November Postcards: Returning to Writing One Small Noticing at a Time
I didn’t think I’d be back here, writing my blog, but here I am.
I didn’t think I’d be writing at all – ever again. Yet here I am.
Back in September my husband had a health emergency, and along with nearly losing him, I felt I had lost my words.
What I mean to say is that I did lose my words – momentarily (though I thought it was forever because there are no words for unspeakable things that happen). Once I regained my composure, and slowly learned the language one speaks in the ER, much later, days and days later, I was certain that I had lost my writing words. How would I ever write again? How do you come back?
I did, and I have, and I am writing again. Writing is a verb, and a necessary verb for me; I had just forgotten this. But more on this soon.
For now, I want to share a postcard from November that I made as part of a sweet and creatively invigorating class I am taking with the ever-amazing Kim Klassen. If you read my Substack Letters from Rome then you know that postcards are part of my offerings. In fact, it was shortly after finishing my August postcard series that my life turned upside down. All to say that postcards, letters, journaling (and all forms of stationery!) are part of my offerings, but more importantly, they are part of my creative process. So when Kim sent out an invitation to pick up our cameras and get shooting again, packaging our photos in pretty postcards, I immediately signed up! I knew that it would be the perfect way to gently re-enter writing and posting online again after a challenging two months.
There are so many ways to step back into one’s creativity, but it can’t be forced, it takes time and arrives on it’s own, like maybe, in the form of a postcard. A few lines, an image, and a lot of time noticing is a beautiful formula. It’s a beautiful practice – a practice of noticing the beautiful small things.
light, books, a sleeping cat
Here’s my noticing list from this first week of November:
the light hitting my dusty stack of TBR books
my cat sleeping soundly in the sun
a drop of coffee slowly making a path down the side of my mug (and finding myself thinking that maybe that’s a lovely way to be)
how ever grateful I am for these in-between moments
books and magazines gathering dust
What have you been noticing lately? Have you lost your way to writing? Do you want to write yourself back?
It’s possible. You can just start. Just start writing now. All you need is a pen and a piece of paper. Write yourself a note – or better yet, write yourself a postcard!