Chip St. Clair - Author of THE BUTTERFLY GARDEN

Hello and Welcome!

If you’ve made it this far you have certainly noticed the many changes taking place on my website, which of course translates directly to the many changes taking place in my life. Since the release of The Butterfly Garden, time has whisked by as if caught in a swirling sandstorm. Signing events, lectures, media interviews – it seems a never-ending task of impossible scheduling, of squeezing that 25th hour of work into the day. Not that I’m complaining mind you . . . in fact I love every minute of it. I’m thrilled that between all of this I’ve worked in time to launch my new foundation designed among other things to help children find peace in the creative arts and literature. And somehow I also managed to write my next book, The NeverMan Chronicles, a sweeping epic of historical fiction. Phew!

So to all my readers out there, to all my loyal fans who shared your heartbreaking stories and triumphs, your beautiful poetry, your kind and humbling words to me, I finally have a moment to say thank you. Although I could not reply to each comment, letter, or email, I read them all, and appreciate each one.

So, in all of this I obviously needed a change in how I presented my website. I had the greatest of intentions with the scarcest of minutes, and soon realized things like the blog wasn’t working. So after much consideration, and with the guidance and infinite wisdom of my webmaster . . . voila! The change has come, and I think you will find the content much more enjoyable, the pages even more exciting and inspiring. Keep checking back to find out where I’ll be traveling next, what interviews I’ve done, new poetry I’d like to share, and not necessarily a blog, but a new letter periodically to all of you, which I promise to write as often as I am able.

As the prospect of change is often a dominant force in my life, in all of our lives, I’d like to leave you with a few thoughts about this phenomenon.

Change sweeps its heavy hand across our lives in its own good time. I’ve found that impatience is simply our desire to force the hand of change beyond its due course. And fear is only a reaction to our reluctance to embrace it. But change will come, like it or not. And as difficult as it may be, if we can temper our impatience, not let our sorrow overtake us, nor our triumphs consume us, if we can learn to embrace our fears and see change as part of our journey, of a much bigger picture, then hopefully we will find peace in all things. This reminds me of a story taught in Taoism about an old farmer who learned to accept change.

The old farmer had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit.

"Such bad luck," they said sympathetically.

"We'll see," the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses.

"How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed.

"We'll see," replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.

"We'll see," answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

"We'll see" said the farmer . . .

Continue to Soar!

Chip St. Clair