January – Tried|Read|Wrote|Found

That’s a nice winter picture, isn’t it? I love the snow. I wonder when I am going to not love snow. Perhaps March?

Here are a few things that went on in January:

{What I Tried} – My first trail run. My habit is to run down busy streets partly because my ego keeps me running (what if the drivers see me stop?!?!), and partly because it’s where I feel safe. But a couple of Saturdays ago I’d made it a couple of miles and didn’t want to turn around so I found a park with a bunch of trails and they were muddy and icy and totally disgusting and I loved it. I ran like Pheobe, and it was my longest run yet since we’ve moved. I think it’s good to work out of fear every so often, don’t you?

{What I Read} – Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo. An absolute masterpiece, as is everything DiCamillo writes. I hope to write like her someday. 100 Pep Talks by Elise Blaha Cripe. I’m in awe of Elise, and I miss her blog terribly, but this book was a good filler for me. For 100 days, she wrote a pep talk and posted it on Instagram, then published those talks in book form. They were good for me to read at this point in my life. Thank you to my friend Abbigail Kriebs for sending it to me. Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead. This was my favorite of the books I read this month. Stead is another master at writing for children/young adults. One of the reasons I love this book is Stead writes love stories that are so sweet and true. This is true in When You Reach Me as well. The other reason I love her books, and Goodbye Stranger particularly is because she portrays girls’ friendships realistically. They’re not easy, we all know that, but they can be wonderful, too. Stead writes this part of a teenage girls’ life so well and it’s never moralistic. The friendships are real and messy and hilarious and touching. Her books will be required reading in my household. A Year Between Friends by Maria Alexandra Vettese and Stephanie Congdon Barnes. A lovely book filled with letters and recipes and gorgeous photography. As I read, it got me thinking about this need to create. It seems especially so lately, as well as this apologetic, “I’m not sure if I’m called/good enough/etc voice that goes with it. Do people who decide they’re going to try running have this discussion with themselves before they lace up their shoes? In one letter, MAV writes, “I would view a snippet of something from 3191 miles away and it would jolt me out of my despair.” SCB writes, “When small events in my own life left me feeling temporarily unmoored, I returned to documenting the light on the breakfast table or to hand-stitching a gift, finding my own place again.” I think these sentences ought to put an end to those voices about calling and being good enough. If you want to create (and in my very humble opinion, I think everyone ought to find a way to be creative because we are made in the image of God and He is a creator), do it. Don’t worry about the rest of it. Enjoy creating something. When I see, or hear, or taste, or feel, or read something beautiful, my mood changes. When I am overwhelmed and I have enough rational to document the light, I find myself again. Thank you to Kellee for the book.

{What I Wrote} Out of the Woods for Coffee+Crumbs, “Friendship in the Dark,” for Off the Page (coming February 13, a couple blog posts (feel free to click around), an essay on Romeo and Juliet that I believe TS Poetry will run shortly,  about five more chapters of my book, an essay for The Cresset that should run in its Lent issue, and I’m working on an essay for Good Letters.

{What I Found} I found another coffee shop down a cobblestone street just off State Street. About two people fit inside, but the coffee is delicious.

Feeling like joining a Book Club? Makes You Mom is reading The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Come join us! We are an incredibly friendly bunch.

Feeling like scratching that creative writing itch? How about signing up for Year of Creativity taught by the writers at Coffee+Crumbs. Lots of great work and conversations going on with the group. Here’s a link for more information.