Curtiss Ann Matlock's Blog, page 8

Writer gone camping

Writer gone camping

Ninety Year Old Solo Woman Camper

It has been two years ago this spring, and I haven’t forgotten her. If she told us her name, I don’t recall it, but I can still see in memory her pale blue eyes, those that are unmistakably of the very old, faded by years and sort of glassy and with lots of crinkles at the edges.

It was the first and only time I’ve gone to Fort Pickens National Park campground over in Florida, a popular beach area and perpetually filled with campers. I was standing at the edge of the blacktopped campground r...

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Grace and peace, CurtissAnn.

Why Did I Choose That Book? or In Praise and Admiration for Long Sentences

As I mulled over what to write about for this week’s post, I naturally thought back to last week’s post–it was about running to books for comfort and calming in the face of life’s inevitable and daily trials and tribulations.

I myself did just that. I set aside a novel I had just bought because it simply was not ‘taking me away from it all’, went to my bookshelf of keeper books, perused the titles, and selected Sleeping at the Starlite Motel, by Bailey White.

What made me choose that boo...

One of Those Days, and smiling through it.

One of those days started in the night, when I awoke with racing mind. Efforts at prayer were frazzled. I could have been a comic book character; probably white spirals of anxiety were coming from my eyes.

We all have them, days when life things pile up on us like a wet wool blanket. You have a string of home repair items that is just getting longer, because it’s turning into a monster problem to find home repair people for small jobs. Events in the news make you sob, and you can’t get pictu...

Each Day Begin Again

I find C. S. Lewis’ wisdom immensely encouraging. If a spiritual giant such as Lewis had to begin again each day at the beginning with his faith, it seems reasonable for me to have to not only begin all over each day with relying on God, but sometimes several times a day I begin again. As a human on earth I will not ever ‘arrive’ at perfect faith.

The relying is a daily and moment by moment thing.

Each morning I arise and purpose to turn my life and will over to God, give it a good go, bu...

Girl Camper Gets Through the Rain and Visits Eudora Welty House and Garden

On Sunday I drove up to Roosevelt State Park in Mississippi, where I was to meet a girl camper friend. Wouldn’t you know a severe storm front moved across Mississippi and Alabama on that day. I considered postponing my trip by a day, but I had the camper all loaded and was itching to go. I watched the weather app radar and decided storms would mostly be moved out by the afternoon. I was wrong.

Throughout all 200 miles of hauling the camper up here, I encountered periods of rain, some of it ...

Whatever Your Motive, Write

I’ve been dipping into C. S. Lewis On Writing and Writers–taking its delights little by little and re-reading to savor. It really does go good with tea.

C. S. Lewis wrote in a letter to his good friend Arthur Greeves: “As for the real motives for writing after one has ‘got over’ the desire for acknowledgement: in the first place, I found and find, that precisely at the moment when you have really put all that out of your mind and decided not to write again…precisely then the ideas–which came...

Tuesday Afternoon at the Beach, and perplexities of parking meter-things

I am pleased to see that I have made writing my blog post a habit. I don’t feel right if I don’t write, although being late in my self-appointed deadline apparently is not yet (and may never be) part of the habit.

The reason for being late and not doing any writing at all for ten days is that I’m enjoying visitors!

“What are you going to blog about?” my sister-in-law asked me, when I told her I had to get in here and write a blog post.

“I have no idea,” I replied.

So, my sister-in-l...

When Writing Fiction, I Tilt the Mirror Upward

In the process of preparing Mary In Color for print publication, I just re-read it. When I finished the last page, I smiled because suddenly I realized the book is very much a romantic comedy. One might assume that I, as the author, would have set out to write a romantic comedy. Not so. I am never so clear thinking and practical. I set out to write a story about a mother, and my aim, as always, was to write a story that would give others the same comfort and joy that I myself have received from...