By ROSEMARY LORD
“Lavender and burnt toast.” A book title? A recipe? Sounds intriguing.
I have racked my brain to figure what this was about. I had written this in a notebook of story ideas. But then I have a plethora of such notes, squiggles, post-its, unfinished paragraphs in multiple notebooks and single pages – of ideas that swirl around my head – spilling as hurried notes in these many notebooks. But, over the years, I have become a lot more organized. I have actual files – with labels!
It took me back to Professor Randy Pausch’s gem of a book, The Last Lecture, which he undertook during the last months of his life after a terminal cancer diagnosis. It was about overcoming obstacles and seizing every moment. “Because,” he said, “time is all you have – and you may find one day that you have less than you think.”
“Time must be explicitly managed, like money,” he observed. And “Ask yourself, are you spending your time on the right things?” Most useful was, “You can always change your plan, but only if you have one.”
But the thing I remember most was his thoughts on being really, super organized. Randy’s wife was against having everything filed and alphabetized. She said it sounded way too compulsive. Randy responded, “Filing in alphabetical order is better than running around saying, “I know it was blue and I was eating something when I had it.” Sounds familiar. How often have I been heard to mutter, “…It was blue and I was eating something……” as I rummage through my boxes of writing files for some specific pages of an unfinished manuscript.
“It’s not where you start – it’s where you finish…” wrote Dorothy Fields, lyricist for the 1973 Tony Award winning Broadway musical Seesaw, which was based on the William Gibson play, Two for the Seesaw. “…It’s not how you go, it’s how you land.”
I’m not so sure about that…I’ve always favored the maxim that it’s the journey that counts. It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, “Life is a journey, not a destination.”
Do you ever look back at the journeys you have been on – or had thrust upon you? Journeys are adventures. Because it’s on those journeys that we discover exciting detours and encounter fascinating people.
Even if it’s literally a train, plane, bus or car journey we’re taking. Just think of people you met along the way, places you saw. This is, after all, where many of us writers find our inspiration. From the people and happenstances along the way.
We can see how things have never got back to the way they were, since the Covid lockdowns. So much changed. We’re in a different reality now. We were shut-ins. As writers, we had more time to ourselves to write during the shutdowns. But the regular writer gatherings and frequent workshops and writers’ conferences have been very slow to return. And they were such fun, where we caught up with fellow writers from across the world, met new writers, editors, experts and publishers, heard new ideas, discovered new talent. I’ve missed them. Zoom meetings are not the same.
Sometimes one feels like Sisyphus, earnestly toiling away to survive and thrive in this new world, dealing with the puddles that life frequently presents for us to jump over.
In Greek Mythology, Sisyphus was condemned to an eternity of pushing a boulder up a mountain. Once he got to the top, the weight of the boulder forced it to start rolling down to the bottom, wherein he had to start again. According to Albert Camus, the Greek gods felt that there is no more dreadful punishment than this futile and hopeless labor for Sisyphus. Hmmm. Sometimes life feels like that. Oh well. We soldier on, dealing with the adventures and challenges of our regular lives and balancing our writer’s goals and dreams.
Then, just when we least expect it, something magical happens. We discover a new author whose words inspire us to try something new, encourage us to take a leap of faith into the unknown. We hear a new piece of music or see a new painting that re-awakens that creative spark. We make a new friend or meet someone who has that missing piece of life’s jigsaw we have been trying to complete. We never know where or when that serendipity appears.
And with the freezing winter and endless rain we have all been living through, hopefully now in the rear-view mirror, Spring is just around the corner. So it really is the time to start thinking of planting new seeds. New plants. New crops. In our gardens, window-boxes and in our lives. Maybe something different this year. Read something different. Write something different. But most of all – time to make fresh plans for the year ahead, seek new ventures, add new goals to our To Do lists.
Whilst I try to remember what Lavender and burnt toast was all about….
The Writers in Residence 
You always have give writers inspiration to carry on with our work since sometimes it’s difficult to cut through the noise and do what we want to do.
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And it’s sometimes tough to find a quiet time, amidst today’s noise, to remember what we really want to be doing with our lives! Thanks Gayle….
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Rosemary, one of the very, very best columns on writing I have read in ages. Chock full of positive ideas, I love the way you keep going with suggestions to improve, to get moving, even to idle. I especially appreciate your quotes from the masters. You sound tremendously upbeat which I am sure will lead to great success this year for you. I can almost see you bubbling over with enthusiasm and it is infectious. Very cool.
jill
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Thanks, Jill. I have always been a ‘Pollyanna’ in my approach to life. I think we’ve seen enough gray and dismal things in life to prefer the sunny moments and happy times to remember. Life’s too short to not to pick ‘the sunny side of the street.’ And we need to encourage those around us to do the same!
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Enjoyable post, Rosemary. I sometimes have to think hard about what I meant in some notes I’ve jotted down. Lavender and burnt toast sound like references to colors to use in your writing. Thanks for getting my mind moving toward checking out some of my past notes again now, and perhaps getting even more organized with them!
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But Linda – you always seem so organized to me – because you are so prolific and successful! You must have a plethora of fascinating notes squirreled away! And thanks for the hint about color…
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Oh, Rosemary, you are such an optimist and, as you say, Pollyanna. You lighten our hearts. I always try to look for new adventures, but I’m usually dour at first. (Like Eeyore in Winnie-the-Pooh)
I’ve recently had a “Head’s-up” awakening. I never thought I was dying, but breast cancer certainly gets your attention. I thought about all those files – though alphabetical – that needed to be sorted and explained in case my dear Hubby was left alone. And all the closets that should be cleaned out, given away, sold, destroyed. YES, I did go through a bunch of stuff and threw out things. But that’s about how far I got. The bookkeeping files are still left unexplained. EEK!
Anyway, after I wrote a bit about first discovering I had cancer, I found it was developing into a series on my cancer journey. Each week, I surprise myself with another post in the series (5 now). And new people have responded and made connections about their problems to pray for and commiserate about. Amazing. A roadblock turned into a writing opportunity, a journey in which I can perhaps spearhead the way for others.
So, that said, don’t let any roadblocks keep you from writing your desired stories. Indeed “time waits for no man/woman.” It’s done before you know it. Write right now.
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Oh Jackie – I am so glad you are creating a positive journey out of your recovery. I know your initial diagnosis must have been earth-shattering. I recall when my cousin was in a serious car crash, her first thought, as they loaded her into the ambulance, was “I should have tidied my knicker (underwear) drawer!!” These wake-up calls put things into perspective. As did professor Randy Pausch.
And you are wonderful at reminding me about making time for my writing. Thank you. I am getting better and writing in bits – just need to do more. And I will. Promise.
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Rosemary, lavender and burnt toast is definitely intriguing! Let us know when you remember what prompted you to make a note of it. Like Linda suggested, they could refer to colors.
The in-person conferences seem to be back, at least the big ones. I must admit that I like the convenience, and lower cost, of the online ones. But there’s nothing like the joy and excitement of “being there.” I hope we can meet up at one in the future.
Ah, organization—just last night I thought about all those old photos that I could digitize. Sigh.
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Maggie – I even bought one of those digitizing machines – it’s still in the box! We’ve found a lot more convenient on-line writing sources, but – as we know – we miss the personal interaction and fun! And sharing coffee and donuts!
Still no light on the Lavender and burnt toast……
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What a wonderful upbeat and inspirational post. It has given me so much to think about — and instead of lying awake at 2 in the morning going through all the awful things I have done in my life, I am now putting a different spin on things. Adventures … I have had MANY adventures – but I’ve stumbled into each one rather than planned it. But perhaps the universe had the plan all along because if I had thought and carefully, perhaps there are many journeys I would never have taken. Now I am older, those not-so-clever adventures have shaped my writing; they have given me a perspective on life and people that I wouldn’t have had if I had just ‘played safe.’ Now – I am open to everything because I know that whatever comes, will add a bit of color (good or bad) to my my life experience and most definitely to my writing. As an aside – I must say that I am hopelessly disorganized – more so now in the digital age than before. I miss my colour-coded hanging files in my filing cabinet when I knew where everything was visually. Not so, the laptop. If anyone has some tips on that – let me know. Thanks again for this amazing post … oh and … please let us know when you remember the Lavender and Burnt Toast!
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I loved your post, Rosemary. Having just returned from an overseas trip, I was reminded that although we always remember the good and the bad while traveling, it’s the unexpected, the oddities, that stand out in our memory.
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