65,000 words

Some days, it pays to get out of bed.

A large packet came in today’s mail. It included three “author courtesy copies” of the fall-winter issue of Oregon Humanities Journal. Check the table of contents and you’ll find a personal essay by yours truly: “Magical Roots,” about being a Pagan in a mostly non-Pagan world. The treatment in the journal is gorgeous. There’s a lovely Tree of Life superimposed underneath the essay, and to one side is a large Celtic cross. I'm thrilled with how beautiful it looks.

(If anyone thinks they might like to take a look at the essay, go to the Oregon Humanities site and submit your name and address. They’ll mail you a copy for free! It’s a really interesting journal, always with a central theme. The current theme is “Belief.”)

But the day continued to get even better. Some of you know that I’m in the process of doing a lot of writing in associated with the Grey School, including submitting proposals for books to be part of the Grey School “Arcanum” teaching library. Well, today I was notified by the man who I suppose is now my agent (!) that one of my proposals had been accepted! I will be writing a book on the history, lore, art, and magical traditions of “Gargoyles” for New Page Books. It’s due next September—all 65,000 words. Can you believe it? I'm writing a book! Now I have a big, scary contract to read and sign, decisions on illustrators to make, research to do, etc.

Author-in-day. Go figure. Truly, sometimes I look at where I am and what’s happening in my life, and I think of everything I’ve done and how far I’ve come and how each little piece has fit into just the right place to get me here, and…. It’s amazing.

As Shelby Foote once said, “I’ll stop when they hold me down.” Until then, some days it really pays to get out of bed.

P.S. Last night, I registered the domain name "Writingdownthemoon.com." It's something I've been thinking about doing for awhile-- I got the inspiration and the final prod from Jonathan (thanks, JF!). The domain name is now all mine for the next 2 years. Maybe I'll be able to get some use out of it--a place to list all two of my publications!