Early Morning

Woke up early this morning, just like I have been for the past month or so. This time, it was still dark outside; I got up after realizing that sleeping was hopeless. I made a cup of coffee and went on to my balcony to enjoy the sights and sounds. Birds singing, crows squawking, and the pine trees just stood there as if saying:

"Yeah, thanks for stopping by - Where have you been? We've been waiting for you."

And then God dimmed the lights on, showing the purple of a jacaranda tree beginning to flower. Ahhh...

I've been pretty energized this year; so much that I've been waking up earlier than usual. I'm excited to work on my book, to get it ready for publishing -- the book project is helping me to meet needs for meaningful expression in the hopes of contributing to the well-being of others.

On Friday, I printed the "good enough" version of the manuscript and sent it out to some authors, pastors and NVC trainers -- hoping that they'll like it enough that they'll tell their friends, and give me a supporting "blurb".

Given that I'm in the third trimester of the book's development (it does sort of feel like a baby to me), I don't have much to do in terms of writing while the editors work on it some more. Writing, it seems, is more of a community project than I had realized; while much of the raw stuff of the book was typed by me, lots of people's comments go into shaping the final product.

This inertia of editing woke me up, so I had time for writing this blog post. I'm also realizing that its been a while since I've been out to the mountains alone; they seem to be calling me too. I'm pondering whether a backpack trip is in my immediate future or not. The time seems right; I need to unplug for a bit. Immersing myself in nature, away from the city helps me to hear God's voice more clearly...