Over the weekend, a friend who has been in our lives for decades commented that writing Of Grief, Garlic and Gratitude must have been cathartic for me. I nodded, and said yes, it had been.

But then I thought about that comment a lot. I thought about it when I was in the garden, and when I was cleaning the barn. I thought about it while proofreading and while arranging the details for my first (upcoming) radio interview about the book. Cathartic? Was it cathartic? So I googled the word, wondering if I was misunderstanding the meaning and found, as I thought, that it meant to cleanse or purge.

In the end, I came to the conclusion that no, writing it was not cathartic. It didn’t cleanse or allow me to purge feelings. Instead, I woulds say that I found it therapeutic, in that by carefully examining my feelings, and being pushed by my incredible editors to really reflect, that I have found some clarity. I didn’t purge any emotions, the grief is still as clear and complex now as it was the day before I started writing, but I have reflected a lot upon my journey.

Some updates:

With the release of the final cover design, some people have asked when the book will be available for purchase. Later in the fall (hopefully by sometime in October), I will be able to order hard-copy copies (not e-books) of the book, and will have them for sale at events and on this site, available for immediate shipping. At the same time, they will be available to pre-order on Amazon and other online retailers. The e-book (in various formats) will be available to download sometime in early February, and the paperback will be released formally in May 2019, and will be available to ship from online retailers and be in bookstores nationwide at that time.