I have mixed feelings about the year just gone, and, like most of us probably, am hopeful for this new one
For various reasons, including but not limited to some experiences you’ve read about, 2023 was not my favorite year—even among the last four, which is probably saying something.
But on reflection, there were some lovely things last year, too. Off the top of my head, my three favorite things in 2023 were:
- Paul’s and my two-week trip to PEI with Chunk.
- Making art over zoom with my 15-year-old niece who doesn’t live nearby.
- You guys.
Your reading, interactions, shares, and, for some of you, even your very practical financial support, have encouraged and motivated me to be present to my writing and The Readership in a way I haven’t been since the mid-aughts, honestly. Sometimes I get discouraged by unsubscribes, but realistically, there are a lot more of you who are still here than them who are not, and I’m so very grateful for that fact and you, the people who make that fact true. Thank you. Happy 2024!
If you’re new here, or you only subscribe to limited sections of Gathered and Scattered, the beginning of each month is when I share a round-up of what’s been happening over here in the last thirty days or so, and I also recommend some other writers or resources for you to engage if you like.
Check This Out
This kind of defeats the intention of the recommendations portion of this email (the intention being to highlight other people and resources), but it’s time-sensitive, and I really hope some of you will jump on this:
Winter Solace is only ten days away. Winter Solace is an annual fully-online retreat that occurs during the second weekend of January. There are now videos posted on the Pilgrimage website’s Winter Solace page that give you a little more info on the small group workshops. Please get yourself signed up soon. Can’t wait to spend a contemplative weekend with you in real time!
As for other recommendations, one new thing that happened in December was that three other people wrote stuff that I liked and wanted to share, and they allowed me to. I’m not sure if “Other Voices” is going to be a new feature here or not (maybe just a loosely-scheduled-as-available one), but I was happy to share these thoughts and you seemed happy to read them.
My Paul wrote about the first Sunday of Advent.
Tyler Berkley (who appears to be getting ready to write here as well as at WordPress like I told you before) reflected on narrative philosophy and theology.
And an Elizabeth I happen to know kindly shared a review/reflection on my novel, Favored One, about Miryam the mother of Yeshua.
Favored One
The “good idea” to which Elizabeth refers was that paid subscribers have been getting chapter installments of Favored One for the last two months. On Christmas Eve, I released the Christmas chapter for free to all of you. Thanks to this effort, I think I’ve sold about forty copies from my own website, and I know others of you have bought both digital and hard copies from other online vendors.
(Speaking of vendors, I’m running an “Epiphany sale”—roughly; it’s not actually Epiphany yet and it still will be Epiphany the day the sale ends which is the same day Trey Ferguson’s book releases—on my minimalist nativities, etc, at the Jenn Store, and I’ve included Favored One in the sale, too. If you didn’t get it yet…it also makes great reading for Lent!)
Thanks so much to all of you who jumped in and bought the book, and then have interacted with me around it. I won’t be sharing any more full Favored One chapters here, because in the next couple of months I hope to post more things related to Follower, my non-novel about Simon Peter—and probably you. I will be making that content fully public, because I want everybody to get as excited about that one as you are about Favored One. Which leads me to ask: Paid Subscribers, what do you want to read/talk about next? (This poll is open for a week. Anyone can vote, but greater weight will be given to responses from people who are paying to read. Respond to this email or in the comments if you have an additional topic suggestion.)
Imaginative Bible Shorts
I’m rerunning a workshop at Winter Solace on the 13th that I did in the fall, where we read a Bible passage and write a creative musing on it. The passage we look at during Winter Solace will be a home-related story from one of the Gospels, but in the fall, we listened to Genesis 1. My reflection on the passage I’m told is more or less a poem, and I went out on a limb and shared it last month as my monthly Note on Pilgrimage.
Writing About Writing
As for what I wrote about writing last month? Well, I shared my first snippet from Follower, and not many of you saw it, but most of you who did, read it and seemed to enjoy it a whole lot.
Thanks again for the time and interaction with which you’ve gifted me the last six-to-seven months. I’m looking forward to even more good conversation in this year to come.
Travel well,
Jenn 🐪