In my 50's before heading to graduate school, my choice was weighted toward my home state of Maine, where required travel could efficiently match visits to my parents. So of course i was excited to hear from the literary journal The Maine Review that they were interested in an interview to explore the roots of my first published novel, The Scent of Distant Family. What a treat to work with their editorial staff, especially R.S. Saha who told me they read the story in one sitting, and who came up with a fun series of questions tracking this idea of agency in other-than-human animals that first caught my interest while writing my graduate thesis for University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast program.

Which just goes to show that a writing "purpose" can spring up--and leaf out--from something as simple as a random citation in an article that caught my attention some snowy day no longer remembered. One of the Substacks i similarly stumbled into and have gratefully subscribed to is created by Dan Blank, who recently offered a free workshop called 10 Traits of Writers Who Reach Their Readers. My scribblings while listening to the recording helped me sort out a "radically clear purpose" for my current Work in Progress.

The manuscript is drafted through to an end, but the story doesn't yet seem to be in a form that might help it attract readers. Dan's questions helped me get clear, much like R.S. Saha's questions about the story that's already in book form. Soil and sun ask questions of every seed, and rain helps the sprout share its beauty. Finding purpose greater than self is important for my motivation. Purpose to nourish our planet and all of us who are part of this grand experiment in life. Let it be simple.