Well, the conference is over and done and I'm still reeling.
I learned so much before lunch on Monday!
My presentation was well-received; half a dozen people came to me to tell me how glad they were to have heard me. Gratifying. Means my message isn't a load of crap (self-doubt creeping in...) Next day, had others telling me they wished they'd sat in on my presentation. Ah! Positive reviews, then.
Now I have to sift through the whirl of thoughts in my head and settle them down into coherent ideas for the future. Woke up in the middle of the night last night thinking, "AST!" As in Atlantic School of Theology. Not to attend but to speak at. Realized my talk, my ideas, my stories are cross-disciplinary.
But I know better than to leap forward without focus, without a stopping place. I know to sit still and be open and wait for revelation.
I know to get a good night's sleep tonight!!

Taken, and tweeted, by Michelle at the Alz. Society.

Closing Remarks

  

After -- we look relaxed now!

I'm back! Briefly.
You can blame Facebook and Twitter for giving me new venues for writing --- but I've also been neglecting my work-related blog as well. My brain is so consumed by my presentation for the Alzheimer Society conference IN TWO WEEKS! that other creative writing is suppressed.
Too, a lot of the writing I might normally put on a blog gets jotted down in my notebook as column ideas. Two columns a month based on personal experience means I have to keep the ideas flowing. I'm hoping once November arrives, I'll be able to open up and write some more.
Who am I kidding? Come November, I'm going through the manuscript again -- more editing, more tweaking -- and starting the pitch to agents again. Depending on how that goes, I'll pitch in November or start fresh in the new year. So many decisions to make.
And I keep thinking about the novel I started...but I realized my strongest writing is my non-fiction so I'm sticking with my long-time plan: to write fiction when I can devote all my time to learning and executing the craft. To cram it in while I'm working on other projects just doesn't suit me. I am not a writer who can work on a myriad of projects at once.
I think fondly of my first years here when I could post blogs entries every day. Where did all that purely creative expression go?

I am meeting with a successful author, a naturalist writer, who I greatly admire -- and who thinks I'm a good writer who should publish book! Thinks my work deserves a bigger audience than that of the newspaper's readership. So who knows what will come out of that meeting? That's a few days after the conference.

Beautiful autumn day here along the River Philip. Sunny, warm and very colourful.
I'm working on the first draft of my presentation so am now going to take a break -- had to have a cry to get the emotions out; I'm determined not to get emotional while giving this presentation so I imagine there will be many micro-crying sessions in the next couple of weeks! The dogs and I will go for a mind-clearing, heart-strengthening walk to the woods and back.
Need to do my neck stretches, too. All this writing is great but it's breaking my body down!