It seems fitting I pick up this blog again while riding a train. All throughout my time in Europe, train time was my space, my rest, time to think, relax, just be. My best writing comes out of my be space. I loved it. Traveling by train is my favorite form of transportation and such peace is compounded today as I am heading to a weekend retreat with friends after a very full week.
It has actually been a very full summer and my blog was set aside for awhile so I could pay attention to more internal things. A new time is opening up for me, in my career, in my relationships, with God, and deeply within. Though I don’t know all of what my life is transforming into and what all these changes will be or are even becoming, it has been life-giving to have the space to attend to them.
Change can be hard for us, even good change. For every new thing coming into our lives, there is something we are leaving behind. Even the things we are glad to see go can have a tinge of grief while we watch them fall away. And those things we don’t want to let go of but know we need to, there can be great pain in the release.
One thing I am not letting go of, not to mention it would never let go of me, is my writing. The next poetry book, the third in the trilogy, is two-thirds of the way written and my illustrator is starting the set of drawings to accompany the text. Already a beautiful book, it has been a joy to work on and see come together. All the books will be at the Oregon State Fair this year along with my friend, Dolores Dahl’s poetry books at the author’s table in the Americraft building, or as I grew up calling it, the Jaackman-Long building. Dolores will be running the table during the day and I will take charge of it in the evenings. It’s a nice way to have the books at the fair and to keep flexibility in the day time. In honor of the fair, I will be dropping the price of all the poetry books to $10 each and $5 for the devotional. This price is good through September even if you don’t come to the fair.
In the meanwhile, I still have life to figure out as it unfolds before me. I have several ideas for blog posts but have one more book review and a few articles to write, not to mention a quilt to finish, before I write a lot on here. But I will try to write more often, put some of those ideas to paper. :)
Labels: blogging, Oregon State Fair, poetry, Travel, Writing