Happy 2021!

Welcome to 2021! I hope this year is a blessed year for you full of love, peace, gratitude, and joy. I am grateful to have weathered 2020 well in all aspects and hope the same can be said for you and your loved ones.

2020 was a quiet writing year for me. I continued to write a poem per day and hit the…7? year mark in November of writing a poem per day every day. However, submitting my poetry for publication is not currently a priority for me, and despite continuing to write, I made no journal submissions. This is always subject to change, but I’m currently committed to other ventures and feel positive about the decision to cease submissions for now.

One of my goals for 2020 was to complete revisions of my current book project, The Seven Way Path. This is the working title of a nonfiction book I have been thinking about, writing, and revising for quite a number of years. Its inception even predates Turning Turf. I received some excellent feedback on the book in 2019, and work on the revisions was well underway and definitely on track for completion when my creative focus shifted. This change of focus allowed space for fresh ideas, and I am excited to return to the book’s revision in 2021 with this altered perspective and vision.

In 2020, I founded Standing Stones Healing Co. to support and encourage people through life changes with healing experiences, coaching, and encouragement. I am very excited to offer support in these ways, and this new venture has been and will continue to be the focus of my writing and creative efforts. Please feel free to check out my work for Standing Stones Healing Co.

Thank you for visiting this site. Best wishes to you for a wonderful 2021!

Love in the Time of Corona

Love travels farther than six feet.  Love knows no limits, love has no bounds, and love can traverse the distance between us.  Never was this more evident or more important than now.  In my current book project on how to live with more awareness, connection, and meaning, I write that, if you travel far enough away from the Earth, we are just a far off point of light, a single dot in the enveloping darkness and that this dot of us is the ultimate proof that we are all one.  Our current experience is another point of proof in this truth:  we are all in this together, we are all one.  My wish for us individually and collectively is that, as we struggle through this experience, we approach it, ourselves, and each other with love, compassion, understanding, kindness, peace.  My hope is that we increase our capacity for these things and use this experience as an opportunity to grow in awareness, realize our connectedness, and create positive individual and collective meaning from it.  The love you send out will traverse any distance, and a mere six feet is no match for love.

Greetings!

Greetings, all. I hope this message finds you well. My apologies for not updating sooner, as life has been full of lots of great activities.

As an update, I read from Turning Turf  and played my whistle for the Joseph Priestley Memorial Chapel’s first Sunday morning poetry and music series in September. I have been attending this series for nearly two years and was honored to be invited to participate. I will again be the featured poet and musician in September 2020. Many thanks to Tom Bresenhan for organizing the event with additional thanks to Hope, Sam, and George.

In 2019, I also had the opportunity to serve as a first reader for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in the nonfiction category. Though none of the texts I reviewed was a finalist, I was happy to participate in this prestigious prize. Thank you to Winona Wendth for recommending me to the committee. I have been invited to participate again this year and am looking forward to reviewing some wonderful new works.

I continue to revise my second book, which is going to be much stronger thanks to the great feedback from Christine Cote at Shanti Arts. Revisions are slow, but I am looking forward to getting it out into the world.

I also continue to write a poem per day and hit the…9? 10? (I’ve lost count) year mark this past November. I am again grateful that I am still able to make it to the page every day. I do not cease to be amazed by the blessings of my life.

Thank you, and best wishes!

Change of Season

Hello, and thank you for visiting.  2018 was a busy year with numerous wonderful changes in my life, including a change of view.  I am looking forward to another great year in 2019 and wish you a wonderful year, as well.

In all of the excitement of 2018, I did not have a single piece published.  Indeed, I did not submit a single piece.  However, I do continue to write every day and marked seven years of writing a poem per day in November.  I consider myself incredibly blessed to be able to carve out the time for a poem, even if it’s just a quick dash, no matter the circumstances over the past several years.  What’s more, I consider myself very fortunate to have had circumstances that haven’t prohibited it.  In other words, it’s a blessing to be alive and healthy.

I continue to slowly, every so slowly revise my second book, which is a non-fiction work focused on a seven step process for creating a more meaningful life.  Many thanks to my rough draft readers who have provided invaluable feedback.  I have a couple of appropriate publishers in mind to submit to, but have not finished preparing the manuscript for submission.  I had an excellent experience with Shanti Arts and Christine Cote in the publishing of Turning Turf and am very happy with that process and the product, but am also considering alternatives to the traditional publishing route.  I would actually like to take this opportunity to again thank Christine for all of her amazing work.

Finally, I will be reading from Turning Turf this fall at the Joseph Priestley Chapel in Northumberland, PA.  Details will be forthcoming.

Thank you, all.  I hope you had a wonderful 2018 and that 2019 is filled with joy, peace, kindness, and creativity for you.

Upcoming Events

Greetings, all, and thank you for visiting.  I’m excited to announce that I’ll be making a few appearances in the near future.  I’m looking forward to spending St. Patrick’s Day with the residents of Leominster Crossings as I read from Turning Turf and play a few tunes on the whistle for their social gathering.  I’ve greatly enjoyed volunteering at assisted living facilities in the past and am happy to be sharing the day with the residents.

You can find me at the Bigelow library in Clinton on April 22nd for the Home Grown Author Fair.  I had a great reading of Turning Turf at the Bigelow a couple of years ago and am looking forward to being a part of this great event along with other area writers.  You can learn more information on the library’s website.  I will also be a part of the Seven Bridge Writers Collaborative local author fair on May 5th at Lancaster’s Thayer Memorial Library.  Many thanks to both libraries and the Seven Bridge board.

I have also finally finished a full rough draft of my next book, a non-fiction work about how to have more meaning in your life.  The idea for the book was formulated ten years ago and predates Turning Turf’s inception by a number of years, but I only applied myself in earnest over the past nine months when I’ve been fortunate to have the time to devote to it.  Emphasis is on the “rough,” so I’ll be making needed improvements and getting feedback from select readers.

Thank you for stopping by and reading, and best wishes!

Welcome, 2018!

Greetings, happy New Year, and thank you for visiting my site.  With all of the billions of sites you could be on right now, you’re visiting mine, and I appreciate your time and attention.

I have returned from my latest trip to England, and you can view some of the photos on my England 2 page.  Many thanks to all those who helped to make it an amazing trip, particularly the parishioners of St. Margaret’s in Canterbury for the warm welcome (and pudding, coffee, and lovely conversation), Daphne Reese for the personal stained glass tour of Canterbury Cathedral, Simon Lockwood for special access to the bell tower, the Roman Baths staff for special access, the Wells Cathedral staff, and Vida O’Sullivan and all of the friendly and helpful staff members at the places I stayed in Bath, Canterbury, and London.  I also visited Glastonbury, Wells, and Dover, and though I had expected to get to a few more places, I was too busy enjoying myself where I was.  A third visit will be in order in the future.

2018 is upon us, and my hope for this coming year is that we each work to create more kindness, respect, peace, love, and gratitude in our own lives.  This is not an easy task, but each moment is a new opportunity to choose love.  Please join me in consciously working to create a better world through our everyday interactions:  it’s the seemingly small things that add up to big things.  Thank you, and best wishes for a peaceful, loving 2018 full of kindness and gratitude.

 

The Next Adventure

Hello, everyone, and thank you for visiting my site.  I am excited and grateful to announce that I am again going abroad for an extended period of time.  This time, I am confining my travels to England because I determined that I did not spend enough time there on my way through in 2013, particularly in London.  It was tough to choose it over a fifth visit to Ireland, but I have been meaning to revisit London and some English places I missed.  Now is the time.

In November, I will hit the five year mark of writing a poem per day.  I gave only a brief consideration to stopping at the completion of this year.  At this point, writing a poem each day is such an integral part of my life and such a compulsion that I don’t want to stop.  So I’ll keep going until I want to stop, if/when that occurs.  And if I happen to miss a day due to some unforeseen circumstance, know for certain that I’ll pick up my pen and meet the page again the next day.

Thanks to all of you for your support of my creative endeavors and your well wishes on this next adventure.  I will return armed with plenty of photos for an England 2 page…that hopefully will get posted sooner than the 2013 photos did.

Thank you, and best wishes!

Still Point Arts Review and MSPS Contests

Hello, everyone.  Thank you for stopping by.  As I mentioned in my last post, I had three photographs published in the most recent edition of Still Point Arts Quarterly.  You can find it here.  Please also check out the review of the edition by Katy Haas at New Pages.  Many thanks to Christine Cote for the opportunity and Katy Haas for her coverage.

I have also recently won prizes in four contests in this year’s Massachusetts State Poetry Society competitions, including a first place prize.  In addition to submitting, I sponsored the William Butler Yeats Award for a poem about Ireland and awarded first, second, and third place prizes.  Congratulations to the winners, particularly Barbara Blanks for her first place prize.  Thanks to all who submitted and allowed me to read your work.

Thanks!

 

The Art of Structure Exhibit

Hello, everyone.  I’m excited to announce that three of my photographs have been chosen for Still Point Art Gallery’s exhibition entitled “The Art of Structure.”  You can view my images (Neuschwanstein, Radcliffe Door, and St. David’s) on the Still Point website until October 31st.

The images will also be featured in the Still Point Arts Quarterly.  Print editions can be purchased on the Still Point website.

Many thanks to Christine Cote of Still Point Art Gallery.  Christine is also the founder of Shanti Arts, publisher of my book Turning Turf.

Walking Tour Reading

Hello, all.  I’m excited to be participating in this year’s Massachusetts Walking Tour reading at the Lancaster town green concert on Friday, June 30th.  I’ll be reading a few of my poems along with the brilliant James B. Nicola and the amazing Karen Sharpe.  Music by Wolfpen will follow. See the Mass Walking Tour website for more information. Join us at 6:00 for a great evening!