Book Giveaway Winners. Write Yourself Free Series: Registration Now open! And a poem for you...

Hello, dear human,

Thank you so much to those of you who have subscribed to my new Substack Page, shared your favorite poems & poets, and have been my very first visitors. You are deeply appreciated. Learning yet another new platform has been quite a challenge for me! Let’s just say there have been plenty of not-so-nice word bombs thrown around in my frustrating attempts to teach myself how this all works. I still have a long ways to go but,

I can do hard things!

One step at a time…

If you are reading this via email & haven’t made it over to my Substack page, you are still so appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read my words, for being a part of my community. It truly means the world to me. Writing can be a bit lonely at times, knowing someone is engaging with my words really makes all the difference.

So, thank you.

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As promised, and thanks to a random number generator, two winners have been randomly selected for my “Staying in Love” book giveaway.

If your name is listed below and you would like to receive a copy of my book, please reply back to this email (or comment on my Substack page) with your mailing address so I can get your book on its way to you. xo

And the winners are:

Anna Guerrier

&

Mona Voelkel

Thank you, Anna & Mona, for subscribing to my page & for leaving your presence there/here.

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On another note….

For those of you who have been asking and are interested, registration is now open (as of a few moments ago) for my next “Write Yourself Free” writing series. This is the first series I have offered in nearly a year.

This will be an 8 week series running from:

October 2nd — November 20th, 2024.

Wednesday mornings from 9:00-11:00am (Pacific Standard Time).

This will be an intimate group of women (limited to 11 participants).

I also have a subscription-based “Write Yourself Free” writing community, but registration is currently closed for new participants.

I plan to open registration to the community sometime in October. The criteria to join will be that you have taken a previous WYF offering.

Write Yourself Free: Radical Self-Love

I will leave you with my newest poem. Thank you again for being here. xo

What is True?

I have no interest in the fallow ground of fame or fortune, 
in the daily grind, in glamour or glory, 
in one-up-ing, in being the most or the busiest 
or the best. I’d throw it all away 
for one moment of true. 

And what is true?

I have been sinking and shrinking in the shallow
and I'm dying for the deep. And what is true?
I'd take a sky full of maybe 
over the closed fist of certainty. And I'm tired
tired tired of trying not to break.

And what is true?

I don't know but when I stand in the middle
of the meadow and close my eyes, I hear
the wind whispering willows 
and I know it has something
to do with this. And it is Wednesday afternoon 

and the world is a mess and still 
the forest birds sing, and still 
these strong legs carry me, and still 
the sun shines and makes everything 
more beautiful.

And what is true? 

I want to fill the void with buckets full of real, 
to feel the truth circulate through these bones, 
this blood—to let the false fall break shatter 
into a million tiny pieces. 

The truth is, I want to be
the epiphany. The truth is—
it is not possible 
to shrink 
the sun.