Once, when my kids were small and I was packing up a house to move, and my husband had taken the kids to his mom's, and I thought I didn't have much left to do (but I did!), a neighbour showed up, fed me, invited me to sleep at her house, and drove me around to do errands. I will NEVER forget that kindness. She told me she liked having the kind of life where she had time for others. I think of that often.
Beautiful post Jen! I’m with you on being wary of pursuing a little more money in exchange for a lot more work, but the pressure is very real. Deciding we have enough feels pretty radical but the alternative is nutty.
The pressure is certainly intense. There's a lot of deep programming plus, you know, the whole mess of a system. Hard to get off the treadmill, but nice to be able to slow it down a bit. :)
It dovetails with so much of what’s been on my mind lately now that I find myself at this strange midpoint in my career where I don’t have so much to prove. There has to be a version of making books and sharing them with the world that isn’t soul crushing. A version that celebrates weird, glorious, urgent art-making rather than flattening everything (and everyone involved) at the altar of “the market”?
Wonderfully done as always, and glad to read about (and see photos taken during!) your recent retreat, with Cricket so much a part of it…You are such a beautiful, thoughtful writer and am always so appreciative of your own insights plus links to other writers, many new to me. Thank you!
This newsletter would not be was without a place that inspires it, without those who are have (literally and figuratively) made the path in front of me and model so much I aspire to. Thank you for that, and for so much more.
Once, when my kids were small and I was packing up a house to move, and my husband had taken the kids to his mom's, and I thought I didn't have much left to do (but I did!), a neighbour showed up, fed me, invited me to sleep at her house, and drove me around to do errands. I will NEVER forget that kindness. She told me she liked having the kind of life where she had time for others. I think of that often.
Now I'm going to think of that often too!
Beautiful post Jen! I’m with you on being wary of pursuing a little more money in exchange for a lot more work, but the pressure is very real. Deciding we have enough feels pretty radical but the alternative is nutty.
The pressure is certainly intense. There's a lot of deep programming plus, you know, the whole mess of a system. Hard to get off the treadmill, but nice to be able to slow it down a bit. :)
Really really loved this one!
It dovetails with so much of what’s been on my mind lately now that I find myself at this strange midpoint in my career where I don’t have so much to prove. There has to be a version of making books and sharing them with the world that isn’t soul crushing. A version that celebrates weird, glorious, urgent art-making rather than flattening everything (and everyone involved) at the altar of “the market”?
Oh we are fully ready to get weird!
Wonderfully done as always, and glad to read about (and see photos taken during!) your recent retreat, with Cricket so much a part of it…You are such a beautiful, thoughtful writer and am always so appreciative of your own insights plus links to other writers, many new to me. Thank you!
This newsletter would not be was without a place that inspires it, without those who are have (literally and figuratively) made the path in front of me and model so much I aspire to. Thank you for that, and for so much more.