STT-21
First Sip:
So long as you write what you wish to write
that is all that matters.
And whether it matters for ages or only for hours
nobody can say.
– from A Room of One’s Own
by Virginia Woolf
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Slice of Cake:
This week marks half a year since I started this blog.
January 6, 2019 to July 6, 2019
That’s 21 posts in 26 weeks!
This calls for a celebration!

What we don’t recognize, we won’t celebrate.
What we don’t celebrate, we lose.
– Melissa, blogger
I started this blog because I wanted my own website as a writer,
as a reader,
as a thinker of long thoughts that—eventually—
gotta go somewhere.
I’ve compared this blog to…
a garage sale for intellectual odds and ends;
a treasure box of favorite passages from favorite books;
an especially nerdy cocktail party;
an encyclopedia of hodge-podgery;
an online room of one’s own.
Like a Good Cup Of Tea:
Calming, Refreshing, Stimulating, Reviving
A contemplative pause in your busy day.
– KJH
(my goal for this blog)
Happy Half Birthday
sky-t-tray!
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Linger Awhile:
When I felt bad, writing kept me from feeling worse;
it put my inner emotions into exterior form,
and gave me an outlet for words that never came in conversation.
― Langston Hughes
from the first page of his autobiography
I Wonder as I Wander (1956)
I’ve been thinking this week about writing what I wish to write.
I started writing a diary when I was 9,
I started writing poetry when I was 12.
I didn’t start writing plays until I was in my 40s.
Before that I’d been trying other kinds of fiction…
Me: It’s not so bad… Is it?
Greek Chorus: Too short.
Me: But short stories are supposed to be short.
Greek Chorus: Your descriptions aren’t short, they’re nonexistent.
Me: I wrote ‘Mary is tall.’ That’s a description.
Greek Chorus: Hardly. What is she wearing. What is her age.
Me: Oh, who cares about that.
Greek Chorus: Everyone.
Me: I always skim over all that to get to the good stuff: the dialog.
Greek Chorus: We are willing to admit that you’re good at dialog…
Me: If only there were such a thing as a short story that’s all dialog!
Greek Chorus: …
Me: Wait…
And that‘s how I became a playwright.
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“Half Cup More”
A classic is something that everybody wants to have read
and nobody wants to read.
― from The Disappearance of Literature (1900)
a speech by Mark Twain

So… why a literary blog?
I’ve always loved reading.
But I wasn’t an English major or anything.
I don’t have an M.F.A.
The education I got was concentrated in science and math.
I wasn’t even assigned any novels to read in school.
But I’ve always loved reading.
So when, a few years out of college, I heard about a book club, I enthusiastically joined.
First book was Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez.
I read it through like I read all novels: quickly turning pages, eager to see how the story turned out.
Got to the meeting.
People said they liked the book. I said, I liked the book, too!
Then people started discussing it.
I thought, what book are they talking about??
Then I thought…
…
…
there must be more to this reading thing than getting quickly through to see how it ends.
I prescribed myself a regiment of reading all the books of one author and reading critiques of that author and then see what I learn.
I chose Jane Austen.
I learned a lot.
And I fell in love with reading all over again.
Literature. Maybe you learned this stuff in school.
Me, I had to pick it up in the streets.
― KJH
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Take-Away Box
The Hatter shook his head mournfully…
— It was at the great concert given by the Queen of Hearts, and I had to sing:
Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you’re at!
— You know the song, perhaps?
— I’ve heard something like it, said Alice.
— It goes on, you know, the Hatter continued, in this way:
Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea-tray in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle—
Here the Dormouse shook itself, and began singing in its sleep:
Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle—
and went on so long that they had to pinch it to make it stop.
– Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll
from ‘A Mad Tea-Party’
chapter 7
And that‘s how sky-t-tray got its name!
As always, thank you for reading.
Kelly J Hardesty

Thank you for reading!
— Kelly J Hardesty
Thoughts? Questions?
Scroll down to the end—and you can leave me a note!
Always so lovely to hear from you. .
You Can Read More…
STT-21
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sky-t-tray.us
© Kelly J Hardesty 2023
I love the conversation between you and your Greek chorus. Happy six months!! What an accomplishment.
Thanks, sweetie!
Cheers! Hello to the handsome rascal in the photo with you. And thanks for another occasion to smile.
Thanks, Leslie! And I’ll pass on your hello.