Yesterday was one of those days when you don't want to remember the date. It was an anniversary of something that should have been, but wasn't. I decided I was not going to let it get me down. That I was going to be happy. If I couldn't force happiness (because, really, you can't force yourself to be happy), I was going to keep myself busy. Yard work was my answer. So, I mowed. And mowed. Then mowed some more. My yard is pretty big, sitting on 1/4th an acre. My mom, who lives next door to me, has about the same amount of acreage. It took me a good 4 hours, with a few breaks in between sections, to get the whole area mowed. The great thing is, though, I use much of my mowing time to think, and boy did I do some thinking!
I've had this story idea germinating in my brain for a few years now. It was originally going to be a short film script for the Louisiana Film Prize, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to work for a novel. I had made note of that in the file, then sort of forgot about it. While mowing, this story popped up and I didn't want to shake it. Scenes and scenarios ran through my thoughts, and before I knew it, I was writing out dialogue in my head. I may have the first chapter written this week! It's been a while since I was this excited about a writing project. I can't wait to get to it.
So, what does the photo have to do with mowing? Nothing, but I love purslane, and I took this picture yesterday on one of my breaks. My grass is not nice enough to take a photo!