To all my current and future #DCSPeeps (DECIDE, COMMIT, SUCCEED), welcome to my new series in my continuing effort to inspire, amuse, and entertain you! Each Monday I will select a new word to analyze how it might apply to our writing lives and also give you a peek into my childhood growing up in the swamps of southern Louisiana, so kick back, put your feet up, and check out my story about TODAY'S WORD:
STORE
Memories of my childhood would not be complete without remembering all the canning my mother would do each year to STORE up enough food in anticipation of a long, hard winter with four young mouths to feed.
Everyting that flew, swam, ran, or grew on the vine would find its way into one of Mother's canning jars. Nothing was overlooked and I never had to wonder what we would do with our garden bounty.
While other folks in my hometown would make do with STORE bought goods to fill their bellies on a cold winter's night, I could dine on fresh vegetables that had basked in the warm Cajun sunlight just months before. Finish that meal off with frozen, sugared figs straight from our back yard or an ice cold banana "pop" and I'd swore I was in heaven!
As writers, we STORE up story ideas in notebooks, on computers, even scribled on restaurant napkins, with the hope that one...or more...will someday develop into a beautifully woven writerly masterpiece to be shared with the world. Those STORED up ideas take the same amount of nurturing and dedication when creating a manuscript to feed young minds as it took my mother all those years ago to make sure four young bodies were fed every winter...
Children's book author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo by day and a 'ninja' writer of children’s picture books, chapter books and young adult novels by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host providing the latest book reviews on all genres of children’s books. She is also a book reviewer for Harper Collins, and a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators. Donna is a lover of dark chocolate, time at the beach, and good stories.
I know none of the canned food we ate had chemicals or artificial anything in it. Meals were cheaper when you canned them yourself. Now, you have to pay twice as much for "organic" meals. There are still things labeled "natural" that are in them that, if you knew what they were, you wouldn't eat them.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Janet, which is why I made such a big deal about having my own garden this summer...;~)
DeleteThanks for stopping by and come back any time!