View from the Couch

I've been struggling with my Christmas poem this year.  Inspiration seemed far away and what I thought I wanted to write wasn't happening at all. Today, I downloaded a beta version of a creative writing software that I hope to use for editing my novel.  To try it out, I decided to scratch out a poem...and this is what came out.  So that which would be written, has been written; and that which is not yet ready, has not. Merry Christmas lovely reader.  Eclipse - 2010 I missed the Eclipse this Winter Solstice Rainclouds covered the sky As is usual in my bleak midwinter. I couldn’t see the world go dark I missed the red glow in the sky I didn’t feel the longest night Go still and silent and black. I went to bed like any other night I burrowed into blankets And battled with my dreams And prayed that I might wake another day. I did awake. The darkness was still there My northern latitude at its apogee To Sol and light and warmth. But this morning the moon shone lar...

It's raining outside.  It's also dark.  It is a dark and stormy night. There was even a tornado today!  I mean - wtf - tornado?   in December?  I'm inclined to just put on my jammies and pull the covers up over my head.  I spent last month writing my novel as a participant in National Novel Writer's Month.  I've now got over 50,000 words committed to this narrative.  By the time I'm done editing and rewriting, there will be at least that many if not more.  I am more than a little excited about it.  For one thing, the act of writing, the commitment to my goal got me out of my slump. Secondly, the subject of my book, my grandparents and their careers in the theatre, created for me, at long last, a sense of family. Coming from a big, noisy group such as mine, you'd think I'd want to do anything but identify with my family. But the truth of it is, while I love my siblings dearly, I always had a feeling that I was on the outside look...