On the playground of Rheems Elementary School, Red Rover, Hide and Seek and Tag were standard fare. I wrote about fun at recess in a blog post last September entitled Games We Played.
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In the blog world, I have been tagged in the 2014 Work in Progress (WIP) Blog Tour, offering authors the chance to share snippets of their Works in Progress. When Janet Givens tagged me, my first reaction was this: “I’m so busy in my personal life and my writing life, I don’t know how I could possibly squeeze in another thing!” At the time, she did not remind me that she herself was busy promoting her just-published memoir of her years in the Peace Corps At Home on the Kazakh Steppe while keeping current on her blog.
Before I said, “Okay, I’ll do it!” she explained, “It’s really simple. There are just three rules.”
1. Link back to the post of the person who nominated you. (See above.)
2. Write a blurb about and give the first sentences of your next three blog posts (or book chapters)
3. Nominate four other writers to do the same.
While thoughts of my memoir are incubating, I have spent time here on my blog mining material that may be woven into my book some day. Here, in chronological order, are the opening lines of my next two blog posts and a blurb from the preface to my work-in-progress memoir. That makes three!
November 8: “How to Tell Your Children What’s What”
Unlike Hansel and Gretel whose mother tried to starve them and then lock them out of the house, Mother Longenecker provided well for her children and left behind, not white pebbles or bread crumbs, but hand-written notes tucked away to tag her heirlooms.
November 12: “Purple Passages and Fine China”
La Lectura es el viaje de los que no pueden tomar el tren. – F. Croisset
(Reading is the journey of those who cannot take the train.)
Excerpt from preface of my untitled memoir, WIP:
There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.
The Longenecker family doesn’t have a cat in residence but we all live together in a little crooked house. Crooked as in lintels above the bedroom doors that slope crazily so much so that they can never be closed tight. Crooked as in floors that sag slightly so that water flows oddly when I’m on my hands and knees washing up the kitchen linoleum. Sagging steps from the 1903 part of the house leading down to the cellar. Every night I sleep downhill on my hard feather pillow.
But there is nothing crooked or saggy about my upbringing . . . .
Now it’s my turn to tag 4 writers for the 2014 WIP Tour:
1. Laurie Buchanan, holistic health practitioner and life coach with inspirational posts weekly on Tuesdays with Laurie. They are short, sweet, and wise.
2. Marie Keates, blogger tells true stories with a British accent. When her fat-girl-slim-blog was hacked (decimated) recently, like a Phoenix she rose from the ashes and now posts at I Walk Alone.
3. Melodie Miller-Davis, author with over a dozen books/cookbooks to her credit, most from Herald Press, she writes weekly on her blog, Finding Harmony.
4. Marylin Warner, writing coach, short story and memoir author, writes of the remarkable connection to her literary mother suffering from Alzheimer’s in her blog Things I Want to Tell My Mother.
I hope you’ll click on the links and visit their sites often.
None of the four are under any obligation to play tag. But I hope they do. I’m looking forward to reading bits about their Works in Progress. So, Laurie, Marie, Melodie, and Marylin. You’re it!
* * *
Coming next: How to Tell Your Children What’s What
Looking forward to your future posts and memoir, Marian! I will check out the other blogs when I have a chance. I know Laurie\’s, and I\’m sure the rest are wonderful, as well.
You\’re \”It\” – playing tag and in your writing as well. Once again, you are taking the lead as First Poster! Thanks, Merril.
Ok, Marian, you\’ve got me. Will work on this soon!
Swell, Melodie. Others need to see your blog, and this is a good chance to give you honorable mention. Tally-ho!
Good morning. You did it again bringing back fun games that we played as children Others that we played were red-ligh-green light and Simon Says. It\’s sad that many of our youth today don\’t know these fun games we played as children and spent hours outside playing.
I can\’t imagine ever staying inside watching TV and playing on electronics. I try to make my grand children play outside a couple of hours a day. I praise God we have a lot of grounds and the city park and pool in my back yard. And there\’s a church parking lot where they can ride bikes, skate, sled, and practice driving. Imani is so good at driving that next year she gets her permit and drivers ed. So I look forward to her driving me around. How Time flies.
Gloria.
I don\’t know how those numbers and letters got on my post. They mean nothing and shouldn\’t be there. Helps to edit before I post. Too early in the morning. Lol
The numbers were deleted, of course. Thanks for all the details about game-playing in your neighborhood and with your children and grand-children. I\’m happy also to hear how Imani is progressing. She\’s a lovely young woman.
I read two of the blogs listed. Good choices. They are inspiring women with clear perspective.
As always, you are on the ball — and early too. Just like you, I am more likely to check out blogs of writers recommended by those I follow, just like a good doctor or hair stylist recommendation. Thank you for the nod, Georgette.
Marion, I loved reading the snippets from your blog and the preface to your memoir. Can\’t wait to see the finished book!
Joan, I have a hunch that even the preface will change, but at least it\’s a start. Thank you for cheering me on!
Marian — Currently I\’m living an interesting version of \”Planes, Trains, and Automobiles,\” but I\’m so glad I made the opportunity to visit the websites of Marie, Melodie, and Marylin. I let them each know I came by way of YOU, and I plan to visit them again.
THANK YOU for tagging me in the 2014 WIP Tour. Game on!
You are living proof that positive action leads to renewed/renewable energy. I don\’t know how you keep all those balls in the air, but I appreciate your many nods in my direction. Thank you, sister Laurie!
I loved catching a glance at your WIP and will be first in line to buy your book when it is finished! I also admire your diligence in writing your blog posts in advance. Like Laurie, I\’ve been traveling so much that it has challenged me just to keep my Magical Memoir Moments and weekly blog posts going. So I\’m jealous of your three posts already begun. You have picked some of my favorite bloggers, so I look forward to their responses. I also hope to go visit the ones I don\’t know yet.
I look forward to reading about how your mother told her children \”what\’s what.\” Your ear for language and your memory complement each other well.
I have resubscribed to your blog. Don\’t know how I stopped getting notifications, but I\’m glad I found you regularly anyway. It\’s always worthwhile to pay you a visit!
Thank you for cheering me on with your wise encouragement. I tag you IT as an ever-faithful mentor. As you know, I have made two arduous trips to PA with another coming up next week. Because of the nature of our task, there is no time whatsoever to write new blog posts much less keep up with other bloggers. RIght now I am working ahead for that very reason.
About problems with notifications, I have been down that road too. After chats with 3 WordPress \”Happiness Engineers\” I have discovered that sometimes the box to block \”Blogs I Follow\” gets ticked unintentionally, so I un-tick it here: https://wordpress.com/settings/notifications (\’Tis a mystery!)
I see you have a new post about breakfast, one of my favorite meals too. I\’m clicking over to check that one out now.
Thank you for the trip down the memory lane of childhood games and for the mention. I will do my best to rise to the challenge and play tag this weekend. I\’m behind with my reading right now but I\’ll make a point of visiting my fellow tagees too 🙂
Do what you can Marie. We can spread the word about your unique work \”across the pond\” (!) in the process.
Thank you 🙂
Your memoir sounds fascinating! Loved your writing.
Thank you for the endorsement, Fiona. Coming from you, it means a lot.