Published By Pottersfield Press!

 By Maryanna Gabriel 

It is a dream come true to be published. If you have been following this blog you will know I go on at some length from time to time about writing. 

Ever since I was young, I knew I wanted to be an author. I had a special book in mind - one to inspire. The vision of the book kept coming but how I was to write it confused me. As I grew, I said it again in high school. The thread of the dream followed me through the distraction of motherhood and putting food on the table. Every year, I created a vision board of what I wanted. The book was always on it. But the years rolled by. Then I saw an ad and feeling a thrill, I started a writing course at a university. The courses were inspiring, but it was not enough. Wanting more, I enrolled in a program. That was better and I wrote with ferocious regularity. I explored the tools of the trade. Got feedback. Wrote four times more than I was supposed to. Good thing. I needed it when I was eventually accepted into a master's program. Worried about money, I worked hard to bring in more of the green stuff and stuck to my goal, on track with pilgrimage and how it had always driven me. Covid hit. Without the usual social channels, I was able to focus. The book was my obsession as I concentrated. I went deeper and dug further, through a wall of resistance but knowing the manuscript made little sense unless I pushed on through. And now here I am. Being published in 2023. Thank you to Lesley Choyce of Pottersfield Press. I am so excited. 

On Earth As It Is: Walking The Camino has won a second prize, The Pottersfield Press 2022 Award. It is a bit of a stunner. Maybe I can die now except I have too much to do. 

Oh My

 By Maryanna Gabriel

It has been a strange spring. The lilac by the front door has not yet bloomed, the latest ever. I was lucky enough to get an invitation to Long Beach. A friend of mine has a home there. Nine of us women piled into cars and drove the track, a winding highway in reconstruction. I arrived ahead of the others and lo, the clouds parted. I walked a most beautiful beach and watched as the white crests of waves danced in frothy joy in the sunlight. A shell tumbled along the smooth sand. Little pipers jittered in and out of the water and my bare feet reveled in the warmth of it, the smooth sensation of fine sand a healing massage. The wind roared over the sound of the sea, and if I was trying to think a thought, it was blown right out of my head. My poor sore back straightened and my lungs gratefully breathed. This is how it should be. It was as though I have been enduring so very much, for so very long, and a curtain had parted, showing me how good life is and can be, a barometer I had forgotten. Like heaven. Or a memory from childhood. Or before one has been tumbled about by bad behaviour. Over and over I said, thank you, thank you.

Later we were to sauna, read a'loud, write poetry, sing, cry, laugh, and feast, as we shared stories after three years of not coming together. The morning we left, a rainbow glowed in front of the house. Oh my. 

Coons Keeping Warm

 By Maryanna Gabriel

Covering their noses...

The wild life here on Salt Spring Island abounds. Sometimes I hear strange noises in the night. I had not been under the house for a couple of years and I had to check on things. Lo, a disaster! The insulation was pulled down and arranged into two big piles. Piles? It looked like dead bodies. Coons. A friend of mine is a biologist. I asked him why the raccoons did that. 

"Trying to stay warm," he said. Seemed logical. 

"What about their noses? Doesn't the insulation hurt their noses?"

"They just cover them with their little paws."

Alrighty then. What a mess they have left. Glad they are warm. Now what am I going to do?