April 2021 – Barbara James

Although Easter Sunday was the 4th, we are still in the season. It doesn’t end until Pentecost, which takes place 40 days after Easter. This year, that’s May 23.

So what has been happening? I’m glad that Natasha and Austin are out in the world as of last month. Helena is getting ready for her turn.

I noticed something interesting when I looked at my notes file for Helena’s book. On April 3, 2018, I first imagined what hers would look like. On April 3, 2021, I was in the midst of checking the revisions from my editor.

A lot took place in the meantime: Ayanna’ book, Suzette’s, then Natasha’s. I would have finished the first draft of Helena’s book by the end of 2019 or early 2020. I decided to spend most of 2020 working with my critique group revising the manuscript.

I’ve been writing as well on the nonfiction front. Those have taken the shape of community writing projects. They all share a theme insofar as they are all related to ministry in some form, at least in my own mind. The latest is on food: cooking, baking, and grocery shopping as ministry.

The editor assigned to work with me likes it. I sent her my first draft then replied to her edits. I then submitted my second draft. Since then I’ve been revising my third draft. She would like me to present to our group the next session.

Since I’ve been focusing on revising with my critique group the latest manuscript that I finished in March, I’ve spent lots of time looking over the first twenty pages, my first submission. Did my critique partners ever have lots of suggestions! I revised it and submitted it again for us to review this month.

What have I been reading? I finished my Lenten reading on spiritual direction before the end of Lent. Then I got two books on Anglicanism, the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and a selection of essays on Anglican studies. They aren’t an easy read, but I’m glad I have them.

I’m thinking that I should read two G.K. Chesterton books for the Easter season, Orthodoxy and Heretics. In addition, I’m hoping one of Andrea Lee’s will become available from the library soon, merely because I read Interesting Women years ago and it stayed with me.

As for fiction, I’ve read some romances as well as some short fiction, especially books by Danzy Senna and Andrea Lee. Their characters are memorable insofar as they speak to a certain zeitgeist of African American women who grew up and came of age in the post civil rights eras of the 1970s into the 2000s.

Take a look at these book covers: