Saturday, September 5, 2015

Serial Killers and Box Lacrosse



Henry had his first box lacrosse game of the season this afternoon. That's him right there in the middle. Whew. Box lacrosse is scary to watch. I wasn't made for watching rough sports and wonder what sort of karma I'm enacting (is that what you say?) as not a single one of my children really likes to read. Honestly, I dreamed of one day being a sort of Marmie, sharing my favorite books with my brood. Instead, I find myself standing on the highest bleacher in a hockey rink, watching my boy slam himself into walls and others into the ground, all while running and waving a stick with a really hard, small ball. While the other parents yell and cheer and catcall the ref, I wince at every thud. My favorite part of the game is when it's over, and my beautiful boy lopes toward me in his nonchalant way, and I wonder whether everyone, just everyone, wonders who that boy is -- my boy.

Otherwise, I'm in a bit of a funk. I did go back to kundalini yoga this week and am determined to get back into it, get in some kind of physical shape and lose some weight. Enough is enough, right? I have an amazing new ghostwriting job that will keep me busy over the next three months, I'm on a mission to find an agent for my manuscript that I finished at Hedgebrook, and all three children will be at school next week for the first time in nearly two years! Oliver is going to high school, so we're taking a break from homeschooling. We're going to see how it goes as we've found a school that we believe fits him very well. I need to work and will be able to do so, now, every school day. I am continuing my Books & Bakes salon Fridays each month, so if you're in Los Angeles and want to come, please let me know. This month we read J. Ryan Stradal's Kitchens of the Great Midwest. It's an entertaining novel by a local writer that got some nice reviews, and it has a lot of inspiring food so I'm looking forward to preparing a great meal and facilitating excellent conversation.

Despite my aversion to violent sport, I'm actually on a serial killer bent. This is unusual for me (I did not like any of those Swedish books or the HBO series), so heads up. I just finished binge-watching an English miniseries with Gillian Anderson called The Fall. Despite it being about a serial killer with the usual gruesome attacks against females, the show has some incredible acting in it, great writing and complex characters. I also just started reading Jennifer Pashley's novel The Scamp, which is described as "an intense, riveting sage of .... a girl's determination to take control." I think there's a serial killer in it as well, and while I wouldn't ordinarily read this genre, I had the great good fortune to spend some time with Jennifer last night after she read from her book at a local independent bookstore last night. She's a good friend of a very good friend of mine, the writer Shanna Mahin (who wrote the hilarious romp of a novel  Oh! You Pretty Things earlier this year), so I took the recommendation seriously, the writing is terrific, and I literally can't put the book down.

Well, that was a rambler of a Saturday post. I hope you have a lovely long weekend. Tell me all about it.

13 comments:

  1. I am hoping that Oliver's year of home schooling was just what he needed and that this year in a school will now be just what he needs.
    I remember feeling that way about watching Jessie skate when she was little- who WAS that child? I held my breath.
    May your creative endeavors find great success, Elizabeth! Your talent, your skill- they deserve to be recognized and rewarded.

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  2. So much fabulousness in this post. Yeah. Wonderful news despite the sticks and balls.

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  3. Doesn't sound like a funk. Ghost writing sounds interesting and I'm glad Oliver found a school that will work for him.

    You're a good mom Elizabeth and it's not easy. I need to get back in shape as well but feel like I never have time. Too much fucking work.

    We're still working on the house this weekend. I don't like renovations. The only saving grace is that the house is empty for three more weeks. Today the big guy and I are taking Katie out for lunch, buying shoes for our granddaughter and picking up flooring. Hopefully Katie is ok. She has sties in both eyes. I thought we were done with staph infections. And it's raining here so at least I'm not missing anything outside.

    Have a lovely weekend.

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    1. Thanks, lily cedar! Your day sounds lovely, and I hope Katie's sties heal quickly. I need to refloor my kitchen --

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  4. I love your rambler post. New things whether books or exercise are good. I wish you lived closer. I'd convince you to take one FitTAP class with me and get you hooked.

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    1. What is FitTap? I would love to live closer to you, too -- we'd have such a good time!

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    2. FitTAP is my exercise program. One hour classes of Tap to Broadway, rock, jazz! When it's over I look like I've been in a sauna. Inspirational teacher. It's the best thing I've done for myself ever! Now I LOVE to exercise versus loathe it! And yes, I wish there weren't so many freeway miles between us!

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  5. I worry that I may have been a little too forceful in the reading department with my kids. My son was reading at university level in grade 4 and my daughter is in honours English and writing this year. It was law in my home to read before bed. At one point I counted my kids books and it was close to 600. The titles were pretty much anything they asked for. (We have a literacy bookstore in my city that sells children's books for next to nothing.) Now, neither of them seems to be interested in reading but every once in a while I get fired up and make my daughter read something. This week I am *forcing* her to read Animal Farm because we have a federal election coming up. Other than that she reads her iPod. All damn day.
    I do believe they will come back to what they know. All teenagers go through a time of trying to figure out who they are.

    As for weight loss, I had lost over 20 pounds and then put it all back on again. Fuckity!

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  6. I can't imagine how terrifying it would be to watch your own child play a violent sport!

    We find at the school library that although many kids read books for pleasure pretty consistently through early middle school, when they hit the 8th grade they pretty much stop. Their schoolwork and social life ramp up, and just about the only books they check out are for classes.

    I hope Oliver likes his new school! That will be a HUGE change for you, not having to homeschool. Whew!

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  7. I am happy to hear you found a school that Oliver is interested in. You have done a wonderful job of doing what is best for him so I am sure it will be a good fit. And if it isn't I know you will listen to him as you did before. What a precious gift you gave him these past two years - listening to him and spending that time with him will stay with him for life. I look forward to hearing how things go for him.

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  8. I love it, all of it. That your kids are who they are and you just let them be that way. That you have found the ghostwriting job and have time to work. That you are part of an ever-growing community of writers and readers. All of it. Fingers crossed for Henry that he won't get hurt playing lacrosse, for Oliver that school is a place of wonder and contentment, for Sophie that she continues to get closer and closer to being off the benzos, and for you to find the perfect agent. Much love.

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  9. Loved The Fall. Loved Gillian. Who needs Mulder anyway.

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