Friends,
It’s been a while! I’m excited to be back writing to you about things and thoughts in both poetry and prose.
I apologize for my absence from this space in recent months – in addition to moving our entire lives to the rural wilds of Middlebury, IN, I’ve been steadily tapping away at over a dozen projects, including the redesign of the website you’re visiting right now. Here’s the short story on what’s been happening:
THE GREAT WHEELER MIGRATION
At the end of May, with the invaluable assistance and strong muscles of friends and family in Illinois and Indiana, we succeeded in moving all of our paraphernalia (and our children) into a two-bedroom apartment in my parent’s basement.
We’ve adjusted much more quickly than I would have imagined and are loving living with family. The countryside is rejuvenating after ten years living in and around Chicago, and the kids have three acres to run around on.
We really miss the community we had in Chicago, but are not missing the crazy commute and the busy schedule we kept. I’ll share more in future blog posts about what it means to move back here – for now, know that we’re settled and loving it!
WRITING FOR A LIVING
One of our goals in moving back to Indiana was for me to take a crack at freelance writing, and God has provided opportunity above and beyond what I could have expected.
- I got a gig doing case studies for a leadership development company in April, through a friend of a friend of a friend, which has now turned into a part-time job writing everything from training materials to scripts – and helps pay the bills.
- I have been able to put all of my years of listening to random artists to good use at Think Christian, where I’ve written about Jack White and Kiefer.
- I joined the ALTARWORK family with my poem “begin-again.“
- I was hired to write the script for Candlelight Carols 2018 – this year, a period drama on the Christmas Truce of WW1.
- Daniel Mattix and I got our Lenten collaboration published over at a new choir music publisher: O Suffering Savior.
- And quite a few other projects in the works that I can’t discuss yet – but you’ll be the first to know!
NEW WEBSITE
We’ve finally finished up the bulk of redesign on this website, with the goal of making it more beautiful and useful to you as followers. In the time that I haven’t been posting these last two months, I’ve been stocking up blog posts and poetry to share with you once everything was in order.
This space has been and will always be about writing that comes straight from me, no edits or over-arching marketing machine. That will never change. In fact, I recently dived into my writing archives from my teenage years and earlier, and some of those embarrassing first attempts might even end up on here…
Suffice to say – this will always be a place for the writing that interests me most, and a way to connect with you.
AUGUST PATREON LAUNCH
I’ve been looking for a way to channel and expand my liturgical writing for some time now, and Patreon first surfaced as a possible platform in January 2018. Well, after months of building and breaking and rebuilding, I’m set to launch in early August – writing liturgies for you, your families, and the church.
Patreon presents me with a unique opportunity to connect with a community of people who believe that words used in worship should be prayerfully thought through. If you decide to sign up, not only do you receive exclusive access to devotional liturgies, family collects, and new liturgies for corporate worship, but you and I can collaborate on where they go next.
I’ll be sending along more information in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned!
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Friends, I’m so grateful for your continued support of me and my family through this whole process. We’re still in a massive time of transition, which is why I’m so glad to have this open line of communication with you available again. So until the next time I write something on here (it won’t be long, I promise!), cheers.
Chris
So exciting!!!
Whooot!! 🙂