Personal blog of christian
writer & fallible mom
Katy McKenna Raymond
in Kansas City, Missouri
Katy is represented by
Greg Johnson at
WordServe Literary
Read more Katy at
LateBoomer.net
Recent Posts
- Try
- Becoming Brenda Starr
- Off Beat
- Scattered
- That’s It
- So I’ve Finally Signed With An Agent. Now What?
- The Spoon
- Sciatica
- Sweetheart
- A Woman’s Train of Thought Has No Caboose
- However much we own, we are all still living on borrowed time
- After all, when restaurants shrink portions, they don’t shrink prices.
- As with everything in life, balance is key.
- Slow down, you move too fast…
- Yeah, I know. I have issues.
Syndicate
E me at katy @ ngenius.com
Reader’s Choice
Lord knows I’m not a focused blogger.
Back in the day when I started fallible, nearly seven years ago, most of us were what I’ll call generalists. I had one goal, I guess: to make my writings not sound like I’d pulled them from one of those old-fashioned 5-year diaries in which every day is allotted a crummy three lines.
My grandfather kept a diary like that for most of his adult life. He’s been dead 30 years, but we still have those volumes. In the five-year book which contains his summary of 1955, October reads like an abbreviated horror novel.
“Bought candy for the trick-or-treaters. Hope we have a few.”
“Carved pumpkin after work. Bernice fixed the fried chicken we slaughtered on Saturday.”
Then, in the third week of October, he speaks about my parents and my big brother, Patrick, who’d just turned four years old.
“Scotty and Mary took Patrick to hospital for heart surgery tomorrow. Kate will stay with us.”
“Patrick made it through surgery. Kate doing fine here.”
And finally this:
“This is the worst day of my life. Patrick died.”
My Papoo stopped keeping a diary for a while. Even now, when I scan those old books, my heart stops on the blank places. Only three available lines for each date, and he could not write, did not dare put his thoughts on paper.
I get it. After all, it’s what he didn’t say that decades later still gives me chills.
I’ll probably never be a focused blogger, at least not here on fallible. And sometimes, like Papoo, I can’t fill more than three lines to save my soul. But today I’m wondering: Are there any blank, fallible spaces you’d like to see filled with something specific? Anything I’m not writing that you’d like to read?
Tips on holiday shopping? Low-carb Thanksgiving dinners? Humorous tales about The Moms? Personal finance fiascos? Marital mishaps? Serious, funny—you decide.
Throw out a subject and let’s see what sticks. I may not be able to compose a heartbreaking work of staggering genius, but then again, who knows? My grandfather made my heart break using no words at all.
It’s Reader’s Choice! I’ll send some kind of Award to the suggesters of the Top Three Subjects about which I actually compose a post. Don’t let me fall into a blogging slump when you, dear readers, have it within your power to inspire me, if not to laser-like focus, then at least to astonishingly good generality.
I’m depending on you!
- I love it when you write about real things that happen to you, whether if involves your moms, or weddings, graduations, back pain, british passport, etc. I especially like when you talk about your family. Your emotions come through so clearly when they are your subject.
Posted by Anna on 11/01/07 at 05:28 PM
- Hmmm, I like your laugh-out-loud, I can't believe I just photographed myself on the toilet with my phone posts.
So, let's see: most embarrassing moment - ever?Posted by Carrie K. on 11/01/07 at 06:49 PM - Definitly family stories. Those are always the best. And a low carb Thanksgiving? That sounds cool, too!
Posted by Suzan on 11/01/07 at 07:38 PM
- Anna--I did mention "back pain" in my new post, in your honor. :) I hope my emotions came through clearly--HA!!
Carrie K--I do have a Most Embarrassing Moment, circa 1984. It's actually amazing that another hasn't topped it in all these years, but it remains The Highlight. I will blog about it SOON.
Suzan--I've been sitting on some fam stuff that I've got to get down here. Stay tuned.... :) I (I was lying about the low-carb Thanksgiving, except to say two words: turkey, broccoli.)Posted by Katy on 11/02/07 at 06:05 PM - I bet I know what that most embarassing moment was back in 1984. I won't say, but I'm anxious to see if I'm right. I think it involved a hospital stay.
Posted by Mary Anne Green on 11/02/07 at 06:30 PM
- well i am always curious about people's spirituality – and you intertwine your faith in your posts with humor and sobriety... but i would want to ask about a time when your faith was tested above and beyond. (that may fall into the serious category).
i always love your stories about humorous and embarrassing happenings in the day-to-day (and anything relating to starbucks), so i look forward to the 1984 post.Posted by joshua on 11/05/07 at 04:34 AM - Mary Anne--I can't believe someone actually remembers what might have happened to me all those years ago!! Now that I think about it, it was actually January of 1983. Carrie was still a newborn. Near-death experience it was, but just because I almost croaked doesn't mean it wasn't VERY embarassing!! I'll write soon, and I'll bet you DO know the story. Yes, it DID involve good old St. Joseph's Hospital.
Joshua--I composed a post in honor of you. Thank you for asking such a thoughtful question!!Posted by Katy on 11/07/07 at 02:55 PM - Well, any stories that have to do with me, of course! :) LOL.
By the way, you don't have Papoo's diaries, do you? If so, I'm so jealous...Posted by Bridget on 11/14/07 at 06:53 PM
Next entry: You're Kidding, Right?
Previous entry: The Six Love Languages
