Can you trace your journey? Look back into the blue sky and catch a glimpse of your tendrils, instead of choking on the contrail of the ones up ahead? I don’t want to forget the exhilaration of stepping off solid ground, the day I hit Submit to sign up for my first writing class. The […]
Tag: #amwriting
Ready…set…cliff dive!
Going to Mendocino—taking my first screenwriting class, reading my work in front of 100+ people, hearing my novel first page blind critiqued by an industry panel, yup—terrifying and frigging exhilarating!
Reno, Rehab, Rewrite, IMPEACH!
I’m mid-stream, in the midst, on the road: House Gut Job, Rotator Cuff Rehab, Novel Major Re-write. “Stay Patient! Hang in” is now my supremely irritating track running on repeat. Fuck patience. Our temporary dinner table squashes behind the door in my new front hall. Doubling as a kitchen counter, food prep station and auxiliary […]
Setbacks and surgery…
New Year’s Eve, let’s try venturing out, sure! In the spirit of cliff diving and taking chances, and sometimes you soar and sometimes you crash land, the test of my resilience arrived via a proverbial slap upside the head, out of nowhere. We’re at a Santa Barbara resort party, chatting up a table of friendly […]
Renovations-Redux!
It’s fall, time to shed the old and make way for the new, right? Yes, yes, yes, we are two months into it, another gut house reno, and once again we’re living in the midst! The first floor first, phase one: new walls, windows, massive carrying beam, staircase, floors, sub-floors, insulation, heating, wiring, gut=true gut […]
Ano Nuevo-My New (scary) Year!
I had the map, I had the motivation, then why was I suddenly scared? We started out together–David, my daughter Elise, and I–on a gloriously perfect North California day. Docents strategically located, good signage, even a well-marked path. Ano Nuevo, the park off Route 1 on the rocky coast, home to the famous Elephant Seals […]
The Heartbeat of a Day
May 31st marks one year. Twelve months since I posted my last Quickbooks transaction. Gave my last employee review. Attended my last board meeting. Worried about fitting sick kid-patients onto the overbooked schedule and calming stressed out moms and overworked dads and how to get services for children with special health care needs and the […]
Get ready, set…Fail!
I love me some comfort: the sensibility of routine, my favorite worn-in sheets, the predictability of the sunset and the tides outside my window. And especially now, the particular feel of the keyboard, the sticky space bar and silent clicks; the opening up of the document and return to my characters; the way my uber […]
Intensity. Immersion. Whoa.
Ever wake up and wonder how you got yourself into this situation?! You know you brought it on yourself, you chose deliberately, your instinct led and you followed, and yet here you are, overwhelmed and blown away and crazed. 10 days to go on the novel edit. 40? 50? pages more. 3 weeks in […]
OWC Endings and Beginnings, Happy and Sad…
I graduated! As thrilled as I am to say that I’m now the proud owner of a Certificate in Novel Writing from the Stanford online writing program, more than any other graduation in my life I’ve much sadness, too. My fellow cohort members are remarkable artists, friends, supporters. These few dozen women (and Roy!) cheered […]
Gail Ansel 