My current writing project  

I know I haven't been around mcu lately, so I wanted to take a few minutes to say hello, and to let everyone know what's been going on with me. I've been extremely busy the last couple of months, and if I'm lucky, life could get even more busy and exciting in the very near future.

The story is a little long and strange, but I'll try to keep it as simple as I can. The first week of May, I picked up the new Neil Diamond CD, Home Before Dark. When I saw it, I was impressed by the photography on the covers and the inside liner notes. After discovering that the photos were the work of Neil's son, Jesse, I Googled him to see if I could find any more of his work. That led me to his website, www.jessediamond.com, and I was very impressed by what I found. At that point, I sent him a short "fan letter" type email, and that was that.

Over the next few weeks, I kept going back to the site to look at the photos, and I started to feel inspired to write poems about a great many of them. I joked around with a few of my friends about how Jesse and I should do a book together...his photos and my poems...but again, just left it at that, a joke.

Toward the end of August, after continuing to write poems and to think about the possibility of doing a book, I finally told myself that the worst thing that could happen would be that he would say "Thanks, but no thanks." I've had my share of rejection letters in the past, so that would not be a new experience for me, after all. So, I wrote up a proposal, detailing my idea and including about a dozen of the poems I had already written. Then I quickly hit the send button before I had a chance to change my mind.

Two weeks later, when I had pretty much convinced myself that I was never going to get a response, I found myself staring at an email from Jesse....and I was almost afraid to open it. When I finally did, the first words I read were "Teresa, your poems are beautiful," and my heart soared beyond belief. I just wanted to scream with joy, and to jump up and down with happiness!!! He went on to say that he is busy with another project right now and wouldn't be able to focus the amount of attention on my proposed idea that it deserves. He suggested we should get back in contact again in mid-October, as he definitely wants to come back to and pursue it.

So, that's where things stand right now. I currently have about 40 poems written, more or less (I keep editing them!!), and I'll send those off to Jesse when I contact him on the 15th. I will try to keep you all posted on what we're doing and how we're doing it as things progress. Wish me luck, and keep me in your thoughts and prayers!!