It’s been a rough year – I lost my mom a few months ago, and that’s just one of those challenges that makes you wonder how we humans walk around with ragged holes in our hearts. Add to that extra craziness at the day job, stressful medical news of my own, etc. etc. etc. But…
The paperback version of my book Rell is now available. It took some last minute graphic design wrangling with the cover (3mm has never been so frustrating), but it’s now officially out there in the world. There’s still a lot of things I want to keep doing for it in terms of promotion and just…
I can’t believe it’s been over a year since I posted to the blog. I had such momentum in October 2020 – I thought I was ready to publish only to find out that I’d lost the newest, most edited version of my manuscript… over a year later I’m still working through it again. I…
I love my job – it’s fulfilling and worthwhile and even in the COVID-19 madness I still enjoy it. But… It can be pretty consuming. It’s just creative enough to use my creative energies and demands just enough writing that it uses up my writing energy and at the end of the day I often…
In thinking about this phrase the other day- “They can’t see the forest for the trees”-it occurred to me that you can’t actually see the forest without seeing the trees. So yes, the big picture is important, but individual details and people are the key to understanding the whole. I think that’s why picking the…
I’m nervous about putting my work out into the world. What if everyone hates it? What if they think it’s stupid? What if I offend someone? Well lucky for me the only thing that makes me more anxious than all of that is how I’m going to feel if I look back at my life…
So when we moved a couple of years ago I decided I wanted some abstract water-ish looking paintings to hang in our living room, but I was too cheap to buy them at the store and wondered if I could do it myself. That thought led to a new hobby that I’m thoroughly enjoying. I…
“Of Periods of Seas — Unvisited of Shores — Themselves the Verge of Seas to be — Eternity — is Those —” Emily Dickinson Sometimes when you’re not even sure you understand a stanza of poetry, you still understand the stanza of poetry PacificNorthwestPhotographyPoetryReflections
My professional life sent me a delightful curve ball last May when I was offered a full-time teaching job in the Pacific Northwest. In throwing myself into that amazing job I let some things go – including this blog, but here’s the thing. I’ve been taking some great photos and I’m experiencing some phantom pains…
Jenel Alan 