It's about paperwork, throwing out paper, saying goodbye to people I love and crying a lot, finding home for some beloved furniture I cannot bring with me...and throwing out yet more paper.
Did I mention the paper involved?
There's a lot of paper. Just threw out 5 bags full in about 1/2 hour.
From now to Thursday morning, it's a straight shot of packing and taking some short breaks to meet with good friends. And a few more pieces of paper and phone calls.
The syllabus is done, the paper is given, some personal commitments have been fulfilled and now I just have to hope: wired money makes it from one bank to the other, the person subletting me his studio does not spontaneously combust, that the movers show up and aren't some weird online fraud with people who answer the phones (unlikely, but my fears no no end right now), that my plane makes it to Iceland and then to NYC without any major issues...like the vast majority of planes do...
That I can actually sleep sometimes rather than just Fucking Freak Out about...whatever...because here's the sad truth. What I'm worrying about is 99% of the time a total red herring. I know this because when whatever the thing I was worrying about is resolved, Voila as if my magic: something Else to worry about.
The rabbit is still here, just by the way - that is comforting.
My landlords are happy for any furniture to stay, which is great, so if friends want some things OK, if not, no worries. That is good.
Now, it's time to chill out as I did some pretty intense personal work today after having a Lovely going away party the night before hosted by my amazing friends Bib and Alison. Was heartbreaking saying goodbye to some people and I envied in advance Bib's huge house (which she shares with many others), as I will be moving into a very Small studio. But it's right next to a park!
I have another lovely friend in NYC who booked a car for me from Newark to her house the night I arrive, which is great. I am threading the needle between the need to budget and the need to make it through this thing without my back out. As my stuff may take 5-10 weeks to follow me, I need to bring enough stuff to last. So that means extra bags...
OK, so enough babbling...I forgot to post yesterday so just wanted to check in. Thanks for reading and be well...
Welcome to my blog..
"We struggle with dream figures and our blows fall on living faces." Maurice Merleau-Ponty
I am now transitioning into being married again with a new surname (Barclay-Morton). John is transitioning from Canada to NYC and as of June 2014 has a green card. So transition continues, but now from sad to happy, from loss to love...from a sense of alienation to a sense of being at home in the world.
As of September 2013 I started teaching writing as an adjunct professor at Fordham University, which I have discovered I love with an almost irrational passion. While was blessed for the opportunity, after four years of being an adjunct, the lack of pay combined with heavy work load stopped working, so have transferred this teaching passion to private workshops in NYC and working with writers one on one, which I adore. I will die a happy person if I never have to grade an assignment ever again. As of 2018, I also started leading writing retreats to my beloved Orkney Islands. If you ever want two weeks that will restore your soul and give you time and space to write, get in touch. I am leading two retreats this year in July and September.
I worked full time on the book thanks to a successful crowd-funding campaign in May 2014 and completed it at two residencies at Vermont Studio Center and Wisdom House in summer 2015. I have done some revisions and am shopping it around to agents and publishers now, along with a new book recently completed.
I now work full-time as a freelance writer, writing workshop leader, coach, editor and writing retreat leader. Contact me if you are interested in any of these services.
Not sure when transition ends, if it ever does. As the saying goes, the only difference between a sad ending and a happy ending is where you stop rolling the film.
For professional information, publications, etc., go to my linked in profile and website for Barclay Morton Editorial & Design. My Twitter account is @wilhelminapitfa. You can find me on Facebook under my full name Julia Lee Barclay-Morton. More about my grandmothers' book: The Amazing True Imaginary Autobiography of Dick & Jani
In 2017, I launched a website Our Grandmothers, Our Selves, which has stories about many people's grandmothers. Please check it out. You can also contact me through that site.
In May, I directed my newest play, On the edge of/a cure, and have finally updated my publications list, which now includes an award-winning chapbook of my short-story White shoe lady, which you can find on the sidebar. I also have become a certified yoga instructor in the Kripalu lineage. What a year!
And FINALLY, I have created a website, which I hope you will visit, The Unadapted Ones. I will keep this blog site up, since it is a record of over 8 years of my life, but will eventually be blogging more at the website, so if you want to know what I am up to with my writing, teaching, retreats and so on, the site is the place to check (and to subscribe for updates). After eight years I realized, no, I'm never turning into One Thing. So The Unadapted Ones embraces the multiplicity that comprises whomever I am, which seems to always be shifting. That may in fact be reality for everyone, but will speak for myself here. So, do visit there and thanks for coming here, too. Glad to meet you on the journey...
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