This first full day of my Outer Banks journey, I headed to the Manteo waterfront for an 8:30 a.m. Dolphin Cruise with Captain Johnny. My sister, Peggy gave it to me for my birthday back in March. She turned sixty the same month and likes gifts that offer the recipient a memorable experience; get out … Continue reading Dolphin Morning: Animals in Our Path
Solo journeys
Planning Your Solo Journey: 3 Tips
Now that it’s mid-February, I’m well into daydreaming about where I’m going on my Solo Journey this year. I started at the end of December, when the Christmas tree was down and the holiday busyness was transitioning to the quiet gray days of January. I was feeling that pull to strike out on my own. … Continue reading Planning Your Solo Journey: 3 Tips
Solo Journey: Dream Destination
In last week’s blog post, I told about how a Literary Agent set me on a Solo Journey of Indie Publishing. I knew my dream destination—publication of my memoir, but I felt hesitant to take the first step forward. Like when I approach my yearly solo journeys-- the destination is determined but there is uncertainty … Continue reading Solo Journey: Dream Destination
Leaving it All Behind
This week I’m remembering my solo journey to Michigan. Right before that trip, we’d had a stressful move from our home of twenty years in the country to our downsized house in a neighborhood in town. The negotiations of selling our home and buying the new one came at the end of my year as … Continue reading Leaving it All Behind
Free to Be Me
During the week in which we celebrated our country’s independence, our freedom, I think about what it means to be free as an individual-- not to say and do things that hurt others, but to be my unique self. It seems that much of my ability to just be me has been limited by my self-consciousness, my over … Continue reading Free to Be Me
Daily Bread at Tibbett’s Point
It was June and I was celebrating being a 10-year Breast Cancer Survivor, a decade since I’d heard the words, “You have cancer.” I wanted to take my summer journey to a special place, the seventh solo trip that had turned into yearly pilgrimages. Thumbing through a resource book for hostels in the U.S., I … Continue reading Daily Bread at Tibbett’s Point
It’s About the Future
I sat on a rock overlooking the Great Smoky Mountains on that Sunday morning in September. In the stillness that was shrouded in fog, I felt the burden of trudging through cancer treatment and my toxic job. I prayed for God to lift me out of that pit, and waited for some sign that God … Continue reading It’s About the Future
Frontier of Silence
Last summer I took my solo journey to Kentucky where I had a two-week writer's residency at Artcroft. It was very quiet there in the countryside without the noise of television, wi-fi, or conversation-- since there was no other artist joining me. The only interruption to the silence was an occasional bird call, mooing cow, … Continue reading Frontier of Silence
Toxic Takeaway
He helped me pack up my office that afternoon, my last, at The Research Company. “You know it’s not you, Connie,” he said and placed the last of my belongings in my trunk. “Just be glad you’re getting out of here.” He was the only co-worker I could trust. Later, I wondered if I really … Continue reading Toxic Takeaway
Golden Light
There’s a unique beauty in the magical moments at twilight, when just after sunset there’s a golden glow to the earth before darkness arrives. Last year when I had a two-week writer’s residency at Artcroft in central Kentucky, I spent most nights observing that hilly acreage as my final act of the day. It occurred … Continue reading Golden Light
