Dear readers,
Welcome to my first ever newsletter! I have to admit that it is scary to put out
this very first issue. I have wrestled with the idea of putting out a newsletter and, even after deciding to do it, I’ve struggled with what it should be about.
I do want to share what I’ve been up to; enough goes on in a month that a plain email distribution to friends and family doesn’t cut it anymore. I’ve also been editing e-newsletters professionally and I want my own
communications to be more visually appealing than a plain email. Furthermore, not everybody is on Facebook, and not everyone follows my blog. Therefore, on the one hand, this newsletter is my attempt to keep you in the loop, but please feel free to unsubscribe if you don’t want to receive it.
On the other hand, a newsletter can’t just be about me. That would be the equivalent
of the dreaded Christmas letter, boring for you to read and boring for me to produce. Not that I don’t appreciate a pat on the back now and then, but there has to be something in it for you, right?
Initially I thought I’d call the newsletter “Notes from the Hemingway Attic,” courtesy of my current tenure as writer-in-residence at the Hemingway Birthplace Home in Oak Park, IL. However,
that wonderful gig will come to an end this summer and then what? So, thanks to an idea from my Morning Pages, I’ve decided to make my newsletter about "The Art of Living & Writing." Not because I am an expert, but because I wish
to be.
I’m still wondering about Bella Grace magazine calling me an “authentic living artist” for being published in their winter 2015 issue. It’s a title I’m not sure I’ve earned (yet). Nevertheless I hope you’ll join me on this journey, and I hope I can impart a few insights that are useful to you. With this pre-amble, here we go:
The Art of Living & Writing, Vol. I, Issue 1 Sometimes it’s better not to read a book. See my just published article "On Not Reading a Book" in the Washington Independent Review of Books. Never think it’s all been said and done, even on a much explored subject like the Holocaust. I did an interview with Sarah Wildman on her book Paper Love, a stunning read that I connected with on so many levels. She reconstructed what happened to her grandfather’s first love, and it’s a page turner even though you have an inkling how it will turn
out. Take stock. How was January for you? How has February been so far? If you’re
anything like me (and perhaps you are if you downloaded my Artist and Writer's Workbook 2015), you like making lists and planning. January was good for me creatively, which wasn’t that hard as I had a retreat at the VCCA.
But I didn’t get started on other important stuff, which brings me to my next point: Inspiration and validation await in the unlikeliest places. January’s wad of mail brought an unsolicited subscription to Self magazine. Not my kind of publication, but, since I got it already, I paged through it and stumbled upon an article titled “Make Time for What Matters.”
It didn’t tell me anything I didn’t know already, but it’s always good to hear wisdom again, such as: “Pursuing creative passions […] makes you feel your life is more meaningful.”
Creating is good. Learning to create is even better. I figured out how to
crochet granny squares and am making a funky Granny Square Crochet Skirt. It’s a nice fireside project for dreary winter evenings. Get started on what you’ve always said you wanted to do. In my case, that’s learning Hebrew properly and getting on the exercise bike now that it’s so cold outside. I’ve been on the exercise bike a few times this month,
and I’ve downloaded the Hebrew language program and told myself: 15 minutes every day. Today was the first 15 minutes. Let me tell you, it felt good.
Enjoy a glorious
day; dark times will come for sure. As already mentioned, I had a residency at the VCCA in January. My second week there had just started when my husband called late in the evening to tell me that the wife of a good friend of ours had passed away suddenly. That meant I was flying home the next day. My flight, however, wasn’t until the evening, so I packed up, loaded my suitcase into my rental car and took off for one last research trip for the children’s book idea I’d been
investigating. I spent a sunny winter day driving through Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains (seen above from the Roanoke Airport), listening to the new CD of one of my favorite musicians, exploring the historic town of Charlottesville, and lunching in a tavern off the 18th century courthouse square. That little trip filled me up for the sadness ahead; perhaps my happiness that day was sharpened by the twinge of tragedy already nipping at my heart (see "Today and Tomorrow").
Wishing you all the best in living and writing, and please let me know what you think! (My idea is to put this newsletter out once a month at roughly the same
time.)
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