Today a short post. I’m curious. Have you ever set out to write one thing only to have something totally different and surprising break through?
Tell us about your surprises in life and writing.
I’m anxious to hear from you all!
***Featured Image: The Small Meadows in Spring by Alfred Sisley
Author Adrienne Morris 
14 responses to ““I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual” ― Virginia Woolf”
It was Virginia Woolf’s birthday the other day. And a few days before I had talked to a friend about Virginia Woolf because my friend was confusing Virginia Woolf with another female writer.
I explained my friend about The Round Table etc. but doing so was rather a of waste of time… which I expected it to be. It’s not my friend’s fault that I’m interested in things which most of my friends are NOT. Such is life!
I guess it’s to be expected. Most twelve-year-olds were (not at times) refusing to go ‘out to play’ because they were busy reading Jane Eyre and Ivanhoe.
; o )
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It’s a sad truth that some people are just not that into bookish things. 🙂 I loved reading as a child but felt most at peace wandering in the woods.
Isn’t it wonderful when you find friends who do care about The Round Table?
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Love, love, love the painting to the left. Please tell me who painted it – thanks!
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Thanks for pointing that out: Alfred Sisley is the artist of Small Meadows in Spring. Pining for spring right now. 🙂
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How wonderful that life broke in ‘as usual’. 😊 . I often find that my writing will not be about what I planned as something else starts spinning and wanting to be written. I even said this in an early blog.
Several times planned posts are interrupted with another subject that pushes forward.
Exciting, don’t you think. I feel I am only in for the ride at times.
Thanks for your wonderful blog, I have just listened to Patterson on your post about families. Wonderful
Also bought your book ,The Home at Tenaby Road. Look forward to it.
miriam
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Hi Miriam,
I’m terrible at planning my blog posts and rarely know what I’m going to write about until it’s written. I sometimes wish I could use outlines but then I never do. LOL.
I never expected to write about a morphine-addicted soldier with a good heart, but that’s what happened. The way you describe the muse is exactly how I feel — just along for the ride at times. It definitely makes life exciting.
Thank you so much for reading my blog and purchasing my book. I hope you enjoy it.
All the best~
A
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I thought about the book that became The Inlaid Table for nearly 20 years before I began to write it. I had a very young family and worked two jobs, and I’d always planned to write children’s books anyway. I did write three kids’ books during those years, none published. But at the back of my head an adult story nagged to be told about a family celebrating Passover. I planned to check in on them every four to eight years and write about the changes in family dynamics and observe the kids growing up. (Four is a significant number in this holiday.) I finally realized it was too restrictive a format. The story became about an American teenager who discovers a cryptic message inlaid on an antique table. Trying to track down what the message means and who carved it takes her to Poland. There she finds out that she is not who she thinks she is and neither is anyone else in her family. The Holocaust had changed everything. (Two Passover dinners happen in the book.)
It isn’t published but it did place in the top 250 stories for the 2012 ABNA competition. I wish I’d known how to capitalize on that achievement.
As for Virginia Woolf – I don’t think anything could have held back such genius.
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Those geniuses … I wonder what it’s like for them. 🙂
That’s so cool about placing in the ABNA!!! Whether you capitalized on it or not, it’s a fantastic achievement in itself.
In my books I use Christmas a lot. People are always at their best on holidays, right?
I love the concept of The Inlaid Table. Maybe you’re a genius! very few people get to find out in their lifetime which is sad, though maybe creativity is the gift more than being acknowledged for it–I find this hard to take. LOL.
Looking forward to reading one of your books, Shari. xxoo
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I don’t know that it “broke in” in the way Woolf was experiencing, but my career today seems to have broken in on what I started out to do. I was going to be a travel writer. That’s why I left the corporate world and went to Australia. I did write one book, Waltzing Australia, but then other things began to take over — primarily food history. It started out as just a side note to travel–this is where X originated — that sort of thing. But it slowly took over. I’ve now written many articles, a couple of books, and one of my three blogs on food history since that time. But then, breaking in again, I found that I enjoyed talking about food history, and now I find that I am kept almost as busy as a speaker as I am as a writer — and that is most certainly not something that this slightly introverted person would ever have imagined would be part of her life. But I love telling stories, and it doesn’t stop when I’m not writing — the stories just keep coming. So yes — things do simply creep up on one and surprise us.
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I love how life broke in for you! How did your speaking engagements happen?
I enjoyed teaching and sharing knowledge but realized the other day when chatting with a woman who has a few book ideas in mind that I really enjoy encouraging others to write. I like doing this in person rather than in blogging. There’s an energy exchange in meeting people face to face that is harder to find in other ways.
Anyway, it sounds like you’ve embraced all the break-ins with gusto!
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As you know, I write about my day, and sometimes what it triggers. Occasionally I go out in search of one them, and find another.
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I love that you share your day-to-day exploits (and dinner choices). I also love that horses appear from time to time in your photographs. Animals always bring surprises and changes of direction for me. 🙂
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Wow, what a beautiful quote by Woolf. ❤ Also, I love all the paintings you feature.
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I’m so glad you enjoy the paintings! I love pretending to be an art curator. I’m a beauty junkie.
Have a wonderful week!
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