Mother Writes: June 2013

Tuesday, 25 June 2013

Wise words from The Little Prince

'Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.'

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I love these words from the second page of 'The Little Prince.' This has to be one of my favourite books of all time, a book ostensibly for children but so rich and multi-layered that it's really an adult's book. I love it so much that it's the only book I own in three languages: The Little Prince, Le Petit Prince & El Principito. For the first time last night, my children asked me to read it to them before they went to bed (obviously not the whole thing; it's too long) but I was so delighted that they loved the pictures and the responded to the poetry of its language, asking for more this evening. It just goes to show how many levels this book can be read on and can appeal as much to a five year old as an adult.

Monday, 10 June 2013

Summer on Kindle

Edith Wharton

I've just finished reading a wonderful book called 'Summer' by Edith Wharton. The prose and characters were beautifully drawn and the tragedy of the love story, moving. Here's a little phrase I liked:

'Now and then a lurch of the train flung her against Harney,

and through her thin muslin she felt the touch of his sleeve.

She steadied herself, their eyes met,

and the flaming breath of the day seemed to enclose them.'

But the big thing for me is that this is the first ever book I read on ...a kindle! I found myself out here in Nairobi without books as my container's not yet arrived. This being a slightly disastrous state of affairs for me, as I always need to be reading, I finally downloaded this free e-book on to my mac. Ok, I couldn't take my mac to bed with me and if I was out and about, I couldn't just pop it into my bag as I would have been able to with a book. But still, it's good to know that next time I find myself book-less (I have since discovered a source of second hand books at one of Nairobi's many matumba's / second hand markets), I can browse through the kindle selection.

Also, it's good for me to start looking at e-books in general, how they are formatted & presented / front covers etc if I'm going to be publishing an e-book. I must admit that I thought I would hate reading online and whilst it wasn't as enjoyable for me as physical book, it definitely didn't detract from the wonderful writing. On that note, I'd highly recommend Wharton's novel to anyone. Her books are always a bit tragic, but the prose is just stunning.

Mother Writes...What's it all about?

When I was little, I imagined with the supreme confidence of a child that when I was all grown up, I'd be a celebrated writer. And by grown-up, I probably meant about eighteen. The concept of even reaching the age of thirty, let alone beyond, was off my radar and my seven-year old self shuddered at the ominious thought of not having published at least several novels by that grand old age.

Fast forward to the present. Here I am, age thirty-five, wife to a lovely hubby and mother to three gorgeous children. Now, am I writer? My seven-year old self would hold a very strong opinion on this: No, because I don't have a single published novel to my name. But I'm pleased to say that now I'm all grown-up, I'm also a bit more measured and realistic in my expectations of myself. Don't get me wrong - I love my seven-year old self for believing I could achieve that much but I have, over the years, come to an important conclusion:

If you dance, you are a dancer. If you paint, you are a painter. And if you write, you are a writer.

But we have to actually do it, not just talk about doing it. It's all too easy to procrastinate about our creative endeavours and that's all I ask of myself now: to create; to write. And if I'm lucky enough to get something published (which I'm pleased to say that I have done, in the form of short stories, reviews and articles), well, that's a bonus. And that's what this blog offers: little slices of honesty on my plate of life as mother, wife and creator of words. It's often not easy to juggle all three, particularly dealing with bouts of chronic insomnia. But I have to trust this is all part of the journey, and challenges are what make life interesting.