A Day To Be Gaudy, and Writers Going Out at Night
Mid-December and Rose Sunday (had help with that) Greetings to All!
If there were ever a time for contrasts — the original focus of this blog— now would be a strong contender. We’re encouraged to feel all peaceful and relaxed, not to mention sparkly, but our to-do lists grow longer by the day as we strive to fulfill all requests and invent some that aren’t even there. We become more keenly aware of what and where real “need” is and what and where it is not, and we try our best to pay attention in the best ways we can.
But, thank goodness, I am learning that today is also a day to catch a little break.
My husband, now enjoying a well-deserved sabbatical from daily duties as a bishop, kindly lets me know that the Latin term “Gaudate” is associated with this day in church, and I suppose, elsewhere too. It comes from this passage in Philippians 4: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.” It’s also the day that the third Advent candle, the pink one that stands out among the others, is first lit.
And you’ll love this: “Gaudate” is apparently also the root word for our more familiar term “gaudy” — not a word we generally use in conjunction with anything sacrosanct. But maybe today, anyway, it’s OK to be a little showy, if not show-offy.
Sticking to that theme, I will be so bold as to offer here a link here to a new publication, in which I am proud to be represented. No, the book is not done, but a little section of it is.
Soon after moving here five and a half years ago, I needed to figure out where I might start finding community in this new place. Meeting the neighbors (the ones most receptive to newcomers) was the first obvious way; signing up with a tennis team was another; and finding and joining a group of local writers was a third.
The New Hampshire Writers Project, a non-profit literary arts organization, launched a program not that long ago in various towns around the state called “Writers’ Night Out.” It’s simple and quite casual: the idea is for writers toiling in their own little warrens most of the time (when they’re not earning salaries at regular jobs) to come together once a month for the purpose of congeniality as well as general sharing of experiences and resources. Since I’ve been attending the Concord meetings, we’ve changed locations a few times, and individuals have come and gone, but the heartbeat of the group continues to be about providing mutual support.
Writing sure can be lonely, and anything like rejoicing with tangible results (i.e, publication) infrequent, so this way of coming together is definitely welcome.
Most attendees are writing fiction, many deep in fantasy, so the fact that I’m working on a memoir seems a tad unusual. Last year, I couldn’t attend at all because of my weekly Monday evening treks into Boston; now, my first-week-of-the-month conundrum has to do with whether I’m a) too tired from a day of teaching or 2) more eager to play tennis than sit down for an hour, no matter how interesting the company.
Without further ado, and perhaps with rose-colored glasses on, I offer to you a link to the free online version (it is also available in print, from Amazon) of the anthology that was recently published from our group. It includes a short chapter called “In the Garden” from my book-under-construction. This chapter comes early in the memoir about my evolution as a clergy spouse; it is about a favorite place from my childhood.
I am grateful to everyone who worked hard to put this anthology together, most especially Ian Rogers, who is now safely teaching in Japan, as I understand it. You will see his Introduction in the opening pages. Over the holidays, I look forward to savoring all of the other submissions here; my fellow writers have worked hard on them, I know.
Taking a cue from the cover of the book, a photo of the dazzling sculpture that was underground between wings at the National Gallery of Art, I wish you all a thousand glimmers of light through your holiday season! And thank you, readers.
http://www.nhwritersproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Concord-Writers-Night-Out-Anthology-2018.pdf