Oh my gosh. Thank you for writing this. I have a very similar life story, and you captured the feeling in a way that I will need to read several more times to process. Thank you. This is beautiful.
Abundance is an interesting word. It is often associated with material possessions, but its original use has nothing to do with earthly matters. It means "to overflow," and refers to spirituality - to an abundance of joy and love. In the Bible (I am not inferring anything about religion, but about usage; also, I teach theology), it is used about 70 times and, while it sometimes refers to material goods, its main usage refers to an abundance of joy, of love (for God or one another). For its agrarian readers (or listeners), it refers to an abundance of the fruits of the Earth, and encourages sharing of those fruits. The Bible makes clear that abundance and poverty are not opposites, but associated: even the poorest can have an abundance of joy and love. It is only in modern western capitalism that the corrupt association of abundance with material stuff has become so dominant.
I think you are already leading a life of abundance, abundance in the joy of writing and words, in teaching, in working with others, in your love of the natural world. When you refer to abundance as a feeling of safety, I think you are spot on. We cannot experience the abundance of life on this Earth unless we feel safe. I hope and trust that you continue with that feeling, and that abundance grows in your life.
You begin your newsletter by talking about other writers and their long resumes of literary magazine publications. I think you should put this out of your mind for several reasons.
You have a sterling academic record and a book in the pipeline with a major publisher. Very few people can claim that. The vast majority of people who publish in literary magazines have that good a resume. Literary magazines are the realm of an elite, but its a self-selected elite, with small and shrinking readership. Within academia, there is a certain cache to publishing in these magazines, but not in the broader universe of readers. I asked my agent about publishing there as a gateway to publishing a book, and he laughed, saying that they are entirely irrelevant. Ask your own agent.
I encourage you not to worry about other people's resumes. I also appreciate your need to have income, and these magazines, as you point out, are not going to help. Perhaps your motto should be "Will Write for $).
I hope, and suspect, that when your first book comes out, that your financial struggles will be alleviated, and that you can soon move on to more books.
I am so glad you replied despite your worries that your response wouldn't be good enough. These ideas are so insidious! Thank you so much for reading, so much for loving my work, and thank you so much for being you.
Oh my gosh. Thank you for writing this. I have a very similar life story, and you captured the feeling in a way that I will need to read several more times to process. Thank you. This is beautiful.
Thank you so much for reading!
Abundance is an interesting word. It is often associated with material possessions, but its original use has nothing to do with earthly matters. It means "to overflow," and refers to spirituality - to an abundance of joy and love. In the Bible (I am not inferring anything about religion, but about usage; also, I teach theology), it is used about 70 times and, while it sometimes refers to material goods, its main usage refers to an abundance of joy, of love (for God or one another). For its agrarian readers (or listeners), it refers to an abundance of the fruits of the Earth, and encourages sharing of those fruits. The Bible makes clear that abundance and poverty are not opposites, but associated: even the poorest can have an abundance of joy and love. It is only in modern western capitalism that the corrupt association of abundance with material stuff has become so dominant.
I think you are already leading a life of abundance, abundance in the joy of writing and words, in teaching, in working with others, in your love of the natural world. When you refer to abundance as a feeling of safety, I think you are spot on. We cannot experience the abundance of life on this Earth unless we feel safe. I hope and trust that you continue with that feeling, and that abundance grows in your life.
You begin your newsletter by talking about other writers and their long resumes of literary magazine publications. I think you should put this out of your mind for several reasons.
You have a sterling academic record and a book in the pipeline with a major publisher. Very few people can claim that. The vast majority of people who publish in literary magazines have that good a resume. Literary magazines are the realm of an elite, but its a self-selected elite, with small and shrinking readership. Within academia, there is a certain cache to publishing in these magazines, but not in the broader universe of readers. I asked my agent about publishing there as a gateway to publishing a book, and he laughed, saying that they are entirely irrelevant. Ask your own agent.
I encourage you not to worry about other people's resumes. I also appreciate your need to have income, and these magazines, as you point out, are not going to help. Perhaps your motto should be "Will Write for $).
I hope, and suspect, that when your first book comes out, that your financial struggles will be alleviated, and that you can soon move on to more books.
Cheers,
Tom
I am so glad you replied despite your worries that your response wouldn't be good enough. These ideas are so insidious! Thank you so much for reading, so much for loving my work, and thank you so much for being you.