the next challenge

There I was, standing with my colleagues in the Random House lobby last week, surrounded by the entire history of the legendary publisher. We were in a temple of corporate achievement--thousands of volumes glowing in a huge space of sunlight, polished wood and honey-colored marble. I was in the company of books I'd loved as a child, trashy best-sellers, and classics I hope I have the time to read. It was an architectural statement about vision, greatness and achievement.

In two days, our team had meetings in editorial offices all over the city. We'd been in the test kitchen of a leading food magazine, successfully cold-called the editor of a travel journal at a rarefied publishing empire, engineered a cheesy but fruitful appearance on the CBS Morning Show, and even used the bathrooms at Men's Vogue. Our trio had been a success in just about everything we'd tried; West Texas was getting noticed in the Big Apple. It was heady and exciting and exhausting.

And surrounded by Random House's temple of achievement--all those books--I'd had a rather cliched moment of clarity: I found myself saying, "life is there for the taking, all you have to do is reach for it." I'm a bit embarrassed by the unremarkable and saccharin sound of that statement, but most of you know I'd been stuck for years. Though there was evidence to the contrary, especially concerning my artwork (exhibitions, residencies, publications, etc.), I felt unable to reach terribly far. And now I realized I'd gotten much, much better at seeing possibilities instead of obstacles...and that I clearly had found my "second mile."

I haven't made an entry here in more than a month because (happily, amazingly) life has been filled with signature moments. They have been BIG moments of challenge and achievement; experiences I'd never even dared to dream for myself. But there they were and I was going for them, aggressively pursuing LIFE with a comfortable confidence. But, frankly, these BIG moments have come in such rapid succession, they've worn me out. (I'll post about them and you'll understand why) So after a rare week of short work days and long naps, I'm back to running, cooking, giving Daisy and others important to me quality time, and maybe, maybe posting new blog entries.