From the Spiral Notebook: Going to Ground

Hello all,

First, a couple announcements:

• The next Sidney Library Writers’ Drop-In is on April 5 at 2 pm, at the Sidney Library. More information here.

• I am excited to be offering an in-person week-long workshop at Naramata Centre, which I describe as a sort of daycamp for adults and families in the village of Naramata on the shores of Okanagan Lake though it’s better than that description makes it sound, from July 21 to 25, 2025. Check out their website for more information, and if you scroll down on this page you can see the description by clicking on “Gathering Words of Summer with Kelsey Andrews”.

I notice that I don’t seem to have written a newsletter for last month. This is because February is, for me, the worst month. It’s still winter-dark but we’re far past Christmas. It’s the month where I am the most sure of being depressed, and if I manage to escape in February, then March will be terrible. I am the least fond of February, of all the months of the year.

My friend Jill, who runs the Tending Sessions which I highly recommend, and I were looking for good garden-type language for this time of year for me. I’m calling it “going to ground”, and I plan to make no plans for February and March next year. I’ll just settle in with my blankets and some good books and burrow away for a couple months. That will help—not to have expectations of myself that inevitably cause disappointment.

Sometimes it’s not about fighting through. Sometimes it’s about acceptance, and letting things be.

All that to say, today is a short little newsletter, just to let you know that I’m still out there, and I really appreciate everyone who reads these missives, and I’ve gone to ground for a bit. I’ll be back when it’s more springlike out there. Or, since it’s pretty springlike today out in the world around my house, when it’s more springlike in here, in my head and heart. Thinking of you until then.

I shall leave you with a picture of a cormorant I took on a little solo writer’s retreat in Sidney, before the dread month of February began. It was lovely, and so was the cormorant, as you can see:

Yours,
Kelsey