I try to write about once a month to those of you who support my coffee, my writing, and my research. My bout with COVID-19 in January slowed me down in some of my usual updates.
It wasn't bad, not nearly as hard as the cases I saw four years ago at the hospital. But my thinking was a little more fuzzy than usual, and for a time, all the coffee I drank tasted old. (It wasn't actually old. It was a side-effect of the virus).
Nancy and I are both doing much better.
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In the time since we last talked, I started a podcast at findingwordsinhardtimes.com. Because a friend said that I couldn't talk about grief without people being able to see me, I'm also sharing the video on my YouTube channel: Finding Words in Hard Times - video.
I was interviewed for a radio network about my chaplaincy and writing work. I'll be sharing those links at 300wordsaday.com soon. I also talked to our palliative oncology staff about my research and the grief model I've talked about on the podcast, the Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement.
I've been continuing to write at thisishard.substack.com and 300.
I've been connecting with people who are doing great work supporting people in really hard times.
And I'm working on getting one of my collections of essays about caring for people ready for a class I'm teaching in the fall. I'll be releasing it on Amazon in April. (It isn't gathered yet, of course, but it will be ready.)
All this is encouraged by your support. Since I set up this coffee fund last year, you've given $1355 toward coffee, books I read, books I give to people who need them, web subscriptions, and coffee. The encouragement to keep writing and thinking is deeply appreciated.
I'd love for you to check out the podcast, if you haven't, and I'll keep you posted on the other work.
Thanks again. And a belated happy new year.
Jon