Hello Jon:
I am just dropping a line to say that I just finished your book Running To The Mountain, and I wanted to let you know it was very enjoyable. I found your book at our local library here in Challis, Idaho.
My husband and I moved to the small town of Challis last year after living 20 years in Florida, and we were ready for the mountains, the quiet, and the great outdoors. We love to hike, and we both work from home, as you did! We even got a puppy!
Your book also introduced me to Thomas Merton, and I went ahead and ordered his biography, so I am anxious to get it.
I hope you are well and still writing, and good luck!
Mary Paris
Challis, Idaho
Dear Mary,
Thanks so much for writing me. You’re letter has a simplicity and sincerity that seems to come out of my past. It seems old-fashioned and lovely for that.
You are not writing to tell me what to do, or to argue with me, or to intrude angrily into my life.
You are just checking in, the kind of friend who reads one of my books and makes a connection with me, as simple as that. I think that is what my letters used to be.
I am, of course, still writing and will hopefully do so until I drop. I’ve got a few years. I have so much to live for.
Running To The Mountain was an extraordinary book for me, perhaps the most important. I wrote it on the eve of the Millenium, and it ended up changing my life.
Since then, much has changed.
I sold my little cabin and bought a farm. I got divorced and re-married and then bought another farm. I still read Thomas Merton almost every day.
I decided to stop book writing and devote myself full-time to my blog. I love the freedom and range I have, and I love that no one can tell me what to write, although many people try.
Running to my mountain was a bold but perfect move. My blog gets about four million visits a year. I don’t make as much money as I did writing books, but I am happier and more fulfilled than ever.
That book, written 21 years ago, was the gateway to the life I was meant to live.
This, I think, is what can happen when you pause and take time in solitude to think about your life. I would not be here if I had not spent that year on my mountain.
I’m glad you’re reading a Merton biography. He will never let you down.
I love the image of your journey from crowded and hot Florida to quiet, serene, and beautiful Idaho. Your hikes with your husband touch me. This is my favorite thing to do with Maria, my wife.
People who dare to change their lives in that way are blessed to me. My farm has 17 acres.
My wife – I love her dearly – lives here with me. We have two donkeys, 11 sheep, four hens, two barn cats, three dogs, a Yellow Lab named Zinnia, a Boston Terrier named Bud, and a border collie from Wales named Fate.
I write on my blog every day, sometimes all day. There are no editors or marketers to tell me what I should or shouldn’t write. The above photo is of my study, it’s on the front of our old farmhouse, a testament to my busy but cluttered mind.
In addition to my writing, I work as a volunteer at an assisted care facility (Zinnia is a therapy dog) and a school for refugee children in nearby Albany, N.Y.
Thanks for your gentle letter. It reminds me why I love being a writer and am so lucky to have been writing for almost all of my life.
I hope you stay well and happy.
I hope you will stay in touch; best, Jon Katz.
P.S. I still read Merton’s journal every day when I get up, even though I’m not quite a Christian. This is my Merton reading for Today. It’s from Destiny, Life Purpose.
“You do not need to know precisely what is happening or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope.”
– Thomas Merton
Nice letter and glad it made your day because it certainly made mine. Without going into a lengthy explanation, my husband and I are at a moving crossroads if you will, trying to decide whether to go back to a bigger city or move to a city with a population of 25,000! For now, we are living in a 1 bedroom apt. like hermits. I appreciate Merton’s words for today because I am doing just that including bringing my dreams to fruition while cooped up here. Thank you so much, Jon. P.S. I don’t think you’re ugly.
Good luck, Lamar..
I had to chuckle some looking at this picture of your work area….If I didn’t know better I would say it is my work area (including all of the yellow stickies hanging from the bottom of my computer as well). Yellow stickies are my downfall…But if you are like me, you can still locate everything you need…
It isn’t clutter I notice, it’s the glory of all that light and color. Who wouldn’t feel creative in such a space!?
I agree….. the light and color caught my eye immediately. Decades ago, as a college professor, my office would become extremely cluttered with papers, books, reports, etc, The chairperson of the (then) Secretarial Skills Department stopped by one day and commented on the clutter, “George, I didn’e realize you were so creative!”.
So agree with Amy… first thing I noticed was all the color, light, plants, flowers and all the awesome books on the desk! So glad I came across this post. I am also going to check out Thomas Martin. Thrilled for you in finding the life you love… ?
I was just wondering if you ever checked in on the old Bedlam Farm and who lives there now and how it is doing?
Patsy, I protect their privacy, I’m not the one to give out details of their lives, and I have driven by the other farm once. I’m not into looking back.
Jon and friends – Rumi, the ancient Persian poet;
“When the power of love is greater than the love of power, the world will know peace. Your Amish friends seem to have embraced this ideal.
Jack Peppard
Beaufort, SC