Sue Perry's Blog: Required Writing, page 43

My Epitaph Collection (vol. 10)

Although debate with the universe is not recommended…

But -

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

It was a dark and stormy night.  I understand this is considered a writing nadir but actually I think it makes a pretty good opening line, irregardless of what the naysayers say about it.

P.S. I am also rooting for Pluto to regain status as a planet.

My Epitaph Collection (vol. 9)

Damn, just when I was getting the hang of it.

“Never Pass Up the Unrepeatable Experience”

This is something a friend of a friend once said. Every time I recall it, I think these are words to live by. Then I forget about it again.

I remembered it tonight, half way through one of the best concerts I have ever attended (and that is saying something). Live music is always an unrepeatable experience. Tonight was the Punch Brothers. Even if music reviews were my thing, I wouldn’t know how to describe them. Alt-punk-bluegrass. Brilliant musicians who play with virtuosity, wit, and occasional sarcasm.  Such a great band. This was my fourth time seeing them. I hope for 100 more. We bought the tickets months ago and had fantastic seats…

…but come concert time, we had to take one of our cats to the emergency clinic and we were still at the clinic when the opening act took the stage. Pessimistic, son tried to sell our tix on Craig’s List. Fortunately, there were no buyers. We got to the concert late but still got to enjoy more than 1.5 hours of it and I cannot believe that I considered giving up and staying home. Don’t give up and stay home.  This is a lesson that I have to keep re-learning. (Wonder why that is?)

Never pass up the unrepeatable experience. I’m thinking that life counts as one.

My Ultimate Goal as a Writer

I want to write a novel that makes people feel the way my favorite songs make me feel.

An Ode to Dirt

In between rainstorms, I just took the dog for a walk and it is so clean and fresh outside – it smells like dirt!

Dirt has always been important to me.  Dirt is being outdoors. Dirt is gardening, and the thrill of a plant thriving (okay, sometimes simply surviving) in my domain. Dirt is geology field trips, and reading the landscape to glimpse the history of the planet. Dirt is many happy childhood hours between the roots of the backyard tree, where I was determined to dig to China.

Dirt should not be confused with dust, however, which is a housekeeping annoyance.

Fear of Blogging, part III

Damn, I really thought I was on a roll and had figured out how to incorporate writing-a-daily-blog-entry into my life. Now, two days in a row, life (and especially the stupid old day job) have interfered.  Here I am at bedtime with no energy or ideas or clarity. Which probably means I shouldn’t be typing and yet here I am.  Today’s blog has become symbolic of the larger struggle between life’s obligations versus the things that make life worth doing in the first place. I have always been too bound by obligations. I need to do better at eating dessert before I finish the veggies.

My Epitaph Collection (vol. 8)

This offhand comment from a biologist deserves immortality.

She wondered about genetic drift.

Or maybe the reverse is more meaningful.

He never wondered about genetic drift.

Many Thanks to the NK Movement

In southern California, at least, it can be a brutal experience to go to an animal shelter, where overcrowding gives the residents a scant few days to live. I had last been to a shelter a decade ago, after one of our cats vanished. (We never found her.) I went last weekend because it was time to add more cats to the family. I wish I could have rescued all of the horrifyingly vast number of 5-, 10-, 15-year old dogs and cats I saw there, who have no clue how their lives took this terrible turn – and who have so little hope of adoption.

The death camp atmosphere in the shelters is not as pronounced as it was a decade ago. I believe that is thanks to the large number of dedicated shelter volunteers – who offset the effects of budget cuts - and because of a grassroots, growing, no-kill movement. There are folks who provide foster homes to dogs, cats, rabbits, and others, to buy them more time than the shelters can give them. In fact, some of the animals stay in foster homes for years. There have always been foster homes but the number and the network of them has increased considerably over the last decade. Another populist movement to appreciate!

Thank you to all the foster homes!

My Epitaph Collection (vol. 7)

No more fooling around.

Next time I come back as a cat.