Dearest Darlin’ Ones,
When in Italy last fall, I got more than just delectable vino and gelato: I got clarity about some life purpose things. One of those was that I had a new book to write.
So here’s the secret…I’ve been rising by 5am to lay the track on a spiritual memoir before heading to my day job. The working title: A Priest Walks Into a Waffle House. (Fingers crossed that we can keep the title; it will depend on the publisher and Waffle House Legal.)
My long-suffering agent has been promised a slew of sample chapters by the end of the summer. I crave your prayers and good thoughts for this project and have a reminder posted in my shed that reads, “Write your heart out and your ass off.”
Above all, I thank you for staying with me on this marvelous, unorthodox ride. I’ve never followed the expected path in any facet of my life. When they say to zig, I zag. When they told me I must produce a follow-up to The Cracker Queen within a certain amount of time, I panicked…and then yawned because other things were calling–such as teaching and mentoring aspiring writers, including incarcerated youth and women.
I’ll be sharing tidbits from the new book and progress reports with you here. But I won’t do it often, as the magic might leak out. More talk equals less progress.
PS: You are my treasured tribe, and when I’m in the writing shed in those predawn hours, I sometimes say a little prayer of gratitude for each and every one of you. I hope in some sense that you feel it.
