Now and always

I have already wiped the tears of joy from my eyes.

Last week I received the final proof of my novel The Traveling Archivist. It is extraordinary to hold a physical manifest of my imagination in my hands.¹ I have to admit that I have been carrying the book around not just to show it to friends, but just to know it’s real. And it has a beautiful cover (many thanks to Clare).

I have lost count of the number of times I have read through the entire book for developmental edits, reworking scenes, and accepting grammatical changes. I am at the point of not being able to see the forest for the trees. I am grateful that my partner had not only the time, but the wear with all to read the book literally from cover to cover for the better half of a day. She found two items for correction - a word missing a letter and a sentence missing a word. She even had me read it aloud and I inserted the missing word anyway. That is why it takes a team to produce a book - every reader, every editor, every person who gave support or a few kind words. I am ever grateful for every bit of support I have received.

For those of you who have been reading my newsletters for awhile, you will know that my joy is uplifting stories and voices that have been marginalized. I feel great happiness when I find a new resource about something I didn’t know about. Side note: I just learned about a online database that has digitized interviews of Audre Lorde. (Lorde shows up in several of the cassette tapes) How wonderful that these recordings exist and that they are available to the public!

I keep hearing now more than ever, especially in the last months and the last week. However, I believe it is now and always. This work of justice is an always thing. Every choice, every decision, every interaction, every thing we do can impact justice. My dear friend Barbara highlighted Octavia Butler’s words that I quoted and words I wrote in my last newsletter in her post on LinkedIn.

"There's no magic bullet. Instead there are thousands of answers - at least. You can be one of them if you choose to be."

As Mary beautifully writes, together we can “follow Butler's lead and choose a different path, one step at a time.”

Now you might ask me how this all ties together and for me it is simple. The story I wrote reminds us of the 34 Chinese gold miners who were massacred on the Snake River and asks us what we do with that knowledge. I don’t have an answer. We each have to find our own answers, over and over.

I have created stickers and stamps to share my purpose.

I repeat my purpose:

Remember the forgotten

Reveal the hidden

Find the lost

1. I will share more information on publication date and when you can purchase a copy.