The day is just beginning. I push the screen door open and step out onto my back porch to empty the trash. But instead I set the paper trash bag down and pause to take in the moment.
The air is chilly and damp and full of the smell of mossy woods, and I breathe it in slowly. It clears my head. It’s sharp against my face. I look at the fading summer green and the golden fall colors against the dark green firs and the steely sky. And standing in that moment, I thank my Lord for this new day.
At first I think my glasses need cleaning. Then as I look toward the neighbor’s trees–fading shadows against the sky, I realize there is a light fog, a misty sort of fog. I let out my breath slowly in a long gentle puff. It swirls in front of my face before it drifts away.
I pick up the paper trash bag and pitch it into the recycle bin and notice the summer lawn chairs that haven’t yet been stored for winter. Perhaps I’ll stay a few more minutes. But the cold of the cement porch floor is penetrating the mat to my bare feet and my nose is downright cold and feeling like I need a tissue.
I open the screen door and go back into my warm, cozy kitchen for another cup of steamy coffee.
It is October.
–written from a free-write journal entry, October 9, 2013.
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My morning prayer of thanksgiving:
Thank you, God, for the treasures that my five senses unwrap if I pause in my busyness to drink deeply. Thank you not only for eternal life, but also for the abundant life I am enjoying in this very moment. You’ve brought me through much the past couple years. In the darkness You have been my light. In the deep waters You have held me up! My tomorrows are truly in Your hand!
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Writing about my writing.
I. My personal writing challenge:
To write something from the past in the simple present tense.
My thoughts about using present tense: It’s interesting how our brain automatically throws the writing into the past tense because it is a memory. I like the effect of the simple present–the feeling of now and the sense of something habitual. I like how it arrests my attention and slows my reading; sometimes it even jars me. Perhaps that is because I know the experience as it was in my past.
II. Styling with craft moves:
The technique of “bookending” is a story-telling craft move that uses an object from the beginning of the piece to frame its conclusion. The object is not mentioned anywhere else in the writing.
How does bookending work? The author repeats, echoes, or revisits an initial element (i.e., a setting, a line of dialogue, an item, a character’s situation) at the end of the writing. This craft move is often used in poetry; in fact, poems that use it are called circular poems. It is also used in short stories, novels, films, and speeches.
Why use bookending? There are four primary reasons:
To provide a satisfying sense of closure and unity
To reinforce the main theme
To highlight character development and transformation
To encourage readers to reflect on the journey taken between the two points
My favorite example is found in “Great Joy,” a Christmas picture book by Kate DiCamillo, a timeless story of compassion and joy. The literary bookends are found in the title, “Great Joy,” and in the last line of the story, a line spoken by the protagonist Frances, an angel in the Christmas pageant: “Behold! I bring you tidings of Great Joy!”
In my slice today, I used the craft move of bookending. In fact, I used it twice. Do you see both times?
Answer: 1. My title is repeated in my closing line, “It is October.” 2. In the first sentence, “I push the screen door open” and in the last sentence, “I open the screen door.”
Read a beautiful review of “Great Joy.”
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Hi Alice! What a simple, yet rich piece you shared. I recently got a brief taste of that sort of October. I like how you zoom in the sensory experience of that moment you highlighted between the mundane task of a household chore.
Thank your for sharing your writing process. Bookending is one craft move I enjoy using, I just didn’t know there was another name for it.
I adored the rich description and sensory detail of your piece. It evokes all of the feels October (my favorite month) gives us.
Let me try this again! Your lovely post transfers all the sensory images of the fall into words. It is just lovely and clearly my favorite season, as well. Lovely
Alice, you have taken the majesty of this season and its impact on all the senses and converted it into words. A lovely slice that takes the reader outside with you.
I love October too – pumpkins, apples, cinnamon, everything spicy including the air. Enjoy!
Alice, thanks for sharing your process. I loved reading the present tense passage, and then rereading it after I saw you had intentionally written it in the present, fully present in this present today. October is a gift.
Alice, you awakened so many senses with this post – a true “slice” of a moment in time and a great reminder that every moment has so much potential. This image had me right with you: “I let out my breath slowly in a long gentle puff. It swirls in front of my face before it drifts away.”
I live in a place where October does not mean fall. At least not yet. We were still in the 90s yesterday. So I enjoyed living vicariously through the detailed images of your post.
“The air is chilly and damp and full of the smell of mossy woods, and I breathe it in slowly. It clears my head. It’s sharp against my face. I look at the fading summer green and the golden fall colors against the dark green firs and the steely sky.”
I love the peek into your process. Well done on capturing the power of using the present tense even when writing about the past. I’ll keep that in mind.
Thanks for sharing.
There is so much to be said about pausing to breathe in the moment and your words do it beautifully. October is a feast for the senses.
The images you created with your words (almost) made me miss autumn. The bit by bit noticings made it really come to life.
What a game changer one word can be. In your reply, it is the word “almost.” Thanks for stopping by.
Amen! Thank you for bringing us to your moment of blissful season changing, and for the morning prayer. God is good. All the time.
Yes. God is good all the time and He reveals it is so many simple ways.