While I never put up my tree until one minute before Christmas — a family tradition involving prison and parole agreements which I won’t go into here — on my website I have to plan early, or the next thing you know it’ll be Groundhog Day and I’ll just be announcing my Holiday Concert. 

 

If you felt our 33-degree morning we had today, you’d be starting to think of all the Holiday accoutrements, such as Ear Muffins, Candy Cane Socks, Gloves with Blinking Lights and a Snow Shovel with some other person attached to it than me. All of these things put me in the mood for Holidays. Pumpkin Pie will do that too, but if I start that now, I will have to buy all new britches by Christmas. 

 

Some of you may notice that my website is looking new. My long time friend, Brian Dina, who I refused to call my “webmaster” for 20 years, went invisible in late Spring. I miss him and am so grateful to him for being a beautiful part of my life and music since 1983. For months my website sat immobile. Brian liked to use ancient software which no longer exists, and so my other long time friend, Barbi Ellen Springer, has been meticulously rebuilding my website in a new fashion — one which we can update ourselves in a jiffy. It will grow quite a lot more over the weeks, as we add my CDs and downloads for sale and a number of other features.

 

We hope to launch my new Substack Writing Series just before Christmas — in a free version for a month or two, until we are ready to publish specifically for subscribers. If you do not know about Substack, it is online headquarters for hundreds and thousands of writers, a format where we can write and gain readers and create a new revenue stream by accepting subscribers who love what we write. I think there is a good chance that this will lead to at least two things; 1. The financing of my new album, and 2. Finally, a collection of writing which will become my first book. I’ll share more soon.

 

For three and a-half years I’ve been hosting a weekly online Breathing/Meditation gathering called, Breathing Into Your Life. It has been life changing for many of us. Started during Covid to help us through what was a frightening and strange time, we have continued to evolve. Each Thursday evening fifteen or twenty of us will gather in my living room, so to speak, on Zoom. I create a beautiful calming atmosphere and sing a song each week, we breathe together and share parts of our lives, then we do one of my 20 minute meditations together. Dozens of people over these last few years have shared with me that their lives are much more enjoyable, rich with joy and so much less stressful now that they have developed a practice which helps to bring harmony where chaos often rules. Join us some Thursday. I think you’ll be surprised at how welcoming and inspiring it is.

 

I write stories, essays, memoirs almost every day on Facebook. I have for many years. In fact, you’d have a hard time finding anyone who posts more original content than I do. I LOVE writing and I love inspiring and entertaining and bringing laughter. I’ve done that since I was a kid and still never tire of it. If you burned out on FB over the years, I think you might feel differently if you saw my posts. Many tell me that a day is not complete which they have not ended with a visit to my site before bedtime. 

 

Emerging from my love of writing and creativity, I also host a couple of workshops online each year. Some are specifically for Creative Writing, usually under the heading, Writing the Wonders of Your Mind. I have one such event coming up on Sat Feb 3 of 2024. I have been almost giddy at some of these, delighting in watching people who did not know they are extremely gifted writers, find out from our exercises and practices that they are indeed wonderful at expressing themselves in writing. Even in my other workshops which are to inspire ALL types of creativity, we use some writing exercises to loosen us up and help us to realize how very much more nimble our minds can be than we realize. 

 

So I just wanted you to know about some of the things I do and invite you to join us. If you’re on my email mailing list, you will receive early notice to anything and everything I do.

 

Thank you for stopping by. I’m really looking forward to my Holiday Concert coming up on Sun Dec 17 this year. I think you’d be surprised at the intimacy, the sweetness of spirit and the quality of sound I get for these. I hope you’ll join us. 

 

Thank you my friend, don’t forget to take deep breaths every day — and to be kind to yourself. You deserve all the kindness in the world.

 

Your friend in the wind, Michael Tomlinson