I've got a little list

I always return from travel--especially long travel--with an extensive to-do list. It's not just the inspiration, although there's been a lot of that. It's not just the stuff that didn't get done while I was gone. It's also the shifted perspective that makes me notice little things--like the hole in the pocket of my fall coat, now mended before fall arrives in Minnesota but glaringly apparent when I wandered around Icelandic canyons. Catching up is a matter of using the new perspective travel brought me in tiny, mundane ways as well as large, magical ones.

(This novella idea I got in Borgarnes: it is perfect for me. So excited. You will be excited too, when I get there. But there's a long road between here and there.)

One of the things that my to-do lists do for me is to give me a little breathing room, to let me know that I don't actually have to do everything I want to do right now today. Marking something as "THURS" or putting it on the list for two weeks from now is a clear mental barrier: yes, I want to accomplish this, I don't want it to get lost in the shuffle, but not this minute. If I finish all the stuff on my list for today, I can sit down and rest. Rest is good.

But THURS and two weeks from now eventually become real, and one of the things I was supposed to do in the Grand Scheme of After I Return was set up a newsletter. Well, it's After I Return, so I've managed to set up that newsletter. It's at https://tinyletter.com/MarissaLingen, and it will require confirmation once you've signed up for it. I expect to send something out roughly monthly, with publication news, recipes, thoughts and chatter, nothing frequent or lengthy. Please feel welcome.