Today I went to Wolfe Eyeware and picked up my new glasses. This was a long time in coming, and a much-needed purchase. The lenses in my old glasses were badly scratched. I joked (and behind every joke is a grain of truth) that I had to remove my glasses to see anything. This got me to thinking that if the problem wasn’t the lenses, then I was slowly losing my eyesight. My vision with glasses was like it was before I had cataract surgery – there was a cloudy haze when I looked out at the distance.

The new frames resemble my old frames. Would have liked a new look, but I didn’t have enough guidance. So I’m still the same old me, the one difference is that the world appears to be a crisper, clearer place.

Very good timing writing-wise, getting these glasses. I will tonight finish revising my Writing Sustainably proposal, and then tomorrow send it on to University of Alaska Press Acquisitions Editor James Engelhardt. I’ve been working on it since we met a few weeks ago in Fairbanks. I hope that this time, it will be a go. I now very much want to move on. The proposal has now been reviewed by reviewers, and I have incorporated their suggestions, so this is a distinct possibility.

Re vision – to see again. This time around I better made the connections between writing and lifestyle-related sustainability, which was something I did not do the last time around. Come to think of it, I sure did not do this early on. I also paid homage to the idea that in writing, there are two schools of thought, one being that the source of writerly ideas is oneself, and the other being that the source of writerly ideas is others. This’ll work.

The proposal might now go the University of Alaska Press board. If they okay it, I will get a contract saying that I agree to write this book. And after the book’s written, it will be read by other reviewers. The question one might have is why subject myself to this long and arduous process, well knowing that at any stage of editorial process, that the book idea or book might get nixed. The answer is that a published book that’s gone through this process will be considered more legitimate in the eyes of academics than one that has not. Consequently, it will in the long run be easier for me to get a job teaching creative nonfiction writing.

I am obviously thinking here of the very big picture. It’s a picture that’s so large that I have to sometimes stand way back to see it. However, my having new glasses makes it easier to see than would otherwise be the case.

Next: 218. 8/11/14: Camping Trip, Part II: Perchance to Dream