This is my last post in Painting with Words. After taking a summer break, this space started to feel like autumn. The tomatoes are slowing down their globe-making, the cone flowers are turning bronze, and sycamore trees are beginning to let go of their leaves. It’s sad, but I also see that when I allow one cycle to end, another can begin.

I’m excited to announce what was born during this period of rest: Tending the Creative Garden: companionship and tools for growing new things. This new micro-blog sketchpad emerged from a quandary: I wanted to work on a memoir and some personal poetry, but I also wanted company.

Connecting with people through my pandemic writing has been so healing and strengthening for me. When I entered the solitude of my writing room, would all the old demons of self-doubt, procrastination, and fear return? Yes, they did.

Instead of dealing with these issues alone, I wanted to share when I floundered or flourished. So I started writing and drawing about the behind-the-scenes creative process, in the hopes that what helped me could help someone else.

Here are the first ones. You can read the super-short posts that go with them by clicking on each picture.

I’ll be sending out these postcards once a week. You’re automatically on my list, but please feel free to opt out. It’s pretty different from what I was doing before, and I understand that it won’t be for everyone.

You can also visit Tending the Creative Garden anytime on my new website. This summer I worked with a designer and illustrator to create a place to house all my writing things, and I’m really excited with the way it turned out.

Thank you for being part of my community. Your listening and kind words have given me courage and a feeling of togetherness.