Happy Holidays, Friends!
The short answer is Ohio, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Massachusetts,
New York, writing a novel-in-stories, completing my Yoga Teacher Training, reworking
my business, teaching leadership at OSU, writing short articles on leadership
and alternative health, attending family events, and wishing I had more time to
do more of all of it.
Time is of the essence, and I am realizing right now, as I
write this, that I miss blogging. I miss connecting with those of you I know
and those of you who happen here and read this for a few minutes instead of
clicking on that latest story about the comb-over fascist, our melting planet, the new "hot" personal
robot, autonomous car fatalities, or cool tricks you can teach a pet raccoon.
The last year has been elucidating in many (sometimes
painful) ways. I put my writing ambitions in perspective, realizing that I am
not a writer, but a person who explores the world through writing. This has enabled me to be patient as I accept my personal writing journey.
Sounds defeatist
to some writers, I know, but the fact is, it’s quite the opposite. Saying “I’m
a writer” is all fine and good, affirming and all that, but it’s not what’s
important. I was getting addicted to the title and subsequent baggage and
forgetting the value of the art itself. This realization led to a new energy
around my writing, and though my writing time has been limited, it’s been incredibly
rewarding. More so than it has been in ten years.
What else, what else…
Well, I’ve adopted a daily yoga practice that morphed into a
yoga teacher training experience (that I had no time for) that is morphing into
active yoga instruction. And this + writing = my evolution.
Thank you to JMWW
for posting my philosophical meanderings, Sivana East and Elephant Journal for publishing new
essays. Thank you to Curious
Fictions for allowing me a small income from recent stories.
I now offer meditations and yoga for writers (and all) on a
modest and very homespun YouTube channel, and I have begun writing coaching
again with an emphasis on CREATING SPACE through art. I offer writing and yoga
workshops, along with my coaching practice, but I have refined the way I work,
so that I can offer a more customized and intense writing support system to
each client. I also decided that video conferences are helpful for online students,
so I am integrating video modules.
It’s rewarding work so far. It always was, but it feels
richer somehow. I love to see people learn to own their voices and release
expectations. In doing so, the payoff is pretty great. J
I am looking forward to Portland in March to meet up with
writer friends new and old. I will be on the outskirts of things (off-site
events the whole way) because that’s how I roll.
Cheers for now.
xo Jen
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