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  • Do it! Live it! Write it!

    If you would not be forgotten,
    as soon as you are dead and rotten,
    either write things worth reading,
    or do things worth writing.

    -Ben Franklin

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    If only you’d remember before you ever sit down to write that you’ve been a reader long before you were ever a writer. You simply fix that fact in your mind, then sit very still and ask yourself, as a reader, what piece of writing in all the world [you] would most want to read if [you]had [your] heart’s choice. The next step is terrible, but so simple I can hardly believe it as I write it. You just sit down shamelessly and write the thing yourself. I won’t even underline that. It’s too important to be underlined. Oh, dare to do it! Trust your heart.

    -J.D.Salinger

    I’m all riled up.
    I want to do things worth writing. I am having trouble sitting still. It’s all I can do to type out this post.
    I crave the scratch of pen on paper, the gloss of wet ink.

    The photo is of a bearded robber fly, which is such a great name.
    Jacob volunteered that he looked like Ben Franklin. I don’t know, if you’re a ten-year-old boy you see such things.

    Hence, the quote. Which reminded me of the above passage from Seymour: An Introduction, which is akin to my own personal bible.

    Which got me all riled up, as it always does.

    Maybe later I will settle down, come back, finish the post I started last night.

    I hope not. I hope I never properly settle down again.

    What gets you all riled up and dreaming of greatness?
    What things will you do this weekend worth writing about?

  • Another Thursday- Keep Hanging in There-

    If a thing is worth doing,
    it is worth doing badly.
    -G.K. Chesterton
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    Look how fierce this little guy is, as he stands guard over my Amish paste tomato plant.

    A loyal sentry, he has patiently and ruthlessly ensnared and devoured Japanese beetles, tortoise bugs, and other tomato plant-eating insects.

    He was no match, alas, for the deer that stormed the garden gates last night.

    But I forgive him.

  • Got My Hairs Cut

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    What most of us are after,
    when we have a picture taken,
    is a good natural-looking picture
    that doesn’t resemble us
    .

    -Peg Bracken

    I really like this picture Jacob took. It looks like I might be really pretty.

    I got my hairs cut. I wanted to dye it (purple) but I don’t have the patience to maintain that sort of thing anymore, so to keep myself happy I went for a cut.

    I asked my friend Bridget for a zero-maintenance ‘do, and this was the end result. It’s the type of cut that looks best when I don’t touch it.

    I love that Bridget actually listens to me and knows that when I say zero-maintenance, I mean zero-maintenance.

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    Here’s what I look like in real life.
    I hate having my picture taken and I rarely look directly at the camera.
    I also rarely wear any makeup- maybe five days a year.
    I have mascara and eyeliner on in this photo.
    My eyes feel heavy.
    Since I am wearing makeup and my hair is freshly cut and I am in clean clothes,
    the kids and I thought well, we’d better document the occasion.

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    Look, Cass is clean too. And, actually, she got a haircut as well.
    No makeup, though. Some paint on her legs, but you can’t see that.

    So, that’s what I look like. Well, sort of. Usually I’m much more of a slob. Smear some dirt on your monitor and squint a bit if you’re looking for something true-to-life.

    If you see me on the street, you be sure you say hey.