Roads to Joy

My beloved opened the first package in her advent calendar this morning. My delightful task, after receiving a lovely thank you embrace, was to retrieve her faithful eSpinner from out of the recessed window nook in the craft room, so she could start to spin the Falklands Merino, Sari Silk and Bamboo blend. Nothing like ‘striking while the iron is hot,’ or perhaps rather ‘spinning while the blend is vivid.’ The combined fluffy stuff does feel luxurious.

While my soul-mate is spinning away to her heart’s content, I shall be configuring our own bespoke greeting card, to send off to friends and family near and far. Yes, it’s the season of Advent, a time of great anticipation and wonder, as the archetypal story of a special birth is rehearsed again.

I’m feeling the need for great hope, as my erstwhile submissions founder and my eager words like seeds fallen upon stony ground fail to germinate, fail to take hold and grow. But in the words of Robert Frost, I still have miles to go before I sleep, snowy evening or not. And more perseverance is needed.

If Advent is a time of excited preparation, spinning away while the world itself turns, then it’s churlish to bemoan rejections during this time. Well, fair enough. These admonishments to self are all very well, but without finding and experiencing the flow of creativity I feel stymied. What a writer dreams of, I guess, is to somehow re-experience that creative energy, that thrill, when their work is received. My writing buddies implore me never to feel discouraged over rejections, but it’s difficult not to be set back a bit.

I love remembering our daughter’s response to the final novel in my BiomeNE47 series, her tears and delight. She’d suggested an ending that I twisted about to resolve the series, and perhaps it was the eventual reveal that elicited the emotion, a kind of feedback loop on her own contribution. Or, giving myself a break, perhaps it was the compelling story itself. Whichever it is, I’m pretty sure that I love both creating, and receiving the feedback.

It’s a truism that you don’t get the latter without working on the former, and that’s where the perseverance starts. So in this season of Advent, as anticipation builds towards the big reveal and the new wonder of life and joy, as we work through endless shifting of packing boxes and divesting of much of the accumulated detritus of our lives, I hope I really can find time to explore new creative avenues.

A bit like venturing into a spinning exercise with a new blend, I guess!