This is my arm. About every 56 days or so I'm at the Canadian Blood Services clinic in Edmonton, donating whole blood. I've been donating since 1979, and since I'm ONeg, a universal blood type in which my blood can be administered to anyone in an emergency, I feel especially compelled to donate for the good of others. I'm hoping to reach 200 whole blood donations within the next couple years. If you're interested in donating yourself please reach out to your own local donor agency.
In the meantime, I think its time to extend my arm and open my heart in another way. You will note elsewhere on my author website that I committed to write again once my wife and I visited Savannah, Georgia. For some reason, that I still don't fully understand, I wanted to allow my creative energies to lay fallow until we took this dream holiday. However, that long-awaited trip scheduled for April 2020, was cancelled due to the current pandemic. The same way I feel called to donate blood I also recognize a force within me needing to be poured out again. Like donated blood, I may never know how my words may be received, or if it supports and inspires others, but unless I show up at the clinic, or show up to write, then I can be certain nothing will happen. Yes, its time to write again. The season of fallow and rest is over. I can tell you one of the characters in my new novel is named Savannah, and she will have lots to say to me and my readers, even if she's unresponsive in hospital. Like all my novels, I will write from my collective experience in health care, and after 41 years of service there is no shortage of inspiration to draw on. And hence, no reason to pause any longer to write. I will keep you posted as the story unfolds...
0 Comments
|