Every so often, I go back and read older posts. Sometimes I want to see what I was up to, or find the dates that things happened (like when I wanted to calculate Athena's age a few days ago). Occasionally I want to assure myself that I am on the right track, writing coherently or with humor that translates to everyone who doesn't live inside my brain. Today I went back to look after my mother's lifelong friend suggested that as the posts pile up, I will have plenty of material for a book. In my favorite fantasies, she is right, and I will be able to translate this into a book worth reading. I rarely get past a vague idea of a book suddenly coming into existence, into the details of how I would want it to look. I wouldn't just print out every single post, and call it done. I need to edit. I find typos in nearly everything I've published thus far. I blame most of it from typing on a touchscreen, but I'm sure waiting until late at night to compose, with the television blaring, helps to make me sloppy.
I think I would want to give explanations and updates to each post I choose to include. I have been so vague, I might like to come out of hiding and include a few specific details so that everything makes more sense. Not sure whether I'm ready for names and faces, but I would consider it. The man and I have so many projects we want to do, it will make sharing easier if I can take his picture once in a while. Besides, my photographic series "A Boy and His Ladder" has proved popular. I owe it to the world to build on it.
Yesterday during the day, I read something my younger daughter wrote, and I remember thinking how perceptive and eloquent she had been. By evening, when both girls and I were in an extremely heated conversation via speakerphone, the topic of grammar came up. I did not realize the effect we have had on her, picking on her spelling and grammar, all the time. I was the consummate grammar nerd when I grew up, diagramming sentences for fun. I break the rules more for effect, less for ignorance of those rules. I have a hard time remembering that not everyone enjoys it as much as I do. And last night, it hit me just how much I pick on both girls, focusing on insignificant details like spelling, enough to miss the insightful things they are actually saying. I think it is time to back off, and spend more time noticing how smart and perceptive my girls are, even if they type "then" when they mean "than." They have a lot to say, and I'm ready to listen.
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