When I was in college, my mother put together a recipe book for me made from 3×5″ cards. Somewhere in my final move away from home state, that book got lost.
Above, is the cover of the recipe book that replaced it.
My mother inscribed it as follows:
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The word ‘quintessential’ could be literally interpreted as ‘5x essential’ but is most typically used as ‘perfect example’ or ‘model we should follow’ — as in, “Roger Thornhill1 was the quintessential red herring.”
I tend to combine the two ideas when it comes to What I Do For A Living.
5x Essential: autonomy, variety, independence, challenge, safety (let’s be real, right?), creativity, appropriate ‘fit’ (I’m not a perfect match for everyone and I know it!), comfort (environmentally — lighting, air temperature, scent-free, etc.), and making a difference
Perfect Example: working with my “crunchy” kid
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About a month back, one of the bloggers I read on the reg posted about their favorite places.
Specifically, he wrote about his favorites in a “my favorite place to…” format.
And it got me thinking about my favorite places to, too.
Like so:
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Earlier this month, I talked about the happy accident I experienced when I found a fantasy writer’s book shelved in the mystery section, and how – subsequently – the main character in that book became (and remains, as of this posting) my favorite fiction character.
And it has occurred to me, in further thinking about that experience, that not only was the book (sort-of) mis-shelved, and therefore not ‘in order’ in terms of being where it was ‘supposed’ to be (or would normally be) found on the bookstore shelves…
But also that, in reading that book — a book that is a bit past the middle in terms of all the Discworld stories and their publication dates — I was introduced to (and continued reading) a 25+ year series completely out of order.
And honestly, I believe that was to my benefit.
^my (very strong) opinion^
I think I was first introduced to the concept of reading out-of-order as an elementary school student, when I read C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. Really, the world (Narnia) starts way before The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. It begins with The Magician’s Nephew. But Lewis did not write the beginning until he’d already showed us ‘the middle’ in the first book he published (TL, TW, and TW).
Admittedly, it was a little bit confusing as a kid. Because why was I reading about the voyage of the Dawn Treader if that happened before? And not reading about the beginning of this strange alternate world ahead of reading out a bunch of wartime children’s insertion into it? And just what the heck is going on here, anyway?!
*laugh*
But you know what?
I read all the books.
I liked all the books.
And I still own all the books.
*smile*
So sometimes, if an author goes a bit back-and-forth in time over the course of their publications, it’s a Good Thing.
And, as I discovered with my first Terry Pratchett book, sometimes it’s a good thing to allow yourself to be dropped into the middle of a world and explore any-which-way-you-choose.
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