Convivio Dispatch: Love Each Day
September 1, 2013

Hello My Friends:

John Cutrone here, from Convivio Bookworks in Lake Worth, Florida, writing here to let you know that, after ten years, Seth and I are taking a brief hiatus from the ongoing Convivio Book of Days project. The hiatus may last a month, or it may last six months. The fact is, we really do not know, but we shall see what we shall see.

What are we doing in the meantime? Well, for one thing, we are still operating this website, and we hope you will continue to come here for the oddball seasonal goods that we provide through our Book of Days Catalog. Your support of our endeavors is appreciated now as much as it ever was, and we'd love to be a part of your Day of the Dead celebrations and your quiet preparations for Christmas with our German Advent calendars and candles; things of that nature. We like being part of what you do.

Aside from that, we are back at the presses, creating some new letterpress works that we really like, and we hope you'll like them, too. We are also creating a brand new online Convivio Bookworks experience for you, simplifying our website, making it easier to navigate and use. We are reconnecting with our creativity: Seth, back to his roots as a potter (and a really good one, at that), and me, a deeper delving into words. As such, the new incarnation of our website may include a Book of Days blog, and for sure, it's time for me to start thinking about getting words in print, as well. There was a recent essay in the New York Times about books: e-books and real books, the way you can revisit real books as often as you want, while e-books do not quite offer that same real, tangible bookshelf experience. Seth and I happen to like REAL things. It's time for us to refocus on what is tangible.

My Dispatches from Lake Worth may be fewer and farther between for the time being. I suspect my main means of communication with you for the next little while will be via our Facebook page, so please give us a thumbs up there and we will stay in touch that way. I will post on that page all kinds of intriguing information to help you connect with the ceremony of each day. . . but you do have to "like" us there to see it.

The photograph on this page is of a print that was set by hand in historic wood type by one of our students, Will Landis. Will had never set type before last Tuesday, and I gave him three words to set for the 1890 Wesel Iron Handpress: LOVE EACH DAY. What you see here is what he came up with. I think Will will go far, and I think we'd all do well to remember these words. So please do. And know that Seth and I will be back with our monthly Convivio Book of Days as soon as we can. We would never leave you for very long. You have my word.

And really: Write when you can.
It means a lot to hear from you.

John Cutrone