life IS fragile

Last night I signed into writing.com to catch up on my mail.  A shudder vibrated through me as I read a message from Karen: “There is no good way to share this with you. One of our members ­­­­­passed away on Sept. 11.” 

I have been a member of writing.com for less than a year and I don’t know people very well—except for rixfarmgirl.  Rixy is one of those gems of a friend who is new in my life—someone I know will become a forever friend.  And now, she is only a memory.  I am stunned, shocked, numb, and so sad. 

The way writing.com works is, you post your own writing to be reviewed and you review the writing of others.  One of my essays caught Rixy’s eye, she saw potential in me and began to mentor me.  I consider her my anchor at writing.com—and even though she is no longer alive, she will continue to be my anchor.

Rixy was a retired English teacher and published author and in her retirement continued to encourage and mentor other writers.  She gave meaty constructive criticism that is worth its weight in gold.  Forgive me, Rixy, for mixing my metaphors and clinging to cliches—sadly I’m not writing for perusal of your reviewing eye.  (Oops, “sadly” is one of those pesky adverbs you wont let me get away with!  And I’m starting this sentence with “and” and putting this in parentheses—also one of your pet peeves!) 

With Rixy’s encouragement, I signed up to take a writing class in the writing.com New Horizon Academy.  I am taking “NaNoWriMo & the 30-Day Novel,” which begins in October.  Rixy was to be one of the instructors.

I signed up, in part, because Rixy was one of the instructors.  Also because I thought it would be a great way to s-t-r-e-t-c-h myself as a writer.  Every day I question, “What have I gotten myself into?”  NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month—and I not a fiction writer.  However, I hoped that, under Rixy’s tutelage, I could be successful.  The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words in 30 days.  Gulp…

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I responded to the e-mail about Rixy’s death, asking if there was anything I could do to help.  Karen responded, “If you want to help, you can do your very best in the NaNoWriMo course. That would mean a lot to Rixy.”

Rixy, I will be writing for you!  And if a novel evolves, I will dedicate my very first novel to you.