Writing a Novel in the Midst of Studio Haze

Several years ago my good friend Bill Gould encouraged me to join this project, and I never had the time.  This year I have decided to try and participate and write a novel based on the period in my life when my first husband Kent died. I am very interested in the "thinness" between this world and the next. The things I experienced through his final months of life and his transition from this life to the next changed me profoundly.  The guidelines and other information provided through this project will hopefully help me create the daily discipline to write about these life altering experiences for the first time. Please check out the site http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/about when you have time.



I have been out of the studio for the past month as my new part time job with Canadian Tire has been taking up a good deal of my time.  Finding a part-time job for 20-25 hours a week has made an amazing difference in our cash flow,  but the concentrated studio time I long for has all but disappeared in the push and pull of retail work scheduling. I do love the job though-it is like being an air traffic controller for the store. Working at the customer service desk in Deep River, I answer the phone, complete refunds, run the cash, and help with a myriad of small retail oriented tasks. The days fly by, my co-workers are amazingly wonderful, kind, informative, and have wonderful senses of humor. I could not have landed in a better place for part-time work.

This weekend I am participating with Valley Artisans' Co-op in the Arts and Crafts Fair 2012 in Deep River. We will have a large display along one side of the gym at MacKenzie Community School. Leslie White has been busily organizing all the infrastructure for our display units and co-op members are working in their studios to produce more work to sell. We will have hand dyed silk scarves, jewelry, pottery, fabric arts, glass arts, beading arts, wood crafts, handmade books, paintings, calligraphy and more, as well as an amazing assortment of greeting cards for sale.

Valley Artisans' Co-op is well-known in our area for producing some of the finest greeting cards, with a wide variety of styles and sizes, for the discerning correspondent. This fair is a wonderful opportunity to stock up for holiday giving and also for your own  winter correspondence needs. There is nothing like a hand written card!




As the rain continues to pour, and the leaves finish their journey to the ground, my heart calls me to the studio. I want to be making books and printing, cutting letters in slate, and so much more. Fall is usually a time when I hunker down to concentrated creative time in the studio. Working will change that routine, but the passion remains the same. When I think about the tragedy in the states resulting from Sandy, the fragile, precious nature of our lives and the thinness between this world and the next is made more clear to me in a tangible way.

I welcome precious gift of studio time today, and know in my heart, that all will be well, and all will be well, with the grace and love of God in her wisdom for her gift of time, all will be well.