For me, July is over. Yes, it’s only the 29th, but all my obligations are finally over. Truly, this must count as the busiest July ever. On the 3rd, I sang a beautiful arrangement of I Am Not Afraid because, well, I loved the irony. There I was, knees vibrating like a tuning fork, chirping out “I am not afraid!” while I thought, “Really now, who are you kidding?” Unbeknownst to me at the time, the performance was being recorded. I’ve seen the DVD and thankfully my jitteriness hardly shows at all!
The following two Sundays, I preached and led worship at our little Presbyterian church, and both services were very well received. The congregation at my little kirk has always been amazingly supportive of me and I’m just delighted to soak in it, my little hot tub of affirmation!
Last Sunday, I led a writers’ workshop which went swimmingly! And by the by, Robert Earl Stewart is leading the workshop a week from Sunday, August 7th, at Bump Maternity Shop, 1719 Wyandotte E. Windsor, and you don’t want to miss it! Details at vanessashields.posterous.com.
Interspersed with all that preaching/teaching stuff, I facilitated three interviews for a colleague of mine who is researching her fifth book. Fifth! More details on that a little later. I underwent a small medical procedure to remove a cyst from my back and attended two heartbreaking memorial services, one for a long-time member of our church, and the other for the 27 year old son-in-law of our organist.
So I am now officially on holidays. My body has been sending me definite signals that it doesn’t appreciate all this upheaval, never mind that I got it all out of the way in just one month, nor does it like my sly attempts to substitute energy bars for real meals with real food. So I will spend the next month repenting my sins and returning to my writing. An idea for a flash fiction story is floating around in my head, and then I hope to continue with my great Canadian novel. Stay tuned for updates!
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