I followed Gina's advice and had me a BURN.
I took three large Highlights canvas bags, from the Chautauqua Conferences and the Founders Workshops attended through the years, and filled them up with hundreds of pages. They were old, rough copies of manuscripts, scribbled notes, rejection letters, used up journals, etc., that were taking up space in my bursting file cabinets, and no longer served any purpose. I loaded them in the trunk of my car and brought them to our house in Northwest Connecticut. While my family went off skiing at Butternut Mountain, I leisurely fed the pages into the fire.
I cannot tell you how good it felt. I was completely at peace. While snacking and enjoying mugs of steaming coffee, I had time to muse over my luck at encountering The Highlights Foundation and its wonderful people: staff, teachers, editors, and most of all, Us, the writers/students/new friends. And I was filled with joy, appreciation, and deep gratitude.
Graziella Pacini Buonanno
You look at peace in the pic, Graziella. So glad it was a good experience for you. As for me, I nearly lost my work in a house fire 7 years ago, & am not ready to burn anything deliberately. At least not yet.
ReplyDeleteOh, Graziella, congrats! I am so glad that you found the burn peaceful.
ReplyDeleteMy hope is that this fall when we reunite, we can burn collectively. Maybe you will be ready by then, Kathy. What about some rejection letters??!!