Last week I emerged from my solitary bastion to go out into the world and rub elbows with other artists and writers. I’ve been thinking of my workspace as a StoryKeep – “keep” as in the inner stronghold of a castle, a refuge, plus another meaning of the word – to keep, to remember, to preserve.
I love the idea of blessing the tools of my trade, so this year I created this magic more intentionally, gathering my writing tools of every stripe. I included my favorite dip pen, a Speedball C-2, the one I learned with lo! these many years ago using Jacqueline Svaren’s Written Letters, a book my mother gave me for Christmas the year I graduated from college.
To see and hear the music and celebrations that cross the boundaries between cultures is the unique gift of Revels, and to share that experience in a great hall with hundreds of people is to experience that much-needed understanding and connection. If we lead with love, we will bring back the light.
I would say I have found my voice here in these “pages” but I heard from an old friend of forty years ago – one of the sweetest gifts of having this public persona – that she found me here and knew it was me by recognizing my writing voice.