Welcome to The Core
I'm glad you're here.
Thanks for finding me here.
You can expect this new newsletter to pop up in your inbox once or twice a month as I share reflections and news, along with ideas, recommendations, and other things sustaining me creatively. Many of you followed me on my former blog, Stumbling Toward Grace, but I have some new things growing and a new space for my updates.
“The Core” has layered meaning: I want to think of this as a space created for my core community, a place outside from the noise and distraction of social media to share my work and thoughts. And also, as a writer and descendant of apple farmers, I’ve been contemplating the simple reality that we need to eat all the way to the center of an apple to get at its seeds. If we stay present, focus our attention, and attend to the work to which we feel most called, there in the center, at the core, we’ll find seeds of new energy and life.
You can expect a few things from this newsletter:
1. What’s growing…
I’ll share my writer’s news here — new publications, link, and events.
The first bit of news is a big one for me — my debut novel releases this fall! It’s called Enemies in the Orchard: A World War 2 Novel in Verse, and is currently available for pre-order both in hardcover and as an audiobook on Bookshop.org, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever books are sold.
The seed of the story grew from my own grandfather’s orchard, where German Prisoners were hired to bring in the apple crop one fall during World War 2. Written in verse, the book is told from dual perspectives: Claire, a Midwestern girl who longs to enter high school and become a nurse even as she worries for her soldier brother, and Karl, a German POW who’s processing the war as he works on Claire’s family farm.
I’m so grateful for the readers who have delved into the advance copies and are leaving reviews and helping promote the book! It’s marketed to a middle grade readers ages 9 and above, but based on feedback, I hope will make its way onto the to-read stack of plenty of adults.
I’m so grateful for those of you who are pre-ordering and adding it to your Goodreads shelves. I’m also scheduling events and school visits for fall and beyond — so stay tuned for a chance to get your copy signed, and please reach out if you’d like to schedule an event or want to talk more about a school visit.
2. What’s sustaining…
Part of writing for me is making sure I’m fertilizing my life with good stories, fresh ideas, and beautiful imagery. Expect me to share links to books, poems, podcasts and other interesting tidbits I glean in my work as a literacy consultant.
This past week I was able to enjoy a couple of days away at a Writers Retreat with the Reformed Journal, where I often blog and contribute. It was a lovely time of connecting, learning, and dreaming. I was excited to meet Jennifer Holberg (pictured together below), co-director of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, the home of the Festival of Faith and Writing. Jennifer’s new book, Nourishing Narratives: The Power of Story to Shape our Faith comes out next week. Check out a preview of it on the Reformed Journal’s daily blog.
3. Connecting with The Core
Please do reach out with any questions, ideas, or comments. I’m excited to connect with this community. You can email me personally at dana.vanderlugt@gmail.com or visit my website at www.danavanderlugt.com.