To those who have wandered through and found not a soul or sign of presence here, my sincere apologies. These words I extend to those who may have come back through happenstance or an inkling of faith.
I have let this place and my other virtual home – halfacre pond – lie fallow these past two months for good reason.
Let me tell you about my Mom. Her name was Faye and she loved my writing ever since I was a child. She always encouraged my fledgling efforts, more so than any blanket parental support, and never let me give up on it. Even when I strayed away from writing as a focus, she always encouraged it however it surfaced, and it always surfaced.
She passed away suddenly on Memorial Day this year. May 27, 2019. I was with her and she didn’t suffer, at least not that I could tell. I did. I’ll never forget it. You don’t forget when your mother slips away in your arms. Never. It was a heart attack. We were standing in the kitchen talking one second. The next she was on the floor slipping away. I couldn’t do a damn thing. Nothing. I was powerless and she was gone.
But she got to read my book. She read 98 Rabbits in one afternoon the Wednesday of the week it arrived. Just prior to the official launch of it on May 26th, the day before her death. She got to read my first published book and she was proud of it, and of me, and enjoyed it very much. She was looking forward to a second reading to decipher more of the layered text and try to piece together what it all meant. She thought it a grand puzzle and was having fun with it asking questions and making speculation.
She got to read my book and got to see me finally taste a bit of success with my creative endeavors. The festival I launched the book at on May 26th was very successful. I sold 8 copies of the book in person (plus a t-shirt from it) in addition to several pieces of my art. Best results of any art festival I’ve ever done and I got to tell her all about it that night.
That’s where I’ve been.
Taking care of family business. It’s been a rough patch, but I’m slowly getting back into writing. I’ll elaborate more on that in the next post.
Just wanted to catch you up.