog
Yes, I would like some cheese with this whine.
I’ve been home from New Orleans for a few days and have come down with a low-grade fever. The timing for illness is never good, but wow. I’ve got so much writing to do!!! Write Now Newsletter is due Wednesday night and I’m deep in book revisions.
Thankfully the #ninetyninepercentgooddog and the #onehundredpercentgood are on duty.
Hubby brought home this ginormous box of chocolate Lucky Charms with magical unicorn marshmallows. He knows I adore unicorns. I hope it lasts the weekend.
And see! Real unicorns, rainbows, and shamrock hats. I’ll be better soon.
by Theresa Garee | Oct 3, 2015 | Blog
“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.” ― George Orwell
Writing a book isn’t quite that bad or I wouldn’t do it. And I make it more of a struggle than it has to be. I stall, him and haw, second guess myself, delude myself into thinking it will be a best-seller, then beat myself up for writing such drivel. Still, I have the affliction for which there is only one cure: writing. I have the bug. The illness. The fever. The plague. I’ve given up writing more times than I’ve brushed my teeth and I have good dental hygiene.
I’m at that “horrible, exhausting struggle” stage in the current draft of the book about running. The first draft was more like a fever. What I’ve got right now is the tail end of a nagging cold with a lingering cough and exhaustion. The worst is behind me, but it’s still rough going.
I’m doing what our 4-H adviser used to call, “turning down the screws.” It was the detail work we did before taking our animals or exhibits to the state fair. The pieces are in place, the screws are in, and you grit your teeth and tighten. It’s tedious, precision work. The book must be in top shape before the next step. So I drag myself to the page and complain a lot, but I do it.
There’s a saying in running, “Forward is a pace.” That’s my pace: forward. And for today, that’s enough. I can see the end of this stage of the project. There may be a jagged cliff beyond my line of vision, but I’ll deal with that when I get there. In the meantime, I’ll tend to my symptoms and continue working on the book.
by Theresa Garee | Feb 7, 2007 | Blog
My niece has been sick with cancer for 499 days. On Tuesday, day 500, she died. She was 24 years old. I have no words to express my sadness. It’s too fresh. Too raw. Too real. In time, with distance, I’ll be able to put words to it all.
For now, I am making notes about what I heard, saw, felt, smelled. Making lists of colors and names. And I am letting myself rest. It’s been a long 500 days and yet they went by too quickly. I am so sad, but the written word cannot encompass all I feel. Even these precious words are not enough.
