Janet Finch as inspiration

Along with all the changes, plans and resolutions that have come in with 2008, I have been pleasantly encouraged to set a weekly deadline for my blog. Accepting this challenge I will treat it as an assignment with punctual entries. Along with a page a day, regular swim aerobics or other adequate exercise, and renewed vigor for community service (not the judicially imposed kind, thank you very much).

Inspired by Janet Finch’s “White Oleander” I am seeking prosaic ways to describe things without standard clichés (so very handy and time saving in contemporary writing).

With the wisdom of half a century, I am guiding myself through yet another of life’s hormonal shifts; tectonic plates pulling away from each other, ripping deep, jagged chasms only to clash with equal pressure, colliding and forcing one plate to explode up while the other is ground down, buried, lost. Our cycles crest and fall, perhaps lap gently, eventually dwindling down to a trickle before vanishing in the arroyo of great maturity.

Trusting myself, I squint into the dark corners, either to embrace the natural beauty of the cobwebs, or dust away the old and neglected to feel the lightness that liberation brings. There was healing, comfort and rejuvenation in the sheltered recesses, the thick, warm blanket, familiar and worn, like seeds or bulbs waiting below the surface, storing their life force. The time is right because I say it is. I believe in myself.

Back to the real world, I’m sweating bricks. That was hard work, and Janet Finch has nothing to fear from me. More importantly, did anyone get it? What was I saying—in the proverbial nutshell? (answers provided below) I will continue to be inspired, and to exercise the muse. In my historical fiction books, I try to avoid clichés because of the contemporary imagery and slang implications. It will be an interesting challenge writing my legal drama, of light literary caliber, as I enjoy the feel and authenticity in my protagonist’s voice. Somewhere in the middle, perhaps, I will discover my true voice.

Answers:

First paragraph: teen angst to PMS to menopause…

Second paragraph: I needed a kick in the *** to get off my sorry ***

Class dismissed.