Baked Goods and the Fireflies of the Plot Line

Yesterday was one of those days where I spent a lot of time unloading the car.  When I was a girl, daydreaming of my future career, I wasn't envisioning getting the day old baked goods from Publix and making a Wal-Mart run to get supplies.  But that's how I spent much of yesterday morning.

I was at the Publix at 5:50 yesterday morning, and lo and behold, there were baked goods!  Last week, I had one morning of picking up baked goods and one morning where I showed up to discover that a group that runs a shelter had picked up the carts of food the night before. 

Both times, I've had enough baked goods to fill up the back of my Prius hatchback.  Amazing.  It takes some time to bring all of that into the school, since I don't have a shopping cart at that end.  Plus, I'm taking it to different places, since I don't set it all out at once.

Last week, we had more loaves of bread and bear claws.  This week I unloaded box after box of chocolate chip mini muffins.  Each week, there's lots of rugelach.  My analytical brain wonders why.

Then it was off to Wal-Mart for an assortment of things the campus needs, from paper goods to sanitizing wipes to coffee supplies.  Once again, I spent time unloading the car and putting things away.

Yesterday, I was grateful that I didn't have to return home to do the same things for a household.  Instead, I met my Hindu writer friend for dinner at Panera.  It's been awhile, and it may be awhile before we see each other again--she's got a book contract, and she's up against a deadline.

On the way home, I reflected on how my writing process has changed.  My friend talked about needing to pare down her 600 page manuscript.  Once I would have envied her ability to write a lengthy draft, as it seemed to be the surest way to publication.  Then I despaired because the novels I wrote ended up in the 200-300 page range.  The few times I got feedback from publishing professionals it was that x was a good aspect of my writing and so was y, but they just couldn't publish something that short.

Now it seems to take months to write a paragraph.  Once I held a whole plot in my head and wrote in a frenzy.  Now I am holding a narrative thread made of fireflies--sometimes I have to wait for them to make an appearance again.

She inspires me to keep watch for those fireflies.  I'm grateful.