We are headed back to Texas on Sunday! We are presently getting Quixote (our camping travel trailer) all packed and will head out after the weekend. It has been so cold in Kansas, I have been counting down the days when I can once again say, “It’s hot and humid!” As it turns out, it was 82 degrees today so I will have to find another reason to be excited.
Quixote is a sort of traveling office for me since I do a lot of writing while we camp. There is nothing like camping in the wilderness that brings out the inner Faulkner in me. Well I am not writing fiction, but writing non-fiction still demands creativity. I have found that I cannot just sit and write on demand. I have to get my mind and soul to a place where I can go beyond the superficial and connect to an inner voice that demands to be heard.
I share this because I am close to being able to devote myself completely to writing. Many of asked me why I want to do this and what it is that I am writing about. I have even had a few people suggest they are excited to read my first book. I think they just want a free copy.
Having been a very active preacher for twenty-seven years has given me much to write on but that is not what I am going to do first. Joseph was a writer too. In his short life he traveled much more than I ever have and fortunately kept journals. I have those journals and plan on giving his voice an opportunity to be heard. I may have to change my approach depending on what he says but my hope is to stay true to his reflections and respond to what he experienced. Given his love of Ki Akido and my life long vocation in the Church, alternative world views could emerge. My prayer is to not water down his thoughts and no matter how raw they may be, maintain an integrity to them. Also throughout the book I will periodically share the depth of grief that I have experienced in the context of both of our experiences.. I am looking forward to how the project unfolds.
In the meantime, we head back to Texas for two weeks. There is much in which to look forward and just being there will be cathartic. Who knows, the surroundings are likely to spur a lot of writing.
Until next time,
DP