Anakalian Whims

A Day With a Klemm

September 16, 2012 at 5:04 pm (In So Many Words) (Before Versailles, books, characters, chicken salad, coffee, food, HEB, hobbits, housekeeping, Karleen Koen, Klemm, Ladybug Girl, life, meanings, motherhood, names, personalities, reading, sirnames, writing)

Klemm.  When I looked up the meaning of my married name, I found a definition somewhat like this one:

German: from Middle High German klem ‘narrow’, ‘tight’, ‘scarce’, hence a
nickname for a thin or inhibited person, or alternatively a topographic name for
someone living in a narrow, precipitous place, from the Middle High German noun
form klemme ‘constriction’.

Read more on FamilyEducation: http://genealogy.familyeducation.com/surname-origin/klemm#ixzz26eR2FcGy

So it should come as no surprise that we have some very interesting daily habits that coincide with being a small, introverted, hobbit-like soul, that does not emerge from the house for days at a time.  First of all, we eat like hobbits:

• Breakfast – 7am
• Second breakfast – 9 am
• Elevenses – 11 am
• Lunch – 1 pm
• Afternoon tea – 3pm
• Dinner – 6 pm
• Supper – 9 pm

In between all these meal times is a whole lot of coffee, a morning cleaning ritual, and lots of reading.

I get really into my books and the characters involved.  And with that engagement comes an intense need to invite them in my home the same way I would a welcomed but unknown guest.  I prepare coffee, make sure we have had our meals and have later meals prepared, clean the house (sweep, mop, vacuum, do the dishes and wipe down counters) and then I am ready to sit down with my future new friends – the lovely people portrayed in books.

So, I’m writing this blog post in between Elevenses and mopping the floor.  My coffee is ready (more than ready, I’m on cup two – and my cups are overly large mugs that fit about half a French press in each serving) thinking about Louise de la Baume le Blanc de la Valliere and how we are going to enjoy some afternoon sandwiches together.  That’s crazy book nerd talk for: I am going to be reading more of Karleen Koen’s Before Versailles while I munch on chicken salad sandwiches (I’m addicted to HEB’s Rotisserie Chicken Salad) and sip even more coffee.

I do the same thing before I write.  Which is probably why I’ve been working on the same novel since I was 14 years old.  Karleen said yesterday that it takes her a long time to complete a book, and all I could think was: Thank God, I am not alone, because I am taking forever.  If my debut novel is half as good as hers (Through a Glass Darkly) I feel as though I will have accomplished something in life.  I just want to finish it, get it in print, and have a completed work that someone – anyone – will remember.

I spend days on end reading and writing and eating with my daughter.  It is only for events, planned activities for her benefit, and my random extreme extrovert days that get me out of the house.  (One day, my daughter will probably tell you her mother was a bit wacky, as when I take personality tests I come out equally extroverted and introverted depending on the day.  Some have misused the term bipolar on me, but I got that checked out and I’m not.)  Yesterday I spent the whole day at Half Price Books running around and giving things away… today I will huddle up with Louise and Louis XIV and whoever my daughter interupts me with (LadyBug Girl a constant play friend in our house).