ROW80

RoW80 Check-in Gratitude

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell

I’ve been thinking a lot about gratitude during this time of Thanksgiving in the U.S. I spent some time talking with my sister about my father, as it was the first Thanksgiving in decades neither one of us could call him, and therefore a very strange day.  I am grateful to my father for always encouraging me to concentrate on what was important in life, not on the petty woes and maelstroms that tried to distract one’s attention.  He was impatient with procrastination, and would be proud to see that I am finally better about just doing what I dread.  He loved to write, and imbued my sister and me with that love of communicating through paper and hand.  We found his journals from several trips to Ireland when we were going through his papers last summer. We had not known that he had written about those trips and treasure those remembrances.  

Unlike the crowd I had over to the house when we lived in Northern Indiana, Thanksgiving was a small gathering, just DH and No. 1 and No. 2 sons.  We talked, we cooked, we ate in company (not the usual thing, with us all on different schedules).  I basked in gratitude for good food and company.  

I am also very grateful for my online friends. I appreciate the support and encouragement so many of you have given me through the years.  I spent a lot of time last week letting go of my anger and injury, and embracing what I want to do in my life. I want to swathe myself in positivity and creativity.

My plans for the rest of the Round are to catch up with some of the online writing classes I have been taking.  I want to go into more depth with some of the exercises, and keep honing my writing.  i have drafted several blog posts on various subjects, but I haven’t been writing any fiction recently.  I don’t feel stuck, but am planning more than writing at the moment. I hope to make the next steps into writing soon.

I hope all the NaNoers among us will finish and meet their goals, and that everyone is finishing up the Round in style. Please go visit all the RoWers, whom you can find here.

 

smaller EM

Published by Elizabeth Anne Mitchell

I am the youngest of four children, raised in the old-fashioned Irish-American way. I suspect my mother encouraged me to write from an early age to keep me out of her hair, although she may have regretted the decision when my teachers began to call about the controversial stories I was writing. Thus I began my career of butting heads with the good sisters at my Catholic elementary school, and ended it by leaving high school for college with no diploma. I wear my high-school dropout badge rebelliously and proudly. In college, I became fascinated with the Middle Ages, which was described as a “starry night” by one of my professors. So began a trek through languages and legends that informs my narrative non-fiction and historical fiction, as well as my blogs. I love feedback and enjoy discussing ideas. I have an accountability blog for the Round of Words in Eighty Days entitled Leavekeeping; I write a blog on literary history, intellectual history, and the history of words entitled Lapidary Prose. I'm on Twitter and Facebook; my email is lapidaryprose@gmail.com.

5 thoughts on “RoW80 Check-in Gratitude”

  1. I love this! ❤

    Swathed in positivity and creativity is a good place to be. I had two days like that this week, too. It's happening more as the kids get older.

    My grandparents wrote and kept postcards. I have one of their albums and love it. As far as I know, I'm the first family journal-keeper, so I can only imagine the comfort and bliss of having all those memories in your father's hand…like a conversation that keeps on going…

    I finished my third Kifo Island novel for NaNo. I'm in love with this series that is something like a combination between Fantasy Island and a hospice. So many possibilities..so many stories.

    Maybe we can get together sometime this month or next – at Java's, or B&N, or somewhere else? =)

    1. Thank you, Shan. It does help when the kids get a little older and more self-sufficient. My parents wrote several months of love letters to one another, but they were gone when I looked for them this past summer :(. Therefore the journals are doubly precious.

      Congratulations on finishing NaNo–I found your Kifo Island stories very interesting. I’d love to get together soon. It’s nice to see one another in person!

      1. Kifo Island has surprised me again and again. And there’s room for so many kinds of stories and characters there…I’m planning to dive into revisions of these and draft three more this year. Hopefully, I can start offering them in 2017 0r 2018…maybe sooner, if I get better at revisions.

        I’m so glad you found something to connect you to that family history, and sad you didn’t find it all.

        Let’s get together. =)

  2. Our Thanksgiving was also very relaxed and enjoyable. I love your goal of focusing on positivity and creativity! It sounds like your Dad would be very proud of you. What writing courses are you doing? Sounds like fun. Have a delightful week!

    1. Thanks, Nikki. I’ve taken my time getting to the place where I realize I can choose to surround myself with positivity.

      One course is through DIYMFA, which I recommend. I’ve been through it before, but just hit the surface on some of the lessons. Another is Dan Blank’s Fearless Work, which includes a lot of time management and figuring out one’s priorities. I blush to admit I haven’t spent a lot of time with that one yet, and I don’t want to continue to ignore it.

      I hope you have a lovely rest of the week!

Comments are closed.