Hello! Welcome to the new digs!
I short-circuit pretty easily when it comes to certain technology things, so it took me longer than perhaps it should have to change newsletter services, but here we are! I decided to do one small task each day—on many days the to-do list felt like nothing—and it worked. Definitely a plan to keep in mind for other tasks that might be overwhelming.
There’s been a lot of good energy here surrounding some new creative projects. Besides writing this newsletter and the blog, I’m doing some fiction writing for the first time in decades, as well as continuing with other non-fiction. I have some ideas for the next book, and I’m just getting down whatever comes to mind for now.
The more I write, the more I have to write. I thought it would be the opposite—I have something to say, and once I get it down, then I’ll be out of things to say—but the hardest writing days are when I didn’t write the day before.
The Kid and I are getting ready to do both a photography project and an audio project. More details to come on those, except to say that he doesn’t want to be The Kid, he wants to be Rocket Kid. Or Cucumber Man, or superawesome (“Super awesome no spaces no capitals”), or Amazing Bread Maker (“But you don’t make bread.” “Well, I could make bread.”) We’ll stick with Rocket Kid.
What a fantastic, wild ride!
Also, I started a newsletter exclusively about the journey to getting the book published. I expect those emails to be sporadic, coming to you as things happen. If I’ve learned nothing else, it’s that the publishing process is slow, and it doesn’t make sense for me to send a message at regular interval just to say there’s nothing happening.
If you’re interested in following that story as it develops, sign up here. You can get a sneak peek of the first message, scheduled to go out tomorrow morning, here. This way, I won’t bog down this email with book stuff, and the book followers will only get book content. Feel free to share that sign-up link with anyone you think might be interested in the behind-the-scenes of getting a book from a Word document to a book. I expect to get my manuscript back any day.
What’s new on the blog?
Writing
Notes, drafts, and passing time
I have a lot of drafts of blog posts. What's interesting at this moment is how many of those drafts are currently not relevant. Drafts of things from January or February 2020, before the pandemic came to this part of the world in force. Notes and thoughts and paragraphs about pieces of life that don't exist now.
A few months ago, I went through the drafts and deleted quite a few. Some had notes that no longer triggered thoughts. ("Iwrote that?") Some were written and needed to be deleted instead of edited. ("I'm so glad I didn't hit publish on that!") Some were specific to a point on the timeline of the pandemic and are no longer relevant. (Click to read more)
It finally happened.
I reached the limit for how heavy I am willing to be.
I didn’t know ahead of time what that was. It’s not something I’ve kept in mind all along. I just reached the point where I had to say, “No more!” (Click to read more)
Photography
What about books? Other media?
This is not at all a book, but I follow Will Wheaton on Facebook. Until a month or so ago, I didn’t even know who he is. Now I know a little. Anyway, he shared a story about meeting William Shatner, and it’s fabulous. It’s a public post, so you can read it even if you don’t have a Facebook account. And in the comments, there’s a video of him telling the story. Worthy. Read the post here.
Heat’s other offerings
In an effort to continue to do creative work in lieu of a day job, I have quite a few things in the works that I’ll be ready to share soon. I think you’re going to love them.
For now, I have created blank notecards from some of my best photos. They come to you with envelopes with stamps on them. We’ve been separated from people for so long. Everyone knows at least one person who would love to get a small handwritten note. Pick up some cards, write a quick hello, drop them in the mail, and make someone’s day.
Until I have an Etsy store up and running, I’m selling them informally through my website. You can get all of the details, including how to order, here.