Tag: dailyprompt

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Treasured Books

What’s one thing you own that holds deep sentimental value?

Several books from my childhood sit on one particular bookcase, and they all have sentimental value. One of my most valued treasures is the The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, illustrations by Tasha Tudor. The book itself is falling apart in places, but not so much that I can’t page through the chapters and remember what first enchanted me about the story. It’s those wonderful illustrations that bring back the memories, those along with a poem or two uttered by the characters in the book. I memorized one of those poems and still can recite it today.

Another book that sits on the same bookcase is Riley Love-Lyrics. Published in 1905, my great-grandfather gave it as a wedding gift to my great-grandmother. He’d rewritten one of the poems on the front inside cover. The ink has faded, of course, but I still can read the love in what he wrote. I have no idea if the poems are any good and frankly, they probably aren’t classics, but the book means a lot to me.

And of course, I have my collection of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illustrated by Garth Williams, in hardcover. They’re only available in paperback today, which you’d think might make what I have worth something, but I doubt that it is. But again, they mean a lot to me. I read and re-read each of these books time and again. What do I think of the TV show? Never saw the original, and haven’t watched anything of the new episodes (assuming they’re still available). Some things, in my mind, are best left to the imagination.

Image Credits: Header © Wit_Photo–stock.adobe.com; all pictures of the books and illustrations are from my own collection.

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How Indeed?

Daily writing prompt
How do you write what people actually want to read?
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I find this prompt interesting. How, indeed, do we know what people want to read? I’ve started several posts lately that I’ve ended up deleting because I’ve found that what I’ve written doesn’t even really interest me. Generally speaking, that’s my guide–if it interests me, I trust it will interest other people.

Okay, not everything I’ve written will generate an enthusiastic response from all my followers. I know that. Not long ago Word Press started a feature where they show what you published on this date in years past. I have to laugh at some of those. For example, nine years ago today I wrote about the shocking cost of some toothbrush holders. Turns out you can spend hundreds of dollars on these things, and seriously, that’s ridiculous to me. You wouldn’t think there’s enough to that topic to generate a whole blog post, but I did, and based on the number of comments, it hit a nerve. But some of my past posts have gotten fewer comments, and I can only assume they didn’t interest people as much.

Beware when they say “standard size” bed pillow. The length and width may be standard, but not the depth.

I recently tried writing a blog post on how frustrating it is to buy something that says “standard size” only to discover, once I got home, that there’s nothing standard about it. But honest to God, every time I approached the topic, I struggled with the post and found it bored even me. So I trashed it.

Most of my past blog posts have been about something a little–or a lot–deeper than the price of a toothbrush holder or the size of a pillow. When I started this blog, I was going through a difficult time in my life, and I found that writing helped. Not just writing about what I was going through, but about lessons I’d learned in my life. I published two to three posts a week, and most of them seemed to be well received.

I’ve been working on a novel, and nearly all of the people in my writing group seem to like it. There’s one woman, however, who clearly doesn’t see its value. While most of us in the group hide our distaste for various genres, she seems to find it difficult to do so with my novel. So I take her comments with a grain of salt. I don’t really care for her novel, either, but I do see its value and I express that in my critiques.

Sometimes, you just gotta trash it.

I sometimes wonder how my favorite authors discovered how audiences will respond to what they write. How did they know this story or that would strike a chord? Is it the same as a blog post–if it interests me, it will interest others?

It’s both an easy and a complex question to answer.

Image Credits: Header © Bulgakova Kristina; Pillow © adobe king; Typewriter © Maryna; all–stock.adobe.com

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Fine Dining

Daily writing prompt
What’s the best local dish you’ve ever eaten while traveling?
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Okay, this being America it may be hard to find a local dish that isn’t available somewhere in the states, and this one is no exception. The exception is how good it is. I’m talking about tiramisu, and I’ve never tasted any better than what was served to me in the south of France.

Okay, I know that it’s an Italian dessert, but I didn’t make it to Italy. And the south of France serves some amazing Italian food.

It was delectable. Light and rich and I’m guessing there may have been magic ingredient not commonly found in the U.S., because I’ve never tasted anything like it here. I have a friend who claimed her mom made the best tiramisu ever, and it was good, but not as good.

For that matter, the south of France had a number of dishes I could probably find here that would no doubt be so much better in their native land (or neighboring country). The food there was delicious, and even though I don’t typically drink much, the wine was incredible.

Ah, to travel again.

Image Credit: © exclusive-design–stock.adobe.com

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Reality vs Romance

Daily writing prompt
Do you believe in soulmates? Why or why not?
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I’ve found that most people who call someone they’re in love with their soulmate are actually still in the infatuation stage of a relationship. It’s easy to see the connection then–everything seems perfect. You both like the same food, same entertainment, same kinds of pets. You were meant to be.

And that may be true. I do believe, to a certain extent, that there is a power that draws us into relationships. I have friends who’ve been happily married for forty years or more. I was there when they first met each other and lived through the ups and downs of courtship and the forces that brought them to the ultimate decision: we’ll get married.

Those friends can tell me they’re with their soulmates and I’ll believe them. You go through that many years of marriage and you’ve seen the ups and downs of life together–sometimes, perhaps, less together than you’d want to be, but in the end, you’re still with that same person.

Interestingly, though, I’ve never had a friend or relative who’s been in a long-term relationship call their significant other “my soulmate.” Perhaps, like me, they see that as a naive belief. When you’re together for a long time, you discover there are a lot of differences between the two of you, and you’re not the perfect match you initially thought you were.

That’s not to say that your relationship is bad. People are flawed, and it’s sometimes difficult to discover those flaws in someone we love. But that’s also the beauty of settling in to being together. You learn to work it out. You learn to love.

I had a boyfriend who ended up breaking up with me because he didn’t think we were soulmates. I asked him what he thought a soulmate was, and he said it was someone you were completely in sync with. You never disagreed with each other because you were destined to live happily ever after.

Yeah, he’s still single.

Image Credits: Couple Holding Hands (header) © Pete–stock.adobe.com; Birds in Love © Celestynka–stock.adobe.com

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Been There?

Daily writing prompt
What’s something most people don’t understand?
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Another broad question that I find difficult to answer. Is it something about me they don’t understand, something about politics, something about religion, or something about, say, cats? And most people? I hate to judge what others do or do not understand.

But I’m experiencing something first-hand now that I only knew about second-hand from other people, and that is, when an aging parent gets ill. My dad has pancreatic cancer. For those who don’t know, that’s not good. The five-year survival rate is about nil and generally it’s not caught until it’s too late.

Until very recently I could brag about how healthy my dad was. He took no medications (he called his vitamins his “medication”), he had no illnesses, he was very active. At the age of 89, he golfed three times a week, bowled twice a week, played bridge one or two times a week, and played bocce ball once a week. He chose to stay active. That doesn’t count all the sudoku and math games he played.

Then, in January, he began experiencing some pain in his side. It took a month, but they finally diagnosed the cancer. I was in shock. My exceptionally healthy dad has pancreatic cancer? It is stage three and as far as we know, it hasn’t spread to his lungs or lymph nodes. He’s started chemo, but there have been setbacks and they’ve had to cancel his chemo treatments a couple of times.

I’ll say it again, I’ve been in shock. They say the first stage of grief is denial, but I don’t think I’m in denial. I’ve talked to my friends about it and they sympathize. Coming to grips with an aging parent’s mortality is tough. My dad’s attitude is great, and if that has anything to do with it, he’ll live quite awhile longer.

I’m going out to see him soon and I’ll see for myself what’s going on. In the meantime, I’m learning I don’t understand what’s happening. I guess most of us don’t until we go through it ourselves. I’ve always tried to understand, but I realize now my understanding was superficial.

Maybe that’s what most people don’t understand: you can’t truly know until you’ve been there yourself.

Image Credit: Header: © Lila Patel–stock.adobe.com