I was an early adapter to blogging and enjoyed the creative outlet for most of the 2000s. However, when I set up The Lilies Project, I found it very hard to continue. I didn’t want it to appear that I was attempting to speak for an entire group. It was as if I lost my voice. It was my job to serve as a leader and find consensus. So my habit of writing fell to the wayside, along with the shift towards people posting primarily on social media. This is an attempt to get back into the habit of sharing some of my more personal pondering through my creative journey with The Lilies Project and beyond.
This week I started reading Ann Patchett’s latest collection of essays. She is my favorite author with her detailed narratives of family. Who from the South doesn’t love a good family story? One of her stories included a ghost and often her stories detail a love for places, even over their love for people. I certainly identify. I search for any works I’ve missed among the library stacks, hoping to discover something new. Patchett mentioned that her goal was to write 800 words, just to keep her writing. I am forever grateful, as a fan.
Writing is always the goal at the end of the year (or the quarter, if I am really on top of things) to which I wish I had dedicated more time. I think of our home as a place for fostering writers. Henry is an avid writer. I continue to practice morning pages, every since the late 90s. Lucy is frequently found writing on whatever device is closest to her, as long as she is not distracted by a group chat. And, well, with Oliver, I am really trying to drill down on catching up on his phonics lessons, while telling him that we are all writers. He is just a future writer. But I often am too distracted by administrative work to settle into my body and dedicate the time to write.
However 800 words feels doable. One morning I had this aha that I can create a new blog on The Lilies Project web site that is dedicated to my own ideas and not the work of the project. This post is just shy of half that word count. But that is the beauty of a blog post.
After what felt like a long slumber induced by COVID, coal ash is waking up again with new opportunities for advocacy and ideas for innovation. I’m trying to take all of the good habits I nurtured during the season at home and meld them into my advocacy work. It feels like a welcome promise to something new happening, after the illusion of an almost lackluster finally. Here is to doing less and to discovering something new.