A little poem and what I have been up to…

somewhere between heart and home,
the iron in blood sees itself
also in stone, in earth beneath feet

we are as bound to landscape
as are tendons to muscle
as tied to hearth as we are to wander

© Sarah Whiteley

Things have been quiet on the blog-front, I know. I sailed right on past the 9-year anniversary of this blog without taking time out to acknowledge it. But I have been feverishly working on piecing together a full-length manuscript for submission. November saw me buckling down with the goal of writing 60 new drafts of poems (yes, 60!). I didn’t quite make it, but made it as far as 50, which is a huge achievement for me.

I’ll be spending the next couple of months honing these poems, polishing them, probably hating parts of them, and loving them all to pieces. But now that the big push is done with for the moment, I’m hoping to revisit posting to the blog a bit more. It’s always been a great tool to keep me writing!

apologies and a quick update

My apologies for the radio silence over the past couple of months. I had a lot to handle in a very short time and unfortunately this meant all blogging activities were put on the back burner for a while.

The good news is I’m BACK! However, the blog will be going down temporarily beginning next week while I work on a redesign which will better incorporate some of the photography and art projects I’ve been working on along with the writing.

Thanks everyone who checked in and emailed to make sure I was still breathing! I swear I’ll be making the regular blog circuit again in just a short while.

Be well!

Celebrating!

Five years ago today, one tiny little poem marked the beginning of ebbtide. Five years! Am I celebrating? Hell yes!

I am so grateful for the countless ways in which this little space on the internet has helped me – as an emotional outlet, a sounding board, a source of writerly camaraderie, and a place to celebrate beauty. There has been a (much-needed) sort of inner awakening in my life since I began this writing journey, and so many people have touched me through this medium that I can only hope I’ve been able to do a little of the same for others. So thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for five wonderful years!

Peace,
Sarah

I’m Three!

Well, the blog is at any rate… three!

When I consider the reasons I began this blog (read the About page if you haven’t already) and compare it to where I am today, I can’t even begin to express how thoroughly pleased I am. This blog began as a tool – an outlet – to help me to rediscover the person I wanted to be (and still was waaaay deep down inside). I think at this point I’ve moved beyond that viewpoint and shifted from blog as “tool” to blog as “creative expression.” And that’s a milestone I’m ready to celebrate. I am at peace and content with myself. It sounds strange to say, but that’s a sense I honestly never thought I’d have a handle on. Yet here it is. And here I am.

I owe much to those who have passed through Ebbtide and left their mark in some form or other. The benefits of the validation and support received (whether from one-time readers or long-time subscribers) have been incalculable. I have been blessed to find several richly expressive, wonderful people via Ebbtide and am happy to count them now among my “writerly” friends. From the warmest part of my heart, thank you.

Val, Marian, Charles, Laz, and Guy – you have been my most avid readers/commenters of late and yours have been the writings I am most drawn to and feel the most enriched by. So a special thank you to you!

Now here it is… changes…

I’ve been mulling this idea over for some time now. Sarah, you write fiction. Why in the world don’t you post it? There have been times in recent months I’ve been sorely tempted to do just that. But then I back away from that idea. Nah! I write and share my poetry,… it’s just what I do.

Part of it is habit. Part of it is my being unsure of the reception my fiction would receive on a blog that has been based on poetry for three years. Yet another part of it is that my “fiction voice” is so very different from my “poetry voice” that… well… I don’t know. But it’s all starting to sound like a big bunch of silly excuses to me. Amazing how good we can be at coming up with excuses to not do something that might test the boundaries of our comfort zones.

So I’ve decided – fictions will be forthcoming. Perhaps not right away. And perhaps in some sort of serialized format. But interspersed between my regular poetry postings will be a few somethings of a different nature. I hope you won’t mind…

And now I’m off to have pumpkin pie for breakfast. Because I can…

Peace,
Sarah