“I am working very hard every day to bring this book into the world, and she is helping me step by step.”

I started this blog several years ago and it’s gone through more than a few iterations. First, I wrestled with WordPress. After a yearlong battle, I found Squarespace, and then I found Bre. Actually, I’ve known Bre for a long time, since the day she first walked into the company Jennifer and I founded more than a decade ago – Think Joule it’s now called, but in those days, it was ImageINK. She was image and I was INK. Bre was our first employee and continues to support Jennifer and the mission of Think Joule today; Jennifer has been the sole owner since I retired, and the company is growing and thriving under her leadership. Anyway, Bre made it real. She listened to me and asked me questions so that the blog would represent what I wanted to express to the world. What I wanted to do was to write more personally and, eventually, I wanted to write a book. She built a framework where pieces that might one day become part of the book had their own section: Before I Forget: The Book and where random thoughts and musings could be found: INK and where my thoughts about my struggles with my faith would live: Homilies from the Heart. It also had a section where I could post my photos, a hobby I really enjoy: Images. And so, I was off.

It has been both thrilling and terrifying to send my words out into the world and I appreciate each and every person who has taken the time to read from my blog and to support my efforts. Along the way, in an effort to improve my writing, I wandered into a class here in Sun Valley, and into the very experienced and talented and creative hands of a writer that has opened my eyes and my mind to the practice of writing, of telling stories, of finding a voice – my voice. After several months of taking her class, I asked if she might work with me individually on my book. She said yes, and everything changed. I am working very hard every day to bring this book into the world and she is helping me step by step. It is a far more demanding process than I ever could have imagined, although I have heard many writers talk about what a lonely and difficult path it is to tell your own story, and to tell it well. I am grateful every day to be doing this work. I haven’t been posting on the blog because I needed to take a break from it to get into the rhythm of writing down my story. I have spent the better part of the last 3 months building a schedule that supports my work and I am more confident now about what needs to be done. Of course, I am in the very beginning now, but I am so thrilled to be started. I’m going to go back to posting now, stories mostly unconnected to the work of the book, except that I am finding that almost everything is connected to it, because it’s connected to my life. Thanks for checking in from time to time and let me hear from you.