A LETTER TO MY READERS

The absence from my published voice, it seems, continues as I pour my efforts into healing myself in body, mind & spirit.  Yet each day that passes, I am experiencing new terrain and obstacles to overcome. 

As most of you know, I reside in southwest Florida alongside the beautiful barrier islands of Sarasota.  On top of everything dealt my way, this hurricane season we ‘ran out of luck’ taking direct hits from Helene and Milton.  Some of my local readers lost everything.  Wiped out and left with only a resolve to ‘build back better’.  Where my household fared well during these storms, we were called to evacuate and did experience loss of power to our home for seven (7) days.  When you couple these events with my recovery from a poorly located fracture to the hip requiring a long-recovery period, well…you get the picture.

My world continues to operate under a dark grey cloud and I am trying to make daily adjustments.  My household is in complete upheaval after an interior wall leak infested my master bath and contiguous master closet with mold.  The complete demolition of these spaces and remediation that was necessary to remove the toxic mold made living conditions uncomfortable, to say the least. We are now into week 6 of the process and about to start the rebuild of the space.  I guess my hope to be done with this component by Thanksgiving was a bit too robust.  Maybe by Christmas, I hope.

This brings me to the crux of this post.  A Sabbatical. 

I am in need of taking a sabbatical leave from writing and social media postings.  This ‘leave’ is much needed to restore my coffers – in all ways.  Interestingly enough, the word sabbatical is rooted by the word ‘sabbath’​, which means day of rest and worship.  I am in much need of both.  Leonard Cohen, a lifelong hero of mine, chose a period of reclusion during his time at the Mount Baldy monastery in the 1990’s.  He has been quoted as saying, “…passion without flesh, love without climax…” clearly illustrates the sensations felt by a depleted soul.  For this reason, I must retreat.

In my proposed silent hours, I will be diving deeply into my spiritual study meant to strengthen and restore my soul.  I will commit to my continued quest to rebuild my body so that I may, once again, deliver hope to my readers without ​being dissuaded by this distraction.  I will also enrich my mind with the stack of books that lie in wait.  And speaking of books…I am proud to announce I have finished my story, “Goings-On on Gardenia Lane”, and will fill my hours into the production process that follows post-writing.  When I emerge from my sabbatical, it will be with a new book in hand, added to my collection that I hope my readers will reach for to add to their own library.

Thank you, readers, for following along with me over the years.  Together, we have built a world-wide community of almost 5,000 strong.  The interactions we have shared in Comments and PMs and Shares have expanded my inspiration and I vow to keep feeding that “love train”.  If, during this period, you come across something engaging that you believe I would embrace or be invigorated by – please send it my way.  My ​DJ Posner page will still run during this hiatus.  Thank you again, readers, from the bottom of my heart.  

Gone for now…but I will not forget you are out there.

Love, D.J.