In lieu of a 2020 Christmas letter

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/12/2020 (912 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The deed is done. All but the last one of my Lance columns from 2013 to 2020 are securely tucked into my Musings book, and the Seniors’ Word Weavers vintage stories from the 1980s and ’90s have been prepared and are included in Part 2. It’s a big — over-250-pages — book full of pictures, and should be out in early 2021, depending on what COVID-19 dictates.

(Correction: My book could be ready for the press in the new year, but because of the need to “keep our distances” I shall postpone sales till spring. Look for further details in my Lance column later, as well as in the next Louis Riel Teacher/Support Staff Retirees newsletter, and hopefully in KIT magazine.)

First, a bit of history…

I started putting my book together back in 2019. Winter came and went, and I can honestly say the months just flew by as the characters in my columns kept me totally entertained. Writer Anais Nin says it best:

“We write to taste life twice  — in the moment and in retrospection.”

I have been “retrospecting” for the good part of a year and enjoying it immensely.

Along the way, though, my printer failed to connect with my computer. But out of the bad came the good — a new friendship was firmed up with a former co-worker who offered to do the printing for me. I am deeply indebted to her.

People are advising me not to advertise that I may not be submitting columns to the Lance much longer, but the door is not shut. God (and editor John Kendle) willing, I shall try to find more topics to write about, because I do love writing. But without a car to drive around in and with restrictions on whom we can visit, it will not be easy. Perhaps I‘ll turn to Dakota House tenants for more stories. Or perhaps outsiders will suggest something…

Thanks to all the people who have encouraged me to continue as community correspondent, and to the readers, some of whom scramble to the blue bins for the Free Press the week of Lance delivery to get at my columns.

One more thing  — John Kendle has been the key factor in my continuing to write. He has been most co-operative — and I loved his sense of humour in his foreword about my correcting his grammar. But he’s too much of a gentleman to mention that he once corrected a spelling error on my part — so who’s perfect…

Stay well, everyone, and have a merry Christmas season and a happy new year.

Anne Yanchyshyn is a community correspondent for St. Vital. Email her at acy@mymts.net

Anne Yanchyshyn
St. Vital community correspondent

Anne Yanchyshyn is a community correspondent for St. Vital.

   Read full biography