33 Comments
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Karen Davis's avatar

I love that you are doing the things that your nervous system wants to shut down and then really telling your body, "it's ok, we've got this". Hopefully over time it might get easier, but also it's not stopping you.

Thank you for telling us about your aunt! It makes me angry that the pastor would spend the whole time talking about her husband! For both my grandmother and grandfather's funeral, us four granddaughters eulogized them and I'm so glad we did. We learned so much about them in the process.

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Sue Kusch's avatar

Your story about your aunt's funeral is infuriating and sadly, quite common. And your statement about capitalism is right-on. I am ready to tell the world about how interesting I am!

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Parjit Kaur's avatar

Absolutely love this post! Would come back to it again and again…to find courage to show up in the world.

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Janisse Ray's avatar

You have SO MUCH to say. In so many ways this was worse for you.

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Deb Bowen's avatar

I thought I had reviewed Craft & Current, and I see I haven't. Will do! I have some thoughts about your newsletter questions, and will email you. I'm sorry I can't commit to the memoir course, but the pre-sale marketing begins in a couple of weeks for my book that launches in September. Yikes!

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Janisse Ray's avatar

Congratulations on the new book. I'm one of your preorders!

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Deb Bowen's avatar

Bless you!

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Jeanne Malmgren's avatar

That Captolia bitch has lit a fire in you! 😆 But I'm pretty sure the spark was always there, under the surface of shame etc. -- just waiting. I love watching you flare. 💜

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Janisse Ray's avatar

YAY for you. You did it! Thank you for understanding every step of this.

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Misti Little's avatar

Personally, I love the Rhizosphere title but understand where others may not. You could change it to the name of your book, Craft & Current, as an option for tying things together.

Also, I sincerely appreciated you sharing your soul in this post, the second-guessing and psychological side of things. I've been in a bit of a hole the last few months with writing and other creative pursuits---brains are a doozy! Sometimes I tend to think "so and so has it all together. Why can't I?" and throw a little pity party and as much as I wish other people truly did have it together, it is affirming to know that I'm not the only one spiraling sometimes.

I'm going to write a few of those affirmations down.

Edit: Also, you should be able to export your subscribers into a .csv and import them into your Trackless Wild and likely send those subscribers a singular email discussing the merging of the newsletters and let them unsubscribe if they wanted. Just an option. I'm not sure how to migrate the posts, though!

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Janisse Ray's avatar

Great ideas here, Misti. Thank you so much. I'm ruminating & will be back in touch.

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Jeanne Malmgren's avatar

Good idea to mirror the title of her writing book!

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Katie Weinberger's avatar

I like Craft & Current title too! and such a great book. I might just read it again this summer.

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Michelle Roebuck's avatar

Damn, this is brilliant! I’m going to have to, like, bookmark it and return when I can take it in more slowly, truly consider the questions you’ve shared. Excellent stuff - thank you!

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Chip R. Bell's avatar

This is awesome! Bravo to you for showing your guts, glory, and authenticity!!

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Janisse Ray's avatar

Chip, you're a sweetheart. Thank you, thank you.

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Mary Dansak's avatar

I have a whole lot of thoughts, most of which can be summed up, "Hear hear!"

As for the nuts and bolts, I made a huge mistake when I "ended" Riding With Jasper. In a big ole mess, I started Writing Into Wonder and made a section for my weekly columns, and tried to tell all the Riding With Jasper folks to come on over, but it doesn't work well. If anyone is just starting out, I'd encourage them to have ONE publication with sections.

As for the name, The Rhizosphere, I get that it needs to be accessible if you are going to keep it. While I personally love it, it's not for everyone. And...did you change the name of the post? I liked Bitch. :) I don't have a suggestion for migrating or naming, having had trouble with those issues myself, and ALWAYS second guessing and redoing and making things more complicated than they should be.

Finally, reviews. I left a Goodreads review right away, long ago, but just now went and left it on Amazon. I also just discovered that you can create a link to share with readers that takes them straight to your review page. I think this is just for books printed by Amazon KDP. Here is how.

1. Copy this link (this is mine): https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review?asin=B0DS9KZVN7

2. Replace the string of numbers and letters on the end after the = with your own book's ASIN number.

3. Copy and share!

Fondly, in gratitude, and with no tattoos,

Mary

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Janisse Ray's avatar

OMG, what do I owe you for this? And yes, I changed the title. I got cold feet.

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Sheila Knell's avatar

Wow! Loved all of this, the spirit, the fire, the honesty and inspiration!

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Matt Mullenix's avatar

The lawn mower has heard most of my internal complaints.

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Janisse Ray's avatar

Big smiles, dear Matt. And if I haven't said so before, thank you for sending Joshua my way. He was a pure delight. Still is. xoxo

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Matt Mullenix's avatar

He’s the real thing, I think. I’m glad he connected with you!

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Sam Ghioto's avatar

I get Rhizosphere because you defined it early on, but I get how others may find confusion in it. Trackless Wild is a brilliant name too, and it may be useful to consolidate. However, I, like many others, look for your work whether under Trackless Wild or Rhizosphere since, to me, they are uniquely Janisse Ray.

As for this piece, I needed to read this today, so thank you for publishing 🔥🔥🔥

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Janisse Ray's avatar

Pedal on, Sam.

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The Kitchen Cynk's avatar

As seems usual, you’re right on time saying what I need to hear.

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Rebecca Weil's avatar

Great post!

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Dottie Turner Leatherwood's avatar

As always, thank you Janisse for your generous spirit.

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Christy's avatar

I am along time reader of Trackless Wild and just signed up for Rhizosphere. Trackless Wild works for me and I also love this post.

Have you considered posting this article in Trackless Wild? Perhaps you could let regular readers know that the article was originally posted on Rhizosphere (and the audience for Rhizosphere) and request feedback? The edgy and compelling title for this article feels different than the titles on Trackless Wild and the content of this article aligns with the place-based, community focused mission of Trackless Wild.

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Janisse Ray's avatar

Such freaking good ideas. THANK YOU, Christy. And thank you for crossing over. I look forward to the future with you.

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