Do you know that feeling, when you slap your palms together and brush them across one another, first right then left in a gesture of, “Whoosh, Finally that’s done! Yesterday when I got the manuscript of the revised second edition of my first book, Stillpoint, off to our new editor I thought, “Is this triumphant feeling why I like writing so much?”
I’m aware that this isn’t really the last action, the completed moment, but it is a significant big step along the way. I celebrate because it’s part of my spiritual discipline to celebration anything that looks like an incremental step towards a completed accomplishment. The challenge of moving back into the depths of an old book that originally took 5 or 6 years to do, and being confronted daily by the limitations of the writing skills of the writer I used to be – that is really something to celebrate.
When the book came out originally, there wasn’t much celebration. Most of my colleagues at the behavioral health care clinic my husband and I founded and directed were mad at me for having to renegotiate their contracts. It was either that or close our doors, but at that time they were pretending to not understand.
Doing this second edition with my long time sister friend, Christine Gautreaux; I’m so grateful she said yes to our partnership. I’d started the project on my own, at the suggestion of friends and colleagues, but it didn’t take long to decide that doing this alone wasn’t likely to be even a little bit fun. Stillpoint: A Playbook for Caregivers to Find ease, Time to breathe and Reclaim Joy is due out early June and we’re looking forward to a mini-tour to launch it. Let us know if you want to be a location on our itinerary.
As if that isn’t enough, I have another writing achievement to celebrate. Sheri McGregor’s Nature’s Healing Spirit- Real Life Stories to Nurture the Soul was released this week. The anthology contains my article, Earthsprings Eternal, about the East Texas Piney Woods forest where I’ve been retreating for over twenty years. You can secure a copy of your own at https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Healing-Spirit-Stories-Nurture/dp/0997352221
