Creativity Close to Home

​Hello again! It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?

Heartwood has been on hiatus for most of the past three years, with a few random installments slipped in here and there. There were reasons for the pause, starting with the pandemic and followed by unexpected and unpredictable health-related bumps in the road. ​

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Things are moving forward now with my latest project: a novel about creativity, craziness, and connection titled The Utterly Unacceptable Atrocity of Isabelle Marsden (more on that in a moment), so this seems like a good time to rev up Heartwood again. ​ 

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“Rev up” may not be quite the right way to put it. I won’t be posting weekly, as I once did, but for the sake of consistency, I’m aiming for once a month. Approximately. (If the past three years have taught me anything, it’s that intentions are easily upended.)

​​As faithful Heartwood readers may recall, many of my blog posts have been inspired by travels around Michigan and beyond. Discovering new places (or returning to old favorites) and photographing whatever caught my eye was a great source of joy. Sharing those travels with my husband Ray added to the enjoyment.

​When pandemic shutdowns kept us at home, writing was my happy pill. It was during that period that I wrote and revised most of my novel.

Around the time we were ready to hit the road again and pick up with the Mango Rash book signings and other author events I had to cancel during the shutdown, my own medical challenges grounded us. When that grounding turned out to be more of an ongoing challenge than a momentary interruption, I realized I needed to find ways of exploring and exploiting my creativity close to home. 

In short, to treat my own surroundings like the fresh territories I’d found so intriguing and inspiring on our travels. Instead of roaming around in new places, discovering new sights, my challenge would be finding new ways to look at familiar things in my own backyard and a few miles beyond. To think, well, creatively.

We're fortunate to live in a setting much like the ones we've loved visiting over the years. Forest trails through tall trees, trickling creeks and rushing rivers, placid ponds, and ever-changing Lake Michigan vistas, all within day-trip distances from home. Along with those natural wonders, a fair share small-town charm and urban bustle. ​

And festivity! Celebrating everything from baby food to lumbering heritage to autumn harvests, local festivals offer plenty of photo ops with contests, crafters, car shows, parades, and spontaneous fun.

Projects and outings with the Big Rapids Camera Club offered inspiration. So did signing up with the online 52 Frames photography challenge. In the process I learned new photography and editing skills and made new friends in creative communities close to home and around the world.

More time at home also meant more time to read, think, and dust off my notebooks and keyboard to work on a few new projects. I’m writing random, stream-of-consciousness snippets of memoir, hoping themes eventually will emerge, and some of those snippets will coalesce into something sharable. I'm also trying my hand at 100-words stories, which aren't as easy as they may sound.

So join me in discovering where all of this will lead. And stay tuned for updates as my novel travels the path of publication with She Writes Press in March of 2026. That may seem like a long time from now, but there’s much to be done between now and then, and I’ll appreciate your continued interest and encouragement.

And let this creature seen at our friends Brenda and Steve's house inspire you to create in your own unique way -- and keep smiling!