Time Management Tuesday: It's That Time Of Year When We Talk About Temporal Landmarks And Lent

 Ah, temporal landmarks. Those events, dates in the calendar, that mark a change in our day-to-day lives. We often feel we can get a fresh start when we reach a temporal landmark. We often plan to get a fresh start when a temporal landmark is approaching. That can be school vacations for those people whose lives, because of work or family, revolve around the school year. It can be the beginning of a new calendar year. For writers it can be November, which has become National Novel Writing Month.

For people who observe Lent, one way or another, that can function as a 40-day temporal landmark. A beaut, because you get your fresh start on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, and you can wrap it up on Good Friday, the end day.

The bottom line is no matter what your spiritual tradition, if it includes temporal landmarks, you can use them to help with planning new beginnings for any kind of project you want to jump start.

And What Are You Doing For Lent This Year, Gail?

Well, since you asked, I do have a Lenten/temporal landmark project this year. It doesn't involve giving something up, the traditional Lenten activity for my ancestors followed. Presumably. Instead, I am doing something extra.

Turns out, I've done this kind of thing before. In 2016, I read some nonfiction during Lent. This year, I'm reading poetry.

I'm not reading random poetry but Ruth Stone's The Essential Ruth Stone, edited by Bianca Stone. I will spare you the details about why I asked for this book for Christmas. Instead, I will say that while I periodically make an attempt at reading poetry, it's not something I naturally gravitate towards. So, though I'd had this book since Christmas, I hadn't touched it.

For Lent, then, I am reading a poem a day from The Essential Ruth Stone. But reading is not enough. I'm studying these things and keeping a record of my thoughts. I'm interacting with this book for Lent. Maybe...interacting with Ruth Stone?

This book looks to have far more than 40 poems, so I don't know what will happen when Easter arrives, and I haven't finished. But I have a Lenten experience going until then. 

I Have A Childlit Connection For You

I've met Ruth's daughter, Phoebe Stone, the author of a number of children's books, including The Romeo and Juliet Code.