In this season of starlight, in this year of isolation, a great deal has been asked of us. We have managed and survived by finding our stamina, being inventive, determined, introspective, and outreaching. I have unwrapped, unpolished, unassuming gifts for you. Please use them freely and share them widely: gratitude, trust and hope.
To each of you who writes with me, to each of you who may someday write with me, and to each of you who write with one another, gratitude overwhelms me. You have saved each other and you have saved me by sharing creativity and by listening. Every human person needs to be heard fully, without preconceived attitudes or conceptions. In this way of hearing, we build a fire, circle ourselves around it and share our authentic selves even in the darkest moments. We witness each other’s pain and ecstasy, our abandonment and fierceness. We keep each other whole and safe.
By writing together, we give the astonishing gift of trust. Every artist fears the unknown and empty page or canvas. What do we have within us and will it emerge as we imagine it? By offering our writing, we offer trust in our listeners. By listening to others’ work, we enact that trust and build it between us. But there is also the trust we learn to place in ourselves as we set out to say what we mean to say. Trusting in our ability to range and soar strangely, startlingly, sublimely, is a profound gift to ourselves. Trust your own voice to return infinitely with unending rewards.
The third gift we exchange as we write together is hope. Whether a piece of writing comes from memory or imagination, its adventures and philosophies give listeners multiple ways to feel alive. We experience what characters encounter and endure and surmount. We leave our own perspectives behind and set out for places and times unknown. We stretch our own understanding of what it is to be human in all its gloriously perfect imperfections. We become more by letting each other’s imaginations captivate us. We see beyond our own boundaries. We see horizons we could never imagine on our own. In all these ways, by writing with you, I am more grateful than I can bear, more trusting and trustable each time I listen or write, and more hopeful than I thought possible. I am a better human being because of you. Many, many blessings to you under your very own stars.
Upcoming Events
Maud & Addie Are Here!
Release Date: May 6, 2021: Maud & Addie, a middle-grade novel. In 1910, sisters, Addie and Maud Campbell are swept out to sea off the coast of Nova Scotia. With a half-filled picnic hamper, a carriage blanket and their wits, they survive the North Atlantic and landfall on a deserted island. As castaways, they become scavengers and inventors, facing the truth of who will save them and who they might have become.
Available for pre-release purchase:
iPg Independent Publishers Group https://www.ipgbook.com/maud—addie-products-9781646030606.php?page_id=21
Join Maud & Addie on Instagram: maud.addie
and
Facebook: Writing Full Tilt
Online Weekly Workshops:
Monday Evenings, 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m., eight weeks beginning January 18, ending March 15, 2021. https://www.writingfulltilt.com/online-workshop/ $320
Tuesday Mornings, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., eight weeks beginning January 26, ending March 23, 2021. https://www.writingfulltilt.com/online-workshop/ $360
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