Transitions – a new review, farewell to a friend, and the importance of taking time out
- At September 13, 2015
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In Blog
- 2
Well, first of all, thanks to L.A. Lanier for this new review of The Robot Scientist’s Daughter up at The Spark, The Alternating Current’s blog: Seriously, I am grateful for each and every new review that comes in!
Last night was a get-together, a kind of Bon Voyage party, for my good friend Kelly Davio, who is moving, alas, to London. (Here is her exit interview from the Seattle Review of Books: http://seattlereviewofbooks.com/notes/2015/09/09/exit-interview-kelly-davio-is-moving-to-london/) It was nice to hang out, but sad to say goodbye to someone who is so full of good energy and has been such a force in the literary world. It was also probably our last 80-something day, one of those long Indian summer days. I woke up and this morning it was in the sixties and raining.
I am taking time out, after the stress of selling our house, looking for a new house, then walking away from our last house after a bad inspection, after all the crap going on the literary world, to go to a writing residency on San Juan Island. I haven’t done this for some years, and I’m looking forward to having time without TV, phone, or (maybe?) internet. But if I don’t get back to you, that’s why. I’m hoping when we come home we find a house, I’ll come back with some new poems and some more progress on my “PR for Poets” book, maybe a good look at my book of poetry in progress on apocalypses and disasters. I will have time to read books for fun (not just for reviews and blurbs) and maybe do some sketching (I’m an absolutely terrible artist, but I enjoy it.) I’m hoping, since it’s September, we’ll even see some whales! I’ll be on the lookout for porpoises, otters, seals, golden eagles, foxes and rabbits (all of which I’ve seen before on San Juan Island.) If my significant other and I were both free of needing to see doctors and go to work, it’s definitely a place I would buy a house.
I think it’s important for writers, visual artists, and other creative types to take time out from their “regular lives” to deal with their art at least for a week once a decade at least, right? It can be a week, or a month, or six weeks, or a whole summer if you can afford to do that. There are so many residencies that you can apply for (See this list for some ideas: http://thewritelife.com/writing-residencies/#.oxkna1:m4F)
I like this one, on San Juan Island at U.W.’s Whiteley Center, because it affords a kitchen as well as a dining hall (so I can make my own food, because of those pesky food allergies) and it has handicapped-accessible cabins. Plus it has a working field station! And it’s only a few hours away from home, but is remote enough to definitely feel like you’ve gotten away from normal life. So wish me some luck and some quiet down time and some creative spark.
Jessie Carty
Enjoy the retreat! That is something I’ve never done, and someday I hope to 🙂
Lissa Clouser
I’m so happy you are taking some time away to refill your own creative well. I think even non-creative people sometimes need to ‘hit the reset button’. We all do. “Life”, as beautiful as it is, gets overwhelming, and taking pause does wonders for the mind, heart, and soul. Enjoy!
I’m actually about to take my own retreat for a few days. My writer’s group tries to go away once every one or two years to spend some quality time with each other and quality time with our respective arts. We have rented a beautiful cabin a few hours from home to take a rest and breathe in some much-needed nature. I hope the creative spark finds us too!