Posts Tagged ‘writing’

I’ve just posted a piece  on the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference blog about working with my editor, Andrew Todhunter, on revisions to my memoir about my sister Evelyn. The draft is finished, and out once again for comments. It’s always so valuable to see one’s work through another’s eyes.

Now I’ll need to write an epilogue. Just this week we learned that the New Zealand Geographical Board has assigned the name Stokes Peak, in Evelyn’s honor, to a peak in the Kaimai Range, between Tauranga (where she was born) and the Waikato (where she lived and worked). An impressive end to the story.

Such a long gap of time between posts. But now this year’s Mendocino Coast Writers Conference is over and, as I always do after a major project is completed, I am attempting to clean up my midden of a desk. I’m reminded of a novel I read back in the 1960s. The author was Michael Frayn, and the somewhat forgettable plot was about a bunch of hack journalists in London who were bored with their jobs.  It’s the title that stuck in my mind: Against Entropy. The notion that our lives are a constant struggle against disorder and decay.

The surface of my desk is now visible in parts. I still have files to sort, both computer and paper. But I no longer despair of restoring order.

The conference was a success. Not financially,  in this economically troubled year, but in the quality of instruction and the spirit of community the participants felt. Their glowing evaluation comments made our efforts worthwhile.

Now on to planning the 2011 conference…

First, a big thank you to my husband, Tony Eppstein of Monday Graphics, who designed my beautiful website and the theme for this journal. I will try to fill this space with language that fits its surroundings. My plan is to share a little about the projects I’m working on, such as the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference and my poetry workshop at College of the Redwoods, Mendocino campus.  I’ll include observations about the natural world here between the forest and the sea on the Mendocino Coast and talk about what’s growing in my garden. Occasionally I’ll throw in a poem or two. I hope we can start some conversations about writing, and about living close to the earth.