Odds-N-Ends on Leap Day

Joe finished at his job today. He is now officially retired, again. I am hoping it sticks for a while. At least until our home in Woodland, California sells, and we purchase a new home in Minnesota. Then he can stay busy setting up his home machine shop.

Today I attended (via Zoom) a Writing Institute Community Reading hosted by Sarah Lawrence College. I attended because a friend of mine was reading from one of her works. It was amazing. So much talent! Listening to their work it helped me to understand that while I love reading fiction, I may never write fiction. I can appreciate and love reading without authoring a novel.

Fiction will always be my favorite reading material. The only nonfiction I have truly ever enjoyed is reading Erma Bombeck (Google her if you have never read her work and love humor), Art Buchwald (my favorite political/satire writer), or short pieces by different columnists over the years. So, if I have a targeted genre for my own writing, I guess it would be as a columnist. It may be why I enjoy reading Joyce Vance and Heather Cox Richardson. I get small doses of reality. Sound bites of history and the news without the ponderous nature of so many nonfiction pieces. 

Chicken Soup for the Soul books are also on my list of favorite reads. Again, note that the works are short and easy to read. The reward is all the "good feelings" generated by the experiences of others.

In learning to trust my intuition, I believe that writing my daily blog is exactly what type of writing makes me happiest and feel fulfilled. Maybe there will be a nugget of wisdom that sneaks in occasionally. My goal is that family and friends find the blog a way to stay connected, a way to peer into what life looks like in retirement for us, to understand that we are like everyone else, and we can celebrate our everyday lives.

My joyful moment for today was listening to my friend read. As she read, I closed my eyes and felt like I was a character in her story watching and observing the characters about which she was reading. That is how good she is!!!