transition

“Wisdom Found in the Pause – Joie’s Gift.” The Rewards of Book Editing.

Posted by Barbara Techel

"Wisdom Found in the Pause - Joie's Gift." The Rewards of Book Editing.

Just as it began to storm this afternoon, I finished the editing of the printed version of my manuscript. My first task when I got it back from my editor recently was to go through and read the changes and accept or reject them. I also had to clean up some areas where more clarification was needed.

When that was done, I had the manuscript printed out at my local printers. You’d be amazed at looking at it on paper how you find mistakes you might not have otherwise on the computer. But that is what I’ve been working on this week. And now that task is complete. Next I will make the changes on my file in the computer.  I also came up with chapter titles as I edited the paper version. So now I will let those marinate in my mind and sleep on them for a few nights.

Lastly, I will write the Afterword. I’m sure that will begin to form words and begin to wake me the next few early mornings. That is typically what happens for me. But I’m looking forward to it and welcoming the writing of it.

The rewards of editing have been seeing it come closer to a finished product. And one of the nicest rewards was sitting on my over-sized wicker chair in my writing cottage with Miss Gidget nestled next to me. She has been wonderful moral support.

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And today after I finished the paper edited version, I sat down and s-l-o-w-l-y ate a Ghirardelli dark chocolate and mint square. One must have a special treat when one has worked so hard!

Another reward is feeling more at peace with this book. The book cover is in the process of being designed which is exciting. I can’t wait to share it with you!

And lastly, I’m ready now more than ever to finally let this book go and out into the world to find its way. It’s been a long journey but one I’ve come to understand had to unfold as it did.

I hope you will stay tuned friends and join me in the celebration of the creative process!

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Unfinished, Transition or Renovation – No Matter – It’s a Gift of Acceptance.

Posted by Barbara Techel

Unfinished, Transition or Renovation - No Matter - It's a Gift of Acceptance.

Author Joan Anderson, of The Second Journey, calls it “unfinished.” I’ve also heard it referred to as, and use the term often myself, as being in “transition.” On Saturday I heard a woman call it “renovation.”

Renovation was one I’d not heard before and it make me chuckle.  There are many stages of life as we all know and have experienced at some point. Some stages we go through time and time again.

And perhaps it’s because I’m a woman consciously working on my own little awakenings that these terms really speak to me. But call it what you want, we are all unfinished, in transition at one time or another, or busy renovating to welcome in new aspects of ourselves, and new manifestations that are trying to break through.

Listening to this woman who referred to herself as being in renovation, during the Spiritual Fun Fair I took part in on Saturday, was so refreshing. She was excited about being in this stage! Usually I encounter the opposite and that women fear not knowing what is next for them or try to push away or stuff down what they are feeling.

Then today my friend, Monica, who writes a newsletter for her beautiful website at Life is a Pretty Word wrote last month how she was side-lined with a health issue, which wasn’t easy for her.

But this month, now that she is better she is in total flow of manifesting some wonderful things for herself. While in that “not being able to do much stage” which was an inner battle at times, she now sees why it played out like it did.

These times of being in transition, no matter the amount of time, if we can see it as a gift, even though we can’t always understand why at the time, is the universes way of supporting us. It is preparing us for the next step, the next phase, the next path.

Thinking about the woman in renovation I met, and Monica now in a wonderful welcoming flow of exciting new revelations, turns out to be a gift to me during this time of my own transition as I am still awaiting the return of my manuscript from my editor.

I’m told by my editor it will be about another week. My new book, about my time taking a sabbatical and how difficult it felt at the time, I’m understanding more and more, is a pertinent message that I must share.

Monica and the dear woman in renovation are my messengers from the universe of the timing of how this is all unfolding. I have no control over it. My only job is to keep the faith and be open for the signs that are there and to know that each step and each phase is necessary to the process.

It’s in this acceptance of these stages that then, and only then, can the gift be revealed.

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Cycles of Life. A Writers Life. My Life.

Posted by Barbara Techel
Writing has so many cycles like life - I'm in the waiting game right now.
Joie and Me. Summer of 2013.

I was thinking about the cycle of life today. How things come and go. Another Mother’s Day has come and gone. Spring, for the most part, has sprung, and before we know it, we will be in the heat and humidity of summer.

The cycle of life, how at times speeds by, but then other times feels like it is crawling slowly along like a snail.

My manuscript for Wisdom Found in the Pause, my second memoir, has been with my editor almost three months now.

A book that took me over three years to get to the point of feeling comfortable and handing it over to my editor. A hurdle I wasn’t sure I’d be able to jump. But yet, I did.

Just like many things in life, there are always hoops to jump through. Some we can do without a thought, some we ponder for what seems eternity.

It felt that way, writing my second memoir, like trudging through very thick muck at times. My own fear and questioning if it was “good enough” was the mud I was trying to see through.

My vision for it not quite clear yet, as I still have some doubts. But I’m hopeful with my editor’s feedback I will find that opening of freedom all writers strive for- that moment they know without a shadow of doubt the book that won’t not let them rest, will make its way out into the world.

Writing has so many cycles like life – the idea for a book – the endless hours of writing – the courage summoned to release it to an editor – the thoughts that invade at the oddest times- the wrestling of doubt, fear, and questioning during the waiting game.

I’m in the waiting game right now, which for awhile was a comfortable place to be. I was relieved to let my manuscript go to my editor when I did in February, and take a break from it. There comes a point when you just have to do this in order to make it better.

But now, I find myself in the not-being-so-patient process of wanting to know that all my devotion and hard work can actually be a book I release to my audience.

Waiting for confirmation from my editor that the manuscript, which will no doubt need lots more work, but hope I rest in the arms of that it is doable.

And the place in the cycle I am now is that I am eager to get back to work on whipping it into the shape. But I must wait.

And I envision when I can say it is complete…and I can let it go…and it moves out into the spaces and places it needs to go.

But now, in this moment, suspended in time, hanging slightly off balance, I await the fate of what it will actually be.

Not yet fully knowing, but leaning heavily into my faith that a divine plan is already in place.

And just like I had to do when things unfolded so rapidly in my dachshund, Joie’s, short-lived life with me, of which I write about in this book. How it seemed to spin way too fast, but yet stopped me dead in my tracks when I had to make a gut wrenching decision to do what I felt was best for her.

How that decision led to the next phase which was a period of transition for me – and that was a whole process of cycles too. And a cycle I had fought against the whole year before. Until I knew I had to look it straight in the face or let it continue to disrupt my inner world.

Days come and go. We create, struggle, fly high, let go, look back, look forward, and search for peace in-between…where peace is always faithful in that it resides here always beckoning us to see that this is truly the only cycle that matters.

And so it is.

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