Leaning In

Hello, and welcome to my blog! While I don't have much content yet, I hope to be able to carve out time to make regular contributions this year. I am more than a bit anxious, to be honest, especially since I return to Durham on Friday, but I am determined to lean in to the unknowns of this coming year. I am also determined to keep up a regular blog. Maybe I am being overly ambitious, but that's how anyone managed to get anywhere, no?

Favorite writing spot this summer.

What is the theme of this blog going to be, you might ask? Hopefully more than just a weekly rambling about the goings-on of my life. My goal is to focus on my own writer's journey this year, as I work my way towards my other writer's goals.

I wrote my first book, The Seal Pup, in first grade. There was magic in being able to create something in my mind that I could translate to a page for others to experience. I specifically remember asking if I could go to the office to get it bound in plastic comb binding. I got to pick out the color (blue - an arctic theme y'know?) and watch as the office assistant turned my story from mere pages to official book. I'm pretty sure that moment, among others, changed my life.

Excerpt from The Seal Pup

I continued to write stories and poems in composition books over the years, and when I was twelve, I discovered that "writing movies", which I was very into (aided by James Horner soundtracks) had a name. When I was fourteen, I wrote my first screenplay called Emerald Skies Tinted Kohl. It is about as angsty as the title suggests, though I am still as proud of it now as I was then, because you have to start somewhere.

A couple of years later, I wrote a novel in the back of a mini van while road-tripping across the country and back. I called it (and still do) my metaphorical autobiography. The working title is Rose, and it is exceedingly more angst-ridden than Emerald Skies Tinted Kohl.

Olympic National Park, Summer 2006 Kelly Road Trip

There were other pieces: short and long stories, screenplays, poems, and finally, as of earlier this month, another novel. According to experts in the field, I am much more likely to strike interest in an agent and publisher if I already have a presence online, so as daunting as that is, here I am.

Last summer, the summer I moved to Durham, NC, kicked off what has since been a huge journey of healing, and before anything else is said, I must give a shoutout to my family, who has been more loving and supportive than I can currently express. Let me just say that I am lucky to have such people in my life. As I speak, my mother, champion editor and writer herself, is doing a read-through of my novel. (No gratuitous adjective or adverb gets by her, I tell you!)

I hope to gradually be able to share more of my story that has been buried for too long, but as every artist knows, putting their work out for the world to see if both terrifying and exhilarating. It will happen gradually, as I am able to sift through the pieces and pages of a life that has been lived so thoroughly on paper. For now, welcome, and thank you for reading! Do subscribe for more in the near future!

Birthday Hike

n.b. I am a Montessori teacher, in addition to many other things, so while I hope that I can continue to blog on a regular basis, I also don't know what this year holds. I am currently being asked to teach my students in two separate classrooms, plus a separate online cohort, so at the end of the day, my brain might be ready for something less-invigorating than say, being used some more. We shall see! Send me some health-giving vibes if you want, and maybe some vitamin D!

Montessori binomial cube