On goes that road...

and I along with it. I left Oxford in the wee sma's of a Wednesday morning. But I walked the river path one last time as the sun set, rambled the old streets with friends, had a last high tea, a last cider at the Eagle and Child (and a good talk with it), and had a finger foods fest in the flats with my friends on the last evening. What a gift this time has been.

It's hard to articulate what four months in England has given me - the study, the friendships, the chance to think deeply all the time. (Mobile discussions are the best; from tea shop, to pub, to long walk, to flats, the talks are endless and I love it.) Countless books crammed, eight good papers written, and a confidence in my own ability to write, think, and express that is a foundation for all I plan to accomplish in the future.

Oddly enough, the independence of the Oxford atmosphere convinced me that I am ready to move full-time into the writing realm. A student I will always be, a hungry reader, a curious heart. But a writer is the form I choose to now live, to give my whole mind and my working hours to the crafting of stories, the telling of ideas, the thinking deeply about all that is true, and beautiful, and good.

I'm heading back to the states with the intent to get a set of children's books begun this year. Another love though? Sharing literature and stories with other people. I'll also be teaching classes, mentoring, hoping to do some "Oxford style tutorials" of my own here in town and online. I hoping to find a nice little cottage to rent and set up a library and bring all sorts of students and friends in to tell them about books and do some creative writing classes.

I'm brimful of ideas, at that illumined place where purpose, hope, and the extra push of a great experience is a wind at my back pushing me into the creativity I so desire and the teaching I long to do.

So. Writing will become a much more regular thing for me in the future, to be, of course, reflected here in an ever-increasing regularity of blogging. (Something I've been rather bad at in the whirlwind last few years.) I have a new book coming out in two weeks (more on that and a special on that soon), and I have a brain crammed with good things to tell. The summer is looking good.

More soon friends, for now, a last farewell from this side of the pond.