carved

readers & writers ~ hello! thank you for visiting write away every day today and for not giving up on my blog while i was away on fall break. after three months of blogging almost every day i was ready for a break. i feel refreshed and ready to move forward into the blogospheric future with ya'll.

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one small change as we start a new chapter together. i'll post a new photo every weekday - monday thru friday, but because my schedule is much busier (now that i'm back to work part time), i may not always post an accompanying story with the photo. in that case, writers, please do feel free to write! and readers, be sure to tune in through the day to read what others post.  to keep myself focused on writing, i vow to write about the photos at least three days a week.  

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here's my non-fiction spin on today's photo. writers, share your spin by clicking on comments below!  readers, feel free to use the comments section to heap loads of praise and encouragement on writers who post their poems, stories or creative non-fiction responses to the photo.
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We gathered with our neighbors on the driveway Saturday night for a pumpkin carving party. The air was blessedly cool (rare this time of year in Texas), the cicadas and crickets were singing and the kids were in great spirits.  First pumpkin carving party for me -- and a winner!  Though I love the end results of pumpkin carving -- adorable (or scary) pumpkins glowing orange and yellow against the dark of Halloween night, and crispy, salted pumpkin seeds right out of the oven -- I don't so much love scooping endless amounts of pumpkin glop and the tedious task of picking seeds out of slime, and minutes upon minutes of jig-jagging tiny, blunt razor blades through inches thick pumpkin skin. Being together with friends made the hard work such fun.  And, posting a photo of my kids' pumpkins seemed like the perfect segue between my fall blogging break and today.  I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means to do what you love, to evolve into the person you were meant to be in this world.  It takes effort, discipline, a willingness to muck through the slime (picking out the good stuff, because it's there) and the mental muscle to design and carve, carve and reflect, re-direct and carve some more until the image of the life you've been hoping for takes shape. It's a true challenge, but the alternative is darkness, no?
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come write with me!
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