Today was about practical things and emailing lots of people at universities, while it rained a lot outside.
It's funny how the weather is different between London and NYC. Here, when it rains, it rains a lot, like all day. In London, it rains a little, then there's sun, clouds, sun, rain then sun...etc. I think the weather in NYC is more committed. I know that sounds strange but it's the only way I can put it.
On the other hand, I've lived in London during 3-week long grey skies, so in that sense, it can commit.
I have a job interview tomorrow, which fact alone seems kind of astonishing, and am preparing for that. I have sent CVs out to almost every college in NYC and environs. I am getting some interesting feedback, one being this interview. This process has taken over three days. I am especially gratified that a few teaching artists and academics that I really respect, but who have never before met me, have responded based solely on my sending in a letter and CV. I have such a hard time seeing what I have accomplished and these moments are markers for me.
I wrote a reference for a friend and colleague, sent out CVs, watched the Yanks lose in the 12th or 13th inning on TV, brought laundry to be done, shopped, went to a meeting of writers, had dinner with two friends, got a manicure and pedicure and now printing out maps so I know where to go tomorrow.
My delightful time alone in this oasis of an apartment comes to an end tomorrow, and I am so grateful to have had the time. I wish I could have just spent the whole time writing, but all these other practical matters needed attending when I made the decision to move to NYC.
I am getting wonderful responses to this decision both internally and externally. I feel weirdly peaceful now - a sense that I love of being in a groove - like a kind of enclosed air pocket that contains me but does not isolate me. Sometimes - well usually - it takes a few bumps and bruises to get there, sometimes it takes breaking a sound barrier, but where there (here) I love it.
Long may it continue.
Now to changing sheets and listening to the rain....
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...
No comments:
Post a Comment