Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now

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  • Buddy system wins the day

    The Eugene Marathon (annually, end of April, qualifier for the Boston Marathon) drew me and my friends Liz and Al Cratty. We did the half marathon, 13.1 miles, and we walked. Despite the fact that we live in TrackTown USA, running isn’t our thing. But lining up with some of the best runners in the world, even being at the back of the pack, was a great thrill and it’s because of the community support. Thousands of folks line the entire route, and they stick around even for those of us bringing up the rear. They have cowbells. They yell encouragement. They have posters. They don’t care if it’s drizzly raining. I loved the blond kid with the “Run, random stranger, run!” poster.

    You will find our names in the results list pretty close to the bottom. We weren’t last, but we finished in just under four hours, which was better than what we had expected.

    This was Liz’s first half marathon. It’s my second, but the last one I did was in 2014. We started training in January. Liz and I are pushing 70, OK? And Al passed that milestone a few years back. We are both active, but we aren’t competitive so this is a little outside the usual zone.

    I write frequently on this blog about doing things outside my comfort zone, about long projects vs. short ones, and persistence. In regard to the half-marathon, Liz’s desire to participate carried us forward and the fact that we did it together with Al, was key. The buddy system is a genius tool for a months-long effort.

    And on race day, the buddy system got multiplied thousands of times over by all the random strangers yelling encouragement along the way. “You got this!” “You’re doing it!” “Finish strong!”

    We got it. We did it. We finished strong. Bragging rights acquired.

  • Secret tools

    OK, I have a bone (thread?) to pick with all the wonderful women who taught me sewing over the years. Thank you, of course, grandmothers, mother, aunts, mothers of best friends, etc. Because of you I have been making things, some of my own design, all these years.

    But why did you introduce me to the indispensable seam ripper (far left in the picture) without telling me how much I would need tweezers alongside the seam ripper.

    We all make mistakes at the sewing machine and the ripping tool quickly cuts through long rows of stitches and allows us to fix mistakes. But picking out the little threads left behind once the ripper has done its job? That’s tedium beyond belief. Until you have tweezers. I saw the pair I am using at the checkout counter in a fabric store a couple of years ago. It was one of those impulse buys. I didn’t know why it was there, but it looked cool and it was a fabric store. There must be some secret purpose for this little tool. The first time I had to rip something out after the tweezers hit my sewing basket, I immediately knew what to do next.

    My advice to teachers of young sewists. Tell them about seam rippers, of course. But don’t forget the tweezers.

  • Midwives to a story

    Putting your soul under somebody else’s microscope isn’t easy. But that’s what writers do when they join a writing group, a gang of fellow authors who hear or read the first draft as it comes in bits and pieces fresh from the fingertips of the author. First audience, cheerleader, critic and deadline monitor, writers show up for each other every week to perform all these functions.

    A writing group on its best behavior balances a delight in the first draft with an ability to help tease out its flaws, helping the writer get to his or her polished final draft.

    I got lucky in the realm of writing groups. The generous and talented author Liz Engstrom took me under her wing many years ago. We’ve been in and out of writing groups together for a long time.

    But the last couple of years our little group — five then four then three as covid and other changes peeled folks away — became something special. Thoughtful, kind, funny, and, yes, critical but only in the service of the story.

    This month we get to celebrate our fellow writing group member, author Paul Neville, whose most excellent novel “The Garbage Brothers” is now published, with positive reviews coming in and bookstore events planned.

    I loved this story as it came to us, chapter by chapter. I loved getting to experience it in small bites. And I loved witnessing its transition from fine idea to powerful narrative.

    I highly recommend writers groups because I’ve seen the benefit. Liz has a great guide on setting up a writers group, a format that we used for a long time, and still, mostly, adhere to. If you’re lucky you’ll find fellow authors as knowledgeable as Liz and as intuitive as Paul.

    Oh, and do read Paul’s book. I highly recommend it, too.

    Congratulations Mr. Neville. I loved watching this book be born.