For the past eight years, I've been organizing a political postcarding group of 70+ writers from all around the country, friends and friends of friends and sisters of friends and new friends. We've written and mailed more than 30,000 postcards to voters, reminding people to vote, encouraging voter registration, promoting vote-by-mail. Now, with the election behind us, I feel it's time for me to step away from that project, and fill the couple of hours I spent on it every week with something else.
So, what's next? I've been considering a few things, and have talked with three different organizations about them: running a conversation group for English language learners; helping immigrants who are applying for US citizenship to practice for their citizenship test; doing one-on-one conversation with someone in Ukraine who wants to practice English.
I'm also quite keen to write another book in the spirit of There's a What in My Where?. To be honest, I've been thinking about it for close to a year, but have had trouble corraling my thoughts into a concept that feels tight. The idea I've been toying with just hasn't jelled yet. Perhaps I'm fighting against my own notions of what this book might be, and for whom I would be writing it. Time to just sit down and write, I think, and see what dribbles out.