Jubilee's Jottings

   Writer’s block is something I have never experienced before, at least, not the way it showed up recently. I’m sure the lack of creative motivation is what kept some spaces between my writing, but it wasn’t like this before working on my book. Before my latest projects, the writing was up to my discretion, when I wanted to and when I had inspiration. I wanted to write fairly frequently, so I wrote often, but it wasn’t quite every day. Now that I’m writing a book, writing can become quite hard. What do I actually write? What should I bring to light from this time in my life? How do I transition from this point to the next? What do I write right now? I face these questions every time I sit at my typewriter and attempt to work. I do not face these questions nearly so much with the newspaper work, because when I research, the material comes to me. The magazine writing can wait for inspiration or a bit of transparency, but the book is a totally different ballgame. One st...

Bella She’s energetic, soft, and loyal. She sleeps at the foot of my bed and perks up her ears as soon as I stir in the morning. She makes me go on walks and learn things I didn’t know.  Her name is Bella, (Bay-ya, Spanish for beautiful) and she’s a Portuguese Water Dog.  I found her on Craigslist in the free section. There was a picture of a cute, curly dog, first posted a month earlier. Should I get a dog?  A few weeks earlier I’d thought it would be nice to have a dog. Someone to keep me company, make me exercise, and, well, a project. When I showed mom the listing, she said the idea seemed like an answer to prayer. I need extra emotional support, and a dog just might help with that. With her permission and provisos, I messaged the owner and arranged for a time to meet the dog.  I arrived at the dog park at the same time as the owner and dog. A furry bear-creature leapt out of the passenger seat and joyfully greeted me and my siblings. I talked to the owne...

  Crashing waves Cloudy sky Puddle.  Softest silt Dancing bird: Footprints.

The Night Flies             When I was still bed-bound by Lyme’s, I needed something comfortable to wear in bed. Regular clothing is not an option for someone spending most of the day in bed. I started out with a dress I had bought on Amazon.           The dress was cheap, and I wore it as an everyday dress until, one day, it shrunk. It wasn’t too small to wear in bed though. This thin, shrunken dress got me through the first few months of being sick, but eventually it tore. A giant tear. Now I had nothing comfortable to wear.           Mama went to the thrift store and bought two pajamas for me. Hopefully I would like one of them. I liked both of them, but I didn’t wear them the way the manufacturer intended.           I took the two pajamas and cut them in half. The half of one became the top, the bottom of the other turned into a skirt, a...

Highlights from each day this week.            Saturday: I worked with Mom in the garden, pruning tomato plants and hauling off weeds. It was companionable to work together.            Friday: I made Swedish apple pie for the first time and really like it. Flour, spices, sugar, leavening and egg are mixed with chopped apples and baked. It is a sensible, yummy desert.            Thursday: I started another book project, which is really fun. It will be writing about my current life as fiction.            Wednesday: Enjoyed my tidy room and a painting mom propped on my bookshelf. I hadn’t known where to put it, and the bookshelf was the perfect place!           Tuesday: Worked on minimalism article for the newspaper and got rid of a few more things out of my room.            Monday: I wen...

            What is the most fragile thing? As I put some pencil lead into a mechanical pencil, I wondered if pencil lead was the most fragile thing. But then, there are other thin, tiny things that break easily, like a strand of crystallized sugar. A lot fragile. But, enumerating fragile objects isn’t my point.              So, I think the question is, how do fragile things break? Pressure snaps a twig or a pencil lead. Glass breaks when it is dropped. Hot glass breaks when in contact with cold water. Thread breaks when the tension is too great for the strands to handle. Most lightweight things break when too much weight is applied. It depends on the item.           I think, people are the most fragile things in the world. I can break with too much pressure or tension. I break when dropped or when drenched with cold water when excited or interested. I also break wh...

             When I moved home from Harrisburg, I was out of sync with my normal life. Things had gotten piled up and tasks that were once mole hills became mountains. All of my writing was backed up a week or two, along with everything else. When I moved home, I was also working on my room in the singe-wide, making lots of sourdough bread, and things like that.             I got my room ready, moved in, and I began to be able to catch up on life. It was either last week, or the week before that all my newspaper writing was caught up. I worked steadily on my book and began to fall into a routine.           I got my habit tracker back on my phone. I cleared all the previous habits I had listed, and thought I’d start out fresh. Within a few days, pretty much all the old habits were put back to be checked off daily. I brush my teeth after breakfast and floss them. I got ba...