Stopping Time by Darlene Beck Jacobson

Why does there never seem to be enough time?  As writers we try all sorts of "tricks" to add time to our day.  Get up early, stay up late.  Skip the exercise workout, skip lunch.   In the end, we're not adding any time, we're merely missing out on those things we need.  Twenty four hours is what we get, and nothing we do can change that.

We have no control over time; we can only try to capture bits of it in our stories.  Like a camera freezes a moment of time in a photo, a writer can stop time - however briefly - by recording precious moments through storytelling.

My daughter recently turned 30. To celebrate this milestone birthday, she asked to see her baby book and the journal I kept of her firsts - right up through her toddler hood and elementary school years.  What a joy it was to laugh at her sweet and stubborn steps toward independence.  To smile at her "babyisms" while learning to communicate.  I'd forgotten many of the things I'd recorded all those years ago.  Sharing these "time capsules" together, brought those bits of time back.   I had the delicious pleasure of reliving them, if only for a moment.

Writing is important work.We who put words to paper capture time.  By doing so, we make time travel possible.  When we are gone, our words live on.  For one small moment, time stands still.

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