The Strand on BBC radio with Daby Toure and Skip McDonald

Years ago I read an account of a group of African men hired to transport supplies on their backs for someone who was exploring in Africa. The explorer set a fast pace, despite the heavy packs the men were carrying. At the end of a week or ten days, the men refused to shoulder their packs, insisting on a lay-over day. When pressed, they said they were "waiting for their spirits to catch up with their bodies."

I've always loved the expression, and find it very true. And it's what I'm doing now: after the push to get MARCHING FOR FREEDOM done, I'm waiting for my spirit to catch up with my body.

Last night I was laying in bed in the dark listening to the radio. I wasn't sleepy, just done with my day, enjoying the stars I could see gleaming through the skylight after days of overcast and rain. I heard the most wonderful program on The Strand on BBC radio. One of the leaders of the World Music scene, Mauritanian musician Daby Toure teamed up with American Bluesman Skip McDonald for an album, "Call My Name." Before playing their song, "Rhythm," Daby Toure introduced it, saying, "For us, rhythm is everywhere. The rhythm is when we walk, when we talk, when we decide things, when we think about things, everything is with rhythm. We have to chose the good one. When you chose the good rhythm, your day is good."

Check it out here at BBC radio. It's about 20 minutes in. I think the BBC only leave their programs up for six or seven days, so take a few minutes soon. I promise, the rhythm of the song will set your day in a whole new direction.

advanced reader copy for Marching for Freedom

You know that feeling you get when you are in a little cabin in the woods and its been windy and maybe rainy and suddenly you realize that the wind has stopped blowing. It is calm. Beautifully, quietly calm. And you know how you pick your head up and wonder, "when did the wind stop blowing? Just now? Or minutes ago and I didn't notice?"

The wind stopped blowing for me... minutes ago. For the last few weeks I have been hard at work on the final fixes on my upcoming book, Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children, and Don't You Grow Weary. But I haven't been alone. My editor, Catherine Frank, has been reading, shooting me questions, rereading. Strategizing. Asking more questions. Jim Hoover, the designer...well, he's put together the most incredibly beautiful book. I was able to pull together 50 black and white photos of the march from Selma to Montgomery, 1965. Here's a snapshot of some proofs that Jim recently sent me that I put up on the wall of my writing room. He was working on getting the grays just right. Not too warm, not too cool. And the manuscript has also been circulating through the incredible, encylcopedic mind and capable hands of Janet Pascal, catching my most dim-witted errors, and querying jumps or oversights I've made.

While we were doing this, I was also finalizing all the permissions: for the photos, for quotes and music lyrics. Not for the faint hearted, I promise you. But all the worry and work and second-guessing is worth it: today my Advanced Reader Copies came in the mail. I held the book -- well, the pre- book really. (These are what the reviewers will get this spring. It's like a paperback copy of the book. Still missing the index and a few high-res photos.) I ran my hand over the silky-smooth cover. Sniffed it. Thumbed through it. Slowly, very slowly. Greeted each photo like an old friend.

There a few tasks left for each of us, but the book goes off to the printer very soon, and reappears as a real book this fall. Now... in the quiet... the rest of my life is waiting for me.

Here is what happens to my desk when I work this flat-out. Kind of scary, eh? You can see that I have a little clean-up to do now that the winds have stopped blowing!