PASSING IT ON 6-23-17
It is very difficult for
me to learn something new, even if it’s only from myself, perhaps especially if
it’s from myself, without wanting to pass it on.
For such a long time, that
was no problem. I had a pulpit and a pen [well, keyboard] and so many avenues
for passing on what I had learned.
I dreamt that in old age,
I would be free of all outside constraints, required by my job to pass things
on. I forgot about the inside constraints, the ones that say, “You’ve learned
something important; you’ve got to pass it on.”
So I went back to passing
things on via this blog, mostly because I am the only editor/publisher left who
will accept my stuff for “publication.” [1] It’s okay if no one reads it. In
fact, I haven’t told anyone, even my wife, that I am passing things on again. But
Christ In Winter posts allow me in my winter years to keep on trying to think
and write in ways that are coherent enough to keep on growing in knowledge and
faith.
About 25 years ago, the
teens in my church started coming home from summer camp with a new chorus, one
they loved and sang often. “It only takes a spark to get a fire going, and soon
all those around can warm up in its glowing…” [1]
Not much of what we pass
on will last very long, but I hope that what I still pass on will provide a
little spark…in my own mind and spirit, at least.
JRMcF
johnrobertmcfarland@gmil.com
1] That’s not totally
true. Black Opal Books was pleased to publish my novel VETS and also took Going
After Sally Ann, my fictionalized account of my experiences of being the “hit
man” for a cancer center, but I withdrew GASA
because VETS proved that I’m past the
point where I can do marketing for my own books. It’s unfair to a small
publisher to let them go to the work and expense of publishing a book and not
try to market it for them.
Daughter Katie Kennedy has
no problem getting her YA novels published, because she’s a tremendous writer.
That’s why Bloomsburg, which also publishes JK Rowling, is bringing out Katie’s
new one, What Goes Up, on July 16,
2017, available from B&N, Amazon, etc.
2] I am always distressed
by lyrics sites online, like St. Tekla, that give all the lyrics to a song/hymn
and never mention the composer, in this case Kurt Kaiser. That’s theft by
neglect.
