Happy Labor Day Weekend!

This holiday reminds me of my goal of restful productivity. I still fail at it—often and miserably—but I keep practicing.

In early spring, I was trying really, really hard to take one day off each week. One chilly, Sabbath afternoon, I cozied up with tea and a stack of art books, and I had an idea. That idea became The Word-Painting Project: a subscription series of ten little poem-paintings of encouragement. I created one each day during a June writing retreat, made prints of the ten designs, and then mailed each batch to subscribers every week for ten weeks over the summer. Despite some postal glitches, it was fun to do, and I was heartened to receive photos of people’s prints lining their window sills and hanging on their walls. It was like one, big encouragement loop!

That project culminated in a salon & exhibit at the end of my recent writing residency in San Francisco. In fact, I mailed the last batch of prints from the mailbox on the street corner near the Noe Valley studio where I stayed. That was a lovely feeling.

I often have to encourage myself to rest. Paradoxically, from that place of rest comes the ideas and energy for the work that I love and love to share.

In the spirit of sharing, I’d like to give you a free print—that Word-Painting at the top of this newsletter. You can download it here. Print it, share it—whatever you like!

My residency was at the wonderful, new WordSpaceStudios in San Francisco. While there, I was able to finally gather together the ideas for a little nonfiction project that had been simmering away in a file for years. And so, while my poetry manuscript is off looking for a home, I am finishing up Living Large on Little: How a Poet Sees Limitation as Invitation. You can find a teaser from the intro on my Wordbody blog. And save the date this November 9 for a multi-level celebration (5-7 pm at Miners’ Bazaar in Jacksonville). More info to come.

And then…

…last but certainly not least, we were thrilled to release the anthology, Deep Travel: Souvenirs from the Inner Journey. We held the launch the night before the annual Travel Writers & Photographers Conference at the flagship BookPassage in Corte Madera, California. The book compiles writings from five years of workshops and 44 contributors…16 of whom traveled to read for the launch (they’re pictured above). It was a big labor of love to help gather these voices together, but so very worth it.

I could sum up this summer in two words: labor & play. Here’s to creating space in both to rest and dream.

With joy,

Anna

Upcoming

Vignettes in the Vineyard

Friday, 11 October, 3-5 pm at Red Lily Vineyards (Applegate Valley, OR) This third annual writing workshop is back! I’ll be teaching the same course, so if you missed it in the past, join me this year during the peak of autumn leaves in the iconic Red Lily barn.
 Deep Travel Mexico

16-22 January 2020 (Yelapa, Mexico) It’s a winter tradition! This will be our fifth workshop of writing and practicing the art of tranquilo in a car-free village on the Bay of Banderas. Register at DeepTravelWorkshops.com.

Deep Travel Paris

4-10 April 2020 (Paris, France) We’re thrilled to hold our first workshop in the City of Light! Get ready to spend time in the parks, museums, and cafés of this delicious city that always inspires the artist’s life. Register at DeepTravelWorkshops.com.