Process

My writing habit was disrupted first by a trip to Florida in February followed by a nasty cold in March but during that time I picked up a new habit - reading.  I mean the type of reading which is greedy.  Reading that you cannot get enough of.  Reading that teaches and informs your writing.  Intent on a DIY MFA, I have taken up the practice of annotating my reading.  This has slowed my progress through material, but it has enhanced the overall experience.  Annotating reveals the floss running through and uncovers the author's unique style, use of language, subtleties and undertones.  It has deepened my appreciation for those writers who wield the techniques of craft like magicians.  Their use of details is just enough to suck you into scene and to make you care.  Two stories may exist - the one written in words and one that is felt, and meaning, intuited like an undercurrent tugging at your feet.  What follows is my first attempt at...

This morning the cat dragged my black cashmere sweater out of my room and down the stairs by the sleeve.  It trailed between his legs like roadkill.  I let 'im do it, cuz it was cute.  Next, I considered how my lenience as a parent had affected my children.  I marched downstairs.  On the kitchen floor I found my sweater speckled with dog hair.  The cat, lying next to it, still clutched the sleeve in his mouth.  He was docile as I opened his mouth and removed what was not his, merely lifting his head to watch me as I stood up and walked away. 

“What is this rigmarole?” my mom said. I didn’t know what a rigmarole was, but I knew from the tone of her voice that it was not good.   Recently I found myself writing that word, pulled from somewhere in the depths of memory.  I was uncertain still, exactly what it meant but it felt like the right word for the sentence.  Just to be certain, I typed it into the Google search box.     rig·ma·role (rĭg′mə-rōl′) also rig·a·ma·role (-ə-mə-rōl′) n. 1. Confused, rambling, or incoherent discourse; nonsense. 2. A complicated, petty set of procedures. That was exactly what I was trying to say!  Much of my vocabulary was learned in this fashion, by word usage.  I couldn’t give you the dictionary definition, but I knew what it meant.  I knew how to use it and when, but words are more than that.  Words have a sensual quality and a connotation.  They paint pictures that a different word would not.  I cannot hear o...