Moving on...
I'm changing the focus of this blog...
Why? Because the circumstances of my life have changed and I want this blog to reflect that. After twenty four years I left the halfway house and retired. My gratitude for the opportunity to have lived and worked there runs wide and deep. I felt that one way I could pay the place back, was to hang around and help carry the work forward. And I did, for far longer than I ever stayed at any other job in my life. Plus, a Fall hurricane had destroyed the place I lived a few months before my retirement date, so it seemed like the universe was telling me that big changes were afoot and I'd better get used to it.
When you leave a job that's been the center of your work for so long, what fills the hole? Hurricane Matthew had obliterated my beloved garden, so a friend gave me an allotment in his, near my new home. So for a few months, instead of clocking in to work every day, I showed up at the plot to dig dirt and mulch and plant perennials. By the way, if you're looking for a gardening quick fix, perennials are NOT the answer. They arrive from the nursery so tiny and frail, and they need a lot of effort and time invested in them to get them to finally take root and take off. Sort of like this new life of mine.
Always loving to write, and knowing nothing about the craft of it, I treated myself to a creative writing correspondence course. For nine months I studied short story elements, viewpoint and characters, descriptions and settings, story arcs, structure and scenes, revision, and fiction marketing. Every time I learned something I had to take an exam and write a short piece to prove I'd mastered the concepts.
I made a grade of 95 for the course. But what inspired me the most was the feedback from the instructors. Their encouragement, praise, and helpful criticism for my fumbling efforts made the whole experience very rewarding -- and pointed me to my next step forward.
Which was to return to formal schooling at an online college. I'd started a degree forty one years ago, in 1969, and abandoned it in 1976. Actually, I dropped out after discovering my true major -- partying -- but that's a subject for another blog.
Now I'm a full-time English Major. Lordy, wouldn't one of my heroes, Garrison Keillor, crack a smile over that! One of the trickiest parts of it is just allowing myself, at my age, the permission to be there and do it. At sixty-five I am definitely the oldest dog in some of my classes. One of the reasons I chose this university's online program, was a press release they published when one of their students, a ninety-four year old grandmother, finished her Bachelor of Arts degree. The university president flew to Florida to personally deliver her diploma.
So, while some people recline in the sun after retirement, like lazy dogs sleeping in the afternoon yard, others like that Florida grandmother, take the plunge to learn new things. And succeed. That's what I want.
Why? Because the circumstances of my life have changed and I want this blog to reflect that. After twenty four years I left the halfway house and retired. My gratitude for the opportunity to have lived and worked there runs wide and deep. I felt that one way I could pay the place back, was to hang around and help carry the work forward. And I did, for far longer than I ever stayed at any other job in my life. Plus, a Fall hurricane had destroyed the place I lived a few months before my retirement date, so it seemed like the universe was telling me that big changes were afoot and I'd better get used to it.
When you leave a job that's been the center of your work for so long, what fills the hole? Hurricane Matthew had obliterated my beloved garden, so a friend gave me an allotment in his, near my new home. So for a few months, instead of clocking in to work every day, I showed up at the plot to dig dirt and mulch and plant perennials. By the way, if you're looking for a gardening quick fix, perennials are NOT the answer. They arrive from the nursery so tiny and frail, and they need a lot of effort and time invested in them to get them to finally take root and take off. Sort of like this new life of mine.
Always loving to write, and knowing nothing about the craft of it, I treated myself to a creative writing correspondence course. For nine months I studied short story elements, viewpoint and characters, descriptions and settings, story arcs, structure and scenes, revision, and fiction marketing. Every time I learned something I had to take an exam and write a short piece to prove I'd mastered the concepts.
I made a grade of 95 for the course. But what inspired me the most was the feedback from the instructors. Their encouragement, praise, and helpful criticism for my fumbling efforts made the whole experience very rewarding -- and pointed me to my next step forward.
Which was to return to formal schooling at an online college. I'd started a degree forty one years ago, in 1969, and abandoned it in 1976. Actually, I dropped out after discovering my true major -- partying -- but that's a subject for another blog.
Now I'm a full-time English Major. Lordy, wouldn't one of my heroes, Garrison Keillor, crack a smile over that! One of the trickiest parts of it is just allowing myself, at my age, the permission to be there and do it. At sixty-five I am definitely the oldest dog in some of my classes. One of the reasons I chose this university's online program, was a press release they published when one of their students, a ninety-four year old grandmother, finished her Bachelor of Arts degree. The university president flew to Florida to personally deliver her diploma.
So, while some people recline in the sun after retirement, like lazy dogs sleeping in the afternoon yard, others like that Florida grandmother, take the plunge to learn new things. And succeed. That's what I want.
