Write "between the solstices"

E197: Portugal, Summer Solstice

Jun 22, 2025

10:43 pm. My neon cursor still blinks like crazy against an empty black blank screen. I flubbed my planning cycle - don’t have an edition waiting to publish. I’m waiting for inspiration.

There was a note in my bedroom inviting me to the fireworks tonight - the finale celebrations to a wedding celebrated at my hotel.

“When are they scheduled?” I ask, trying to time the FOMO of fireworks with the concept of sleep. “Probably close to 11 pm.”

Why 11 pm? Because it is the longest day of the year—the summer solstice—and the sky has not yet darkened sufficiently …

11:14 pm. Boom! A thousand points of sparkle light up the inky blue sky.

11:16 pm. Boom. Just like that, inspiration hits. My fingers find the keyboard …

How the magic words “Summer Solstice” launched my writing career

An invitation popped into my inbox from

Kristin Hatcher

creator of Writing in Community.

“Write between the solstices” it beckoned. The premise was simple. Starting at the summer solstice, spend 100 days writing for 15 minutes each day (develop the habit) and get your “first draft” out of your system. Then spend the next 80+ days editing and creating flow on your work, so that you could self-publish your work at the Winter Solstice. All this would be done in community with others intent on writing their own work.

I didn’t set out to write a book.

But that word “Solstice”. It was like an itch. “Solstice” holds a certain power over me.

“solstice” “equinox” “standing stones” “equator” … whisper these words within a mile radius of me and an antenna lights up somewhere within my soul, and a magical fishing line wheels me in.

It was the summer of 2020. You remember. Surely …
Lockdown. Isolation — physical and cerebral.
I signed up.

That invitation pushed me to expand my range.

I stretched beyond my daily posts on LinkedIn covering the Future of Work.
I wrote for myself and not for others. I wrote about a family journey taken twenty years ago, covering 16 countries and nine months. With three children under the age of 8. And how those decisions and experiences continue to ripple through our collective lives. It was supposed to be a personal story. It was the curiosity and support of COMMUNITY that encouraged me forward.
I showed up every day for half a year, supporting others. (It would ultimately evolve to five 1/2 year sessions of Writing in Community but we didn’t know it then.)

At the end of 185 days, I had written and published my first book. 1

Thanks to the invitation.
Thanks to the curiosity of strangers.
I joined a community of writers, and made great life-long friends (this is where the Crows first met).

I am almost at the finish, writing & editing my second book (working title Ripples).

But book one was written to give parents courage, to know that they are enough — written in August 2020 at the height of the pandemic when we were being called to make major decisions (like should I put my kid back in a classroom; should I take a gap year) with the sketchiest of details and information to back them.

It is a decision making book, designed for everyone, but targeted at those who are raising our powerful nextGen. It encourages us to build and tone those decision-making muscles one strategy at a time, just as we do with the physical muscles.

Book one: “Contours of Courageous Parenting — Tilting towards better decisions” available on Amazon.com

Published.

The power of invitation

Without Kristin’s invitation, there would be no Contours of Courageous Parenting.
I would not have met the Crows.
Without Writing in Community, I would not have discovered tools to curate information more productively, like Build a Second Brain and Roam.
The friends I made in those communities introduced me to Write of Passage (WoP).

The first edition of this newsletter was published as an assignment for WoP7 September 2021.

And here we are. At almost 200 editions in the year 2025.

If I have been able to influence one person’s thought towards optimism in these 5 years and 197 editions, it was thanks to

Kristin Hatcher

and her simple invitation.

Boom!

Could you light up the dark sky with a 1,000 points of light? Could you inspire?

If you are feeling like you have no leverage in the world in this minute, may I suggest you invite one person - or many - to do something (simple) with you.

Happy Solstice!!

12:38 am. Heading to bed.

I can attest that

Danny Oak

’s smile is brighter in person! Danny is an integral part of Tribe Tilt, there from the beginning in 2021 to offer support and editing help. How lucky am I? I got a personal welcome at Porto airport, then he gave a tour of the neighbourhood, and offered me some GREAT suggestions for restaurants.

Next stop Lisbon with

Kelly Davis

After that London on July 3. Message me if you can join

Eric Ho

and others on that day.

Welcome to Tribe Tilt! Welcome to all the new friends who have shared conversations and meals with us: Colm & Sylvia, the young Moms with teenage daughters - Michele? from Chicago and Maria from Brazil. I look forward to years of sharing travel and history stories together.

If you have recently joined, you have self-selected into this powerful, wonderful group. We believe we can make a difference to the people and places that are precious to us - that we have hope and agency within our own lives that ripples through to others.

Stay healthy. From there all else becomes possible. Treat your health as the precious resource it is.

See you again next week.
Karena

Dateline: Porto, Portugal