Beginnings

Each morning I awake with the dawn (before the dawn actually), greeting the morning before the rooster crows (the only rooster I hear nowadays is on TV) and begin the day filled with hope in my heart,  with goals to reach and things to do! At night, I like to look back at what I’ve accomplished. It gives me a feeling of satisfaction. And I do accomplish a lot. So do you. So do we all. But, boy oh boy, sometimes I look back at things I’ve begun and didn’t finish! And the older I get, the more of them there seems to be. If I think about those things, I find my feeling is not satisfaction but frustration. I become frustrated with myself and my lack of will power to carry through.

A lot of this has to do with writing. Many years ago I began a book for my grandchildren, a book of children’s stories or rhymes that I wrote. I wrote  Canebreak ABC’s and actually, I did complete Why the Squirrel Has a Bushy Tail in another place on my computer but when it comes to re-copying it into the book I am making, I’m only partially finished.

You see,  new ideas  keep firing up like popcorn in my mind, an idea for this story or  that and I want to jot it down before I forget. So I’ve got a lot of jots. I read to the Cozy Critiquers the beginning of a new mystery series with a protagonist other than Darcy Campbell and they liked it so as soon as I finish the third Darcy and Flora, I’ll hop right onto the new book. And I am determined to bring this third mother/daughter sleuth  book to completion. It’s almost there and I’ve set August 31 as my own personal deadline. Maybe that’s what I need:  deadlines–working under pressure.

Anyway, here is a bit of Canebreak ABC’s. I actually did finish this one but it’s long; you can see why. So I’ll not overburden you with all of it:

“Red ants, black amts marching in a line Through a canebreak in the country in the summertime.

 Many-colored butterflies drift or dream or flit Among tall stalks for the fun of it.

A caterpillar wriggles and a cricket creaks a song Surrounded by the river cane,

Thick and green and long.”

And it goes on, all the way through to Z. This one I finished. It’s the next one that is still hanging there, a good beginning and middle but somehow missing and ending.

Why the Squirrel Has a Bushy Tail.

“Way back in the beginning when everything was bright and new, some of the animals and plants looked a bit different than they do now. O’ppossum, who is not known for her beauty, was once quite attractive. She had a long, furry tail which her babies clung to but she also had beady eyes and an insincere grin. This may have revealed something about her personality. Squirrel, too, looked different. Her tail was short and knobby, not at all pretty. However, Squirrel was vivacious and happy…”

I try not to dwell on those incompletions and instead, remember the beginnings that also have endings. Those are my encouragers. The Lord gave us each day with a morning noon, and night. I believe that is a pattern for whatever activity we have in mind. I am supposed to begin it, keep going and finish it.  And most times I do. Maybe those unfinished stories, poems, or books have a purpose too. I am never faced with the dilemma :  “I don’t have anything to do.” Sounds sort of whiny, doesn’t it? Well, I’ve always got plenty to do. So many things in fact, that sometimes I don’t know which to do first so I just jump right in, choose one and keep going. Then at the end of the day, I can look back and say, “Well, what do you know? I’ve accomplished quite a bit today.”