The Christmas gifts
My "sense of time and place" (see previous post) is all confused. Our oldest son went back to Texas this morning--another early alarm to get to the airport. But it's Boxing Day, still part of Christmas; it feels all wrong to think he's gone away. Meanwhile youngest and middle sons play computer games, which reminds me of bygone times when they all lived with us.
Then there's the board games--an essential ingredient of Christmas since the offspring learned to spring. Once upon a time I would play with them and say, "No, don't do that." Then I'd show how the move they'd planned was missing some vital point, and I didn't want them to lose just because of a mistake. So this afternoon we played and they said, "Mum, don't do that." Then they showed how the move I'd planned was missing some vital point, and they didn't want me to lose just because of a mistake... I lost anyway.
Meanwhile there's all those books I got for Christmas, plus the ones I received before that I promised to review for the New Year. And there's cooking and cleaning (and board games and watching sons play their computer games) and watching DVDs (a family affair). Will I read the 70 volumes on my nice new Kindle before or after the 20 on paper? And will reading on a machine render me more with-it and modern--maybe even reduce my failures to perceive the errors in board game moves? Nah! Probably not.
Still, the Kindle is a most excellent Christmas gift! And if I want my writing as well as my reading to be more productive in 2011, there's always that excellent book, The Productive Writer, by Sage Cohen, to encourage me. Sage will be visiting my blog on Jan 3rd with her answer to my perennial question--How did you get there from here (in her case, get to be a productive writer)?--so I'll learn even more then.
The Productive Writer is now available from Writer’s Digest.
Then there's the board games--an essential ingredient of Christmas since the offspring learned to spring. Once upon a time I would play with them and say, "No, don't do that." Then I'd show how the move they'd planned was missing some vital point, and I didn't want them to lose just because of a mistake. So this afternoon we played and they said, "Mum, don't do that." Then they showed how the move I'd planned was missing some vital point, and they didn't want me to lose just because of a mistake... I lost anyway.
Meanwhile there's all those books I got for Christmas, plus the ones I received before that I promised to review for the New Year. And there's cooking and cleaning (and board games and watching sons play their computer games) and watching DVDs (a family affair). Will I read the 70 volumes on my nice new Kindle before or after the 20 on paper? And will reading on a machine render me more with-it and modern--maybe even reduce my failures to perceive the errors in board game moves? Nah! Probably not.
Still, the Kindle is a most excellent Christmas gift! And if I want my writing as well as my reading to be more productive in 2011, there's always that excellent book, The Productive Writer, by Sage Cohen, to encourage me. Sage will be visiting my blog on Jan 3rd with her answer to my perennial question--How did you get there from here (in her case, get to be a productive writer)?--so I'll learn even more then.
The Productive Writer is now available from Writer’s Digest.
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