Day 12: Sometimes Life (and Death) Get In The Way

I was speeding along down the literature highway. I was flipping through pages like wind through the napkins on my picnic table. I was drinking in words from Stieg Larsson and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Then the unthinkable. My favourite 'wordsmith' passed away. She loved collocations. She inspired me to teach. She and I shared a passion for music and words the Dead and Cohen. Her passing was like slamming into a fiery truck; the kind that slides slowly towards you down the side of a mountain and you watch knowing that you cannot get out of the way.

I haven't read since. I haven't written since. I know She would tell me to shape up and get back on track. Fortunately a window has opened. Through my grief I can see clouds of opportunity and I know She would be very happy for me. Nothing stopped her from galloping after her dreams. Even at the end she was able to hold her very own literary creation in her arms. So starting today I am going to wholeheartedly approach three particular projects blessed in the knowledge that I am healthy and able to do so. Sunday will see me participate in the CIBC Run for the Cure. Unlike the Beat Beethoven run...this one is more of a Beat the Bitch that is Breast Cancer run. Also next week, I start a new job working at the library. I have dreamed of working at the library since I was a child tearing every book off the shelves and begging my dad if I could please take them all home. And third; I am going to start reading again. I am alive and healthy and instead of having the attitude that 'life gets in the way' I am going to make my way of life the only way to live.

Now. Which book to read first? How about Mark Twain's 'On Writing and Publishing'. Baby steps.