Pocketful of Prose Turns One

Come Celebrate with Me

Welcome to Pocketful of Prose, a community for sharing stories. This week Pocketful of Prose turns one, and I am throwing her a party. Like all good parties, this one will have games, music, stories and of course, cake.

In just a year, Pocketful of Prose has grown into a community of almost nine hundred readers. I would love to invite a few more folks to the party, so here’s our party game. I hope you play. If you would rather lean against the wall and look cool, that’s fine too, but if you are willing to get up and dance, here’s my ask. I invite you to take this pocket or to choose your favorite pocket from the past year and then share it on social media or in Notes, or even better, with a good friend. In the comments, tell us which pocket you chose and why you chose it. What we really want to hear is how it connects to your story. If you are feeling shy, and you would prefer to dance where no one can see you, you can reply to the email in your inbox. Everyone who plays will be entered into a raffle to win a copy of the beautiful book The Boy, the mole, the fox and the horse by Charlie Mackesy.

If you are a fan of The Office, you are probably familiar with the Dundies, the embarrassing annual awards that Michael Scott gives to his employees. Since Michael Scott seems like a reasonable role model, I have decided to dish out a few awards to remember some of the pockets from the past year. Because every good party needs a playlist, here is one I made for you as thank you for showing up each week.

Now, drumroll please…

The Most Popular Pocket goes to “When Enough is Enough, Lessons from My Garden”

This pocket reminds me to find beauty in small things and to remember to be grateful for what I have, rather than constantly seeking more. It probably goes without saying that it is one I need to reread from time to time.

My smaller harvest this year has taught me some important lessons. I don’t have any garden burden. I don’t have to worry about what to do with my blackberries. I don’t have to spend time baking tarts or muffins. I can simply tend to my garden and pop a few in my mouth as I go. They taste so good straight from the vine, I wonder why I ever seriously considered eating them any other way.  I pick a few for Dan and leave them next to his coffee. It is my reciprocity for him chopping all the hot peppers and storing them. I send my kids out to pick a few when they seem stressed out. I put them in our morning yogurt. The blackberries have been feeding us all month, one by one. We cherish them like offerings. They taste like love.

The Pocket I Got Wrong (According to Anna and Seabass) goes to “The Princes Who Saves Herself”

I shared this pocket with my kids on the drive back from kendo the day before I published it. My kids had a lot of feedback for me. If you recall, in this pocket, there is a scene where Anna has fallen into a frozen lake. In the pocket I write, “I could see that despite being scared and cold, she was okay, so I told her to stay calm while I tied Cato to a tree.”

In the car, Anna shakes her head at me. “I was totally drowning,” she says.

There was also a line in my original version of the story, it is still in the audio, where I said that Anna said, “Here Goes Nothing.” When this line plays, Anna and Seabass both start laughing.

“I definitely did not say that,” Anna says. “In fact, no one has ever said that.”

“Just like we practiced,” Seabass chimes in from the back seat.

My kids are supportive of their writer mom. They love the pockets, the pictures and the memories that are conjured, but they keep me on my toes. They remind me not to take myself or my writing too seriously. I imagine they will tell me that the dialogue I rendered here also doesn’t ring true. I will keep writing. We will keep laughing.

The Pocket That Fostered Really Good Conversation goes to “Don’t Judge Me By My Journals, They are a process not a product”

I love keeping journals and talking about journals, and I guess many of you do too. I so appreciate the conversation this pocket generated.

When I die, please bury my journals. Put them in a time capsule to be opened 100 years in the future, or if that feels too dramatic, cut them up into strips and feed them to the worms, word by awful word, or simply burn them. Sit by the fire and tell stories about me.

You can even toss them in the trash though I would prefer you recycle them.

The Pocket That Won An Award Goes to “Tiny Pockets- From Short Pants to Self-Reliance and Who Doesn’t Love Dahlias?”

After I wrote this pocket, I got this cool award, which is how many of you found me, and for this I am grateful.

On a different note, nothing is also what I carry in my bike basket on my morning commute. I love my bamboo bike basket even though it is not good at the one thing bike baskets are made for. Carrying shit. I have tried to fill it with too much stuff on more than one occasion. Thus, it has broken on more than one occasion, and I have had to repair it. My bike basket reminds me not to carry too much. It is a beautiful notion, but currently, it is mostly aspirational. What really ends up happening is that I carry just as much but instead of putting everything in my bike basket, I carry it in my backpack on my back.

The Pocket that Didn’t Win an Award but I love anyway goes to “Sci-Fi Pie Dystopifying Bizarre and Heavy Truths”

Sometimes the pockets I love the most are not the ones that are received the best. I will keep loving them. This pocket was a creative risk for me. I don’t write a lot of fiction, and this was really fun to write. Plus, it took heavy feelings and made them lighter.

Kirsten’s family didn’t understand why she wanted to take a real vacation. With the most recent tech upgrades, they felt like real vacations were a thing of the past like laptops, cell phones and sleep. They didn’t understand why they would possibly choose to go somewhere together, the expense alone, when they could instead enjoy a virtual vacation right from home.

The Pocket that Sums Up Best What I’m Trying to Do Here goes to Saving Stories, Won’t You Put One in Your Pocket

Like Thomas King, I keep my saving stories close.  They soothe me and remind me that I am loved. They help me find my way through dark times. I can’t carry the October sun in my pocket, but my stories come close.

Thanks for celebrating with me and for being a part of this amazing, joyous, creative community. Please play along and share your favorite pocket with a friend, and then tell us about it in the comments. I will announce the raffle winner next week.

I will be baking a cake for this occasion. I think I’m going with a lemon bundt cake. I’ll share pics and the recipe next week if it turns out good. Either way, it will come with a story.