Writerly Circles

My grandmother, Madeleine L'Engle, had an ever-expanding circle of writer friends, a path that I too am following. It has been a tremendous gift being in touch with a few from her circle, and I had the tremendous honor to be asked by Judith Lindbergh, author of The Thrall's Tale to guest blog on The Writer's Circle, which is one of my favorite blogs. Ever. So please hop on over and read my guest post - go on! Then come back - I'll still be here!

Judith and I have yet to meet in person, but she has been a tremendous support. She contacted me back in the summer about my work at Writopia, as she does workshops with kids and teens too! She encouraged me to reach out to WORDS bookstore in Maplewood, New Jersey, which is her home-town. So I am thrilled to say that I will be there, hawking Edges at 2PM this Saturday, and she will be in the audience!

We will come full circle. Judith, for me and my Gran, I'm gonna hug you so hard!

Postscript: OMG. I wrote the adjective TREMENDOUS three times! Instead of erasing and fixing, I thought I would point out my lack of self-editing to highlight it's importance!

Renovation & Synchronicity

This is our kitchen. Or, rather soon-to-be-one-of-these-days kitchen. Needs a floor, maybe an appliance or two - some cabinets and counters. A kitchen sink would be nice.

I've been mulling about renovation as a metaphor for life and writing this past week as it sinks into my tough noggin that this is indeed what we are doing, what most of us (or so I like to think) do when we move into a new home. The to-list is daunting, frightening even, as it becomes an a la carte process - what we have to do NOW, and what we can leave until later. The kitchen couldn't be left until later.

A renovation is a spiritual rebirth, making new again.

This house wanted us to come in and take care of it, revitalize it.

I am about to dust off an old manuscript, and "renovate" it. I am "renovating" myself out in Katonah. I must put myself out there and create community, reaching out and embracing other women, other moms, other writers; looking for kindred spirits. I must make new friendships and renew old ones.

I was planning on writing today about the similarities between home renovation and revision, but  I was stunned to read Judith Lindberg's blog yesterday, covering the very same thing. Synchronicity. We had spoken for the first time the day before - she had been one of my grandmother's writing students and was reaching out to talk about kids and the creative process, as she is also a writing teacher out in New Jersey. We were on the same wavelength. Then when she told me that she was the author of The Thrall's Tale, I gasped. "That's on my bedside table at my mom's!" I had picked it out to read next time I was at Crosswicks, which is this weekend! (Read my blog post My Mother, My Librarian)

So I'm in Katonah, but I have met a kindred spirit in New Jersey, and as I blog more, and reveal myself more, I widen the circle for myself, I renovate and renew. I myself am a Work In Progress, like a manuscript, and I'll never be finished. I never want to be finished with working on myself.

But the kitchen - well, that's another story.