Post 184

Sunday, 20 May, 2018

Do you have unfinished business?

Have you considered picking up where you left off?

Did you abandon something?

Do you want to do a re-do?

Did you say, YES?

I suggest you pick up where you left off.

Of course, your unfinished business  is different, in some ways, but it will keep a promise you made to yourself. I am doing this myself.

I am picking up where I left off nearly eleven years ago.

In October 2007, I lost most of my sight

due to Ischemic Optic Neuropathy.

I was right in the middle of my first SABBATICAL – I had never stopped long enough to take a Sabbatical. Finally, I was working on a project that I wanted to do for a long time.

I was learning how to do Medieval Bead Work and doing research in a variety of museums across the country. In a day, it all changed.

Instead of completing  my Sabbatical project, I had to begin to learn how to live all over again. I mean the smallest and most ordinary kind of things. Sudden sight loss left me unable to do the most ordinary or personal activities. It seemed like I was a lost soul.

I was fortunate to attend the Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services in Pittsburgh the following year.

I completed the training for Personal Adjustment to Blindness, the following year. I learned again how to use a computer.  My training took almost 2 intensive years of difficult work.  Little by little, I figured out how to return to the creative life of making art and writing.

This summer, nearly eleven years after the main event, I am finally getting to take a Sabbatical. It’s not the one I planned to do in 2007;  it’s one that works for me at this time in my career. Yes. I am still a professional and I still have a career which I spent my life developing. I am still the self-motivated and dedicated artist and writer I have always been.

What changed?

The way I do my creative work changed.

I’ve just completed my 3rd full-length book. Star Signs: New and Selected Poems is completed  after almost 2 years of daily writing. This book has sixty-one poems.

I’ve had 2 other full-length books published since I lost my sight in 2007.

I wrote all of my books after rehabilitation training.

My latest book is ready to begin sending out to perspective editors and publishers this summer.

In addition, I also wrote my first chapbook, which I called “first snow.”

This year is exciting because I have two new works to send out for publication opportunities.

Beginning June 1st

I’ll be on SABBATICAL.

I have 2 projects to pursue.

#1: I’ll be working in my fibers studio to create new wall pieces and new talismans.

#2: I’ll be sending out my 2 new book/chapbook manuscripts to editors and publishers.

It’s hard to say where my 2 projects will take me. I think of this as a grand adventure.

All I know is that I have unfinished business.

It is exciting to see where I will be on June 1, 2019.

Maybe you need to think about taking a SABBATICAL, too.

Let me know how that works for you. OK?

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