Sunday Synopsis: 2011 September 25th: On Track

Getting back on track is hard to do.   There is a rhythm to a project, and a disrupted project loses that cadence.  For me, I ran into that morass in which I struggled to find the path, the direction on the Uncle Ralph Letters book.  Finally, I decided that I dinna have the answers, so I started calling and looking for people with the right skill set to help me.  I met with a fellow from a printing company who spent a couple of hours with me this week.

The good news, I was on the right track.  The problems are rather easily fixable, and within my ken and know-how.  He had specific suggestions in some instances, and in others an array of possibilities.  A good start to regaining the beat and rhythm of the project.

Over the past month, I have been obsessively transcribing the James P. McPherson diary  --  it was the one thing that I could do that I knew was right and moving in a forward directions.  But in the last week, not so much transcription.  Actual writing and putting together bits and pieces that make the diary come alive have been my focus.  Also I really like the bit that I wrote about J.P. getting his land and building his house.  That scrappy Scot's pride in at last having his own land, building a house on that land for his family, spoke to me.  That 150 year old diary allowed me to share in that pride -- for J.P and his family, but also for the scrappy Scot's DNA that streams through our family.

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© Joan Hill, Roots'n'Leaves Publications