I had intended to write a well-researched article, or at least a lightly-researched one, about opening a book store, since it’s something I’ve thought about off and on. I even found an article about one in Texas that did okay despite the pandemic. Maybe next week. Here’s what you get instead…

Quotes

Last week I posted about my love for quotes. Here are a few I enjoyed from the past week:

“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” —Buddha

This one I like because it encourages us to break with the past and focus on the present.

“The worst walls are never the ones you find in your way. The worst walls are the ones you put there.” —Ursula K. Le Guin

Aside from Ursula being a literary giant, this is a great insight into how often we are our own worst enemies by putting artificial constraints upon ourselves.

“The secret of life is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” —Paulo Coelho

This quote is clearly about grit and getting back into the fight no matter how many times we’ve failed before. One of these times, we’ll succeed if we keep trying.

Camping

I went camping with my youngest daughter this past weekend and her scout pack. I spent one night in a tent on the ground. My back still hurts. I just turned 40 this year. It feels like I shouldn’t hurt so much when I’m only halfway through my life after doing something human beings have literally been doing for thousands of years before the modern era. I guess I’m just soft. Well, I know I’m soft.

Writing

I’ve struggled for months, years, with getting into a consistent writing routine. I’m still not there yet. I’ve had some limited success lately. I don’t have a lot of self-discipline, which is why I find it so challenging to establish and stick to routines and habits. What I’ve been doing lately is writing long-hand in a notebook. Not the blog posts. These are just off-the-cuff with light research (sometimes) along the way. No, I write a personal journal and then I write my fiction. In different notebooks, of course.

There are a couple of reasons I’ve decided to do this. One is because I’ve discovered a love for fountain pens (where I bought mine). It’s a much smoother experience than with a ballpoint pen and less arduous. It requires much less pressure. You can also use whatever color ink you want, of course. I thought this would be less wasteful than disposable ballpoint pens.

Another reason is that the notebook and pen can be carried anywhere with me and don’t require electricity. The chief reason, however, is so I can cut out all of the distractions a computer would provide. I can’t search the internet or play games using my notebook.

Signing Off

I wanted to write something else for this post originally, but instead, because of life and other obstacles, I decided to write… something else. I think it’s important to try to stick to my writing goals even if the result isn’t what we want in the end. So I think I’ll end this post with another quote:

“We can always begin again.” —Sharon Salzberg