It’s been quite awhile since I’ve written regularly, although I’ve made resolutions to make it a habit. I feel very rusty as a writer. Part of my attraction to writing is physical, and it’s the physical aspect that is missing at the keyboard. I love the feel of a pencil in my hand, the tiny indents it makes on a piece of paper. There’s something about an empty notebook. It’d be cliche to say that an empty notebook represents endless possibility. I guess I see it as a done deal. I imagine it as filled, page after page of neat handwriting, telling a story. You could say that I could write anything, but that’s not true. There’s a limited set of themes in my writerly world, and not everything is worth writing about.

I’ve been working on this project for over a year now, and I’m almost done. OK, so I haven’t been working on it nonstop, but I’m ready to be done with the thing. It’s a sleeveless shell knit from Lion Brand Homespun yarn, and I hate working with it. The yarn is highly textured and is quite pretty in the finished product, but knitting with it is such a pain. It gets twisted while you’re knitting, so you’re constantly pulling and tugging on the strand. I’ve broken the yarn so many times trying to straighten it out. It’s frustrating. But here I am, in the final stretch. Now I’m afraid that the shell is going to be huge, but Mom will love it no matter what. That’s the beauty of mothers. Of course, if it turns out bad, I’m going to blame it on the yarn.

I guess I should explain my choice in titles for the uninitiated. Many years ago, I thought of myself as a HEN — Hopeless Emotional Nutcase — and I referred to my writings as HENpennings.  Now as a former (recovering?) HEN, I still like the term, its play on words, its connection to my past life. So welcome to the first online viewing of HENpennings. Enjoy.