Faith is the bird that feels the light

Hello again. No news on the memoir. I’ve been affirming positive thoughts of publication and agents and wonderful wild adventures in the literary world, and I’m now calling on the assistance of archangels and my Dutch ancestors and whoever else I can muster to help bring my publishing dreams to reality. I know I’m sounding a little ‘hippy-trippy’ here, but keeping the faith during this time is probably one of the biggest tests of my life. Each day I recite a quote by Rabindranath Tagore that a friend sent me recently: Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark. So, even though it’s hard and dark some days, I’m still singing because I reckon my turn is coming … very soon. As I said in my last post: I need to keep trusting in the universe.

With that in mind, I’ve been ‘following the signs’ and it seems the universe is telling me to go to Barcelona in 2014. I’ve been offered time to do some research and writing at two fabulous artist residencies: Jiwar Creation & Society in Barcelona, and Can Serrat in El Bruc. All I need now is some funding … but as Julia Cameron says in The Artist’s Way – ‘Leap and the net will appear.’ Thoughts of this trip are also a great incentive for me to have my PhD finished by November, and I’m going to reach my submission goal this time.

Closer to home, I’ve finally managed to settle in at the BackTrack Shed. Like a new dog entering an established pack, I wasn’t quite sure of my role at first, but I think I’ve worked it out now. My day at the BackTrack School brings a lot of light into my life, and the other teacher and I are having a heap of fun with the boys – who have shown themselves to be talented artists and singers and writers and sportsmen. I’m taking a few weeks off soon to go to Varuna Writers’ House for the fellowship retreat I was awarded last year. Armed with new pens, paper and cardboard, I’m planning to try Anne Reilly’s ‘Varuna blah’ method again to write a first draft of an exciting new project. Then, when I return home, I’ll put the new draft in the drawer and get back to my similarly exciting exegesis. Until next time …

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