A path too good to walk alone
I feel like I have been neglecting Medium, both with writing posts and reading those of the people I care for. Big Time. Only my days have been so filled with good stuff of the hands-on-and-running-around kind that when I finally manage to sit down for a quiet moment, I don’t have the energy left, neither mental nor physical, to write more than a few lines.
I promise I’ll make up for it — some lull is bound to come sooner or later — and please take my word for it that if I have stopped applauding your posts it doesn’t mean I have stopped caring. I just want to be able to give people my full attention, and if I can’t, I’d rather not tune in at all.
I’ll admit this is quite a change from last year. Up until the summer I was writing, posting and reading others’ work on this platform almost continuously. And I do miss that. But all that is happening right now, is also very good for me, in a different way.
Those of you who have followed my path since my arrival on Medium (the faithful Cowbird crowd, you lovely people I have grown close to thanks to your continuous comments and support, and for whom I have tried to do the same), and a number of other dear readers, will surely know what I have been gradually building for the better part of two years: an investment in language and literature that provides a home to my heart, a servitude to Soul and my life’s path, a need to step out into the world weaving words and magic into a tapestry that is both art and commitment to something higher.
A lot of this I have been able to accomplish through the Sapling collaboration with friend and illustrator Jurgen Walschot. In the course of two years we have grown into true traveling companions, getting to know each other very well along the way, at difficult times entrusting the other with both the map and the compass. Another part of it is a solo journey, which has lead me to unexepected and challenging horizons all my own.
I am enjoying every step of this journey, even if, at times, it is fraught with doubts, uncertainty and foolish hopes. Over the course of the last two years I have experienced the feeling of coming into my own, filling my spot in the world, taking my place and owning my power.
I still have so much to learn. But for the first time in my life, I have the feeling that I can do it from a place of strength and joy, instead of one of doubt, struggle and paralyzing insecurity.
STROOM is out into the world, like I wrote.
Today Jurgen and I were in Velthoven (the Netherlands) for the entire day, at a comic book fair where we were very much the outsiders, but sold a number of copies nonetheless, to a truly interested and engaged audience.
In less than two weeks we are officially presenting our work to the world, followed by yet another comic book fair in the Brussels City Center immediately afterwards. And by mid-September, we’re on a plane to Sweden, for the author’s residency we have been looking forward to most of this year.
All at the same time there are negotiations and very concrete steps towards another new children’s book, planned for next year’s fall.
And driving back in the car from Velthoven this afternoon, we had very lively, creative ideas for at least one, perhaps two, more stories or projects…
There are times that feel like the winter of your life, when everything is patiently abiding in the dark, not really evolving and waiting for the light to help it unfold at last. And then there are times when everything is in full bloom all at once, and you don’t really know where to look first for there is more to taste and smell and touch than you have senses to cater for.
All I can do, is enjoy this ride. And I am enjoying it very, very much.
I only hope that, by posting a little update here now and then, I can somehow take you along on part of that journey.
A path this good is no place to walk alone.
