Finding Something New in Something Old

Every once in a while I get the urge to read something "comfortable," and a cozy mystery classic fits the bill. I came across a 1955 Cock Robin Mystery (an imprint of The Macmillan Company) Three by Tey on the shelf of my local library. I had read Josephine Tey's A Daughter of Time and  The Man in the Queue, but this collection includes three novels that I have not read. I am currently in the middle of Miss Pym Disposes and find the writing charming. It is a soothing story so far, such a strange thing to say of a story that involves a murder even if I haven't come across the corpse yet. I'm coming to like Lucy Pym the narrator of the story and her outlook on the women's college that she is visiting that is run by an old school chum (faint memories of Agatha Christie's A Cat Among the Pigeons or Dorothy L. Sayers's Gaudy Night ).

Reading a "cozy" is just the thing for when the rest of life is absolutely crazy. I need reading in my life even when it seems I have no spare time, it is what is helping to keep me sane right now when all the rest of the world seems out of my control. The English countryside of the late forties (no influence of the war is mentioned) is the something old that is new to me.

"Reader Heal Thyself"

A while back I had this brain wave of writing a book about all the different self-help books I had on the shelves of my home. I collected many of them up to review and glean the precious lessons that the authors had offered to me their reader.
One of the oldest books in my collection is Marsha Sinetar's Do What You Love The Money Will Follow. I've held onto this one for a long time because each time I see the title I am reminded that I'm still searching for the work that I love. Words, I love words. I once thought I might work with words. No let's face it, I was afraid of working with words. As a teenager I thought it was not the job my father would approve of. Today, I still wonder what it is I want to do when I "grow up." I face the struggle as to whether or not my choices today are still colored by the thoughts of "what will others think of this choice of mine and will they approve?" What I really need to do is get past those old thought patterns and realize the only one who needs to approve of the work I do, is me.
Sinetar closes her third chapter with four very classic questions and I paraphrase here:

1. What is it I'm supposed to do with my life?
2. What habits must I develop to help me achieve my purpose?
3. What choices must I make to live out my purpose?
4. What would my life look like if I carried out this plan to live out my life's purpose? (p.52-53)

One thing is I would need to make writing a daily habit beyond the journaling I do every morning. That habit was also encouraged by a self help book (The Artist's Way- the author suggested 3 "morning pages" to be written everyday to get it all out of the head and prevent the blocks to creativity). This post for example was started several days ago and I have finally found ten minutes to sit down and work on completing it. One other habit that I will need to learn is to say no to others and protect my time so that I can write.