Michael N. McGregor

Tag: solitude

  • AN ISLAND TO MYSELF Comes Out Today!

    AN ISLAND TO MYSELF Comes Out Today!

    My second book to come out in 2025, An Island to Myself: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life, makes its debut today! This is an especially personal book for me, a memoir about the important ways solitude has affected me and sustained me through the past 40 years.

    An Island to Myself begins with the two months I spent in almost total solitude on the island of Patmos 40 years ago, a time that changed my life. It continues with shorter chapters on my later encounters with solitude on other islands, in nature, in libraries, in a retreat center, and in a small park with my mother at the end of her life. Along the way, it offers quotes from writers and spiritual leaders as well as my thoughts on what periods of solitude can offer to all who live active lives. Its last section follows me as I return to Patmos to spend two weeks in solitude as an older man, exploring how my views of the island, solitude, and myself have changed.

    For those in the Seattle area, we’ll be celebrating the book’s release with an event at Third Place Books in the Ravenna District (6504 20th Ave. NE) at 7 p.m. tonight.

    Other events are scheduled over the coming weeks and months on Bainbridge Island (this Thursday at 6:30 at Eagle Harbor Book Co.) and in Portland, Minneapolis, Denver, Bellingham, Boston, and New York.

    In a pre-publication review, Kristine Morris of Foreword Reviews called An Island to Myself “a musing memoir…about using the practice of solitude to develop personal authenticity and enhanced creativity” and “a satisfying memoir about a transformative search for meaning among the small, often overlooked everyday moments.”

    Patrick Hannon, priest, professor, and author of Sacrament: Personal Encounters with Memories, Wounds, Dreams, and Unruly Hearts, describes the book this way:

    “In this inspiring and hope-filled journey into the heart of solitude, McGregor takes us to the hinterlands of grace, and in the healing silence of a still heart and mind, we discover the antidote to a loneliness that plagues many of us these days, fed by consumption, competition, and a tendency to commodify relationships.”

    Here’s a quote from the book’s first section:

    I’m learning again and again in my time alone that solitude is never for yourself only. It is always also for others. By taking this time to learn about myself, quiet the voices inside and out, and elevate awareness of what’s more truly in me and around me, I unleash energy and understanding that will emanate from my words and actions wherever I go. (p. 38)

    An Island to Myself: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life is available at independent bookstores everywhere and, in the U.S., online at the following sites:

    Indiepubs (20% discount)

    Bookshop.org

    Amazon

    Click here to read more about the book. And here for a list of upcoming events related to it.

  • Spring 2024 Issue of the Robert Lax Newsletter Just Released!

    Robert Lax on Patmos
    Robert Lax looking out over Patmos. Image © Michael N. McGregor

    I just sent out the Spring 2024 issue of The Robert Lax Newsletter, a free quarterly publication with news about Lax-related events, articles, quotes, and images. This issue of the newsletter includes a feature article about Lax in winter, news about my forthcoming book on solitude, a YouTube video featuring author Steve Georgiou talking about his friendship with Lax, numerous images of Lax poems and publications, a hilarious Reddit string about a Lax poem, and many other delights.

    Here’s a brief excerpt from the feature article on Lax in winter:

    Two months have passed since I returned from my two weeks in Lax’s old house on Patmos, and I’m still thinking about what it was like for him living there in winter and then spring. In many ways, winter is the most beautiful time of the year on Patmos, especially when the sun is out. The fields are green, the wind whips the waves into beautiful patterns, and the island is quiet, with none of the hecticness that comes with the summer tourists.

    But the wind is ever-present too, and it can be fierce. Lax’s house, like most on Patmos, is mostly concrete and holds the moisture as well as the cold. When I visited him in winter, he was usually wearing long underwear and a knit cap, and he spent much of his time on his bed, often with blankets over him. His only contact with the world beyond the grocery store, the post office, and a neighbor or two, was the half-hour each night he listened to news from the BBC...

    Thousands of readers have already viewed the Spring 2024 issue of a newsletter that has been published since 2015. To be one of them, sign up here.

  • Staying in Robert Lax’s Old House

    The front door of Robert Lax’s house on Patmos, 2024. (Photo by Michael N. McGregor)

    In late January and early February, I spent two weeks living in Robert Lax’s old house on Patmos while doing research for my forthcoming book An Island to Myself: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life (Monkfish Publishing, spring 2025).

    I’ll be posting more about the book and my experiences in writing it in coming days, but for a taste of it now, you can go to robertlax.com and read about my thoughts while looking over the only reminders of Lax still in his house: his books.

  • Manuscript Delivered! AN ISLAND TO MYSELF To Appear in Spring 2025

    Sitting in one of the monk caves near Grikou on the island of Patmos.

    I just delivered the manuscript for my book An Island to Myself: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life to Monkfish Publishing.

    Look for it in the spring of 2025.

  • Another Contract–This One For a Book about Solitude

    When it rains, it pours. I’ve signed another contract, this one for a book on solitude to be published by Monkfish Publishing in the spring of 2025. The title is still TBD but the subtitle will be: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life.

    The book is centered on my experiences during a month of total solitude on Patmos when I was 27 years old. It was after that month, while I was still on the island, that I met Robert Lax. The rest of the book will feature my later experiences of solitude, some on Patmos, some elsewhere.

    The book’s last section will be about a return to Patmos I have planned for next month, during the same time period I was there the first time. I’m going to see how an older man’s experience of solitude today differs from that of a younger man at a time when absolute solitude was less difficult to achieve.