Lifetime Commitment

Yep, big things are happening here. Big. Things.

Husband and I finally bought deck chairs.

WHAT!? I know, you probably never thought we were going to commit. Next thing you know, we'll be buying a grill--watch out! We could be sitting outside, cooking over an open fire with abandon, depending on the weather of course.

We've been in Vermont for over a year so you might be wondering why it's taken us this long to buy a couple red (plastic) Adirondack chairs, which will surely earn a scoff from my stylish twin sister whenever it is she plans to come visit (I'M TALKING TO YOU, LISSA).

And the reason is that furniture feels very permanent to me. And anything I perceive as being permanent I want to ensure that I will be happy with for a long long long time. Case in point: I didn't want to date anyone with whom I wasn't going to be in a long term relationship (I know, I totally missed out--it's just how I am), I can't get a tattoo even though my sister loves them and twin tats would be soooo fun, I can't really call someone my friend unless I'm certain that I will care about that person for the rest of my life.

And I don't consider a story idea to have any merit whatsoever unless it's a story I would be proud to claim as my own for the rest of my life.

I'm forever telling Husband that I don't have any good story ideas...and then bemoaning the irrefutable fact that this must mean I'm not really meant to be a writer. Then he points out that I have lots of ideas all the time, particularly in dreams which I then share with him in the middle of the night. "Yes," I admit, "but those aren't good ideas." And by that I mean, ideas I will love forever and ever and ever.

I'd like to wrap up this post with some sort of epic "and this is what I learned and how you can apply that lesson to your own creative life." But...well, I don't have any GOOD ideas (see what I did right there?) And really this post is just about deck chairs, so let's leave it at that.
Here are just some of the books I've been reading lately. Top to bottom: A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, White as Snow by Tanith Lee, Rock Paper Tiger by Lisa Brackmann, Jonathan Strange & Dr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, the comic book series Preacher by Garth Ennis (art by Steve Dillon), and Legendary Connecticut by David E. Philips (that's for research!).