Just Write Girl

Wanderlust rules me. If you have seen the movie, Chocolat, and can imagine the beautiful Juliette obeying the ghost of her mother and the north wind that tells her its time to move on, you know what I mean. She of course, settles in the little French town, perhaps as I have settled here in the Eastern Sierra. Or maybe I will just take my sojourns from the foothills of these towering pinnacles, ridges, and peaks.

I just have returned from a 16-day road trip in which I rambled over 2,000 miles, from snow-covered Crowley Lake to the super bloom of brilliant orange poppies in Orange County to host a birthday party for my son's 20th birthday, then to Ojai for a visit with vibrant Brazlian friend Helena, a must stop at Standing Suns winery in Buelton, dinner with Mel, my high school buddy of 35 years in Castro Valley, a solo camp trip on the Bodega Dunes, then sacred time with my Shamanic teacher in Mt Shasta. During this time, I visited metaphysical shops and independent bookstores to tell them about my newest book, The Book of Spells: The Magick of Witchcraft, on sale October 1, 2019.

I kept the wheels of my outback headed north toward the 3-day AWP writing conference in Portland. I tried Pip's donuts and walked the neighborhood, marveling at the bright yellow daffodils.  On the first day, I took workshops such as Writing the Transcendent, Rewilding Wild Bodies, Not All Who Wander are Lost: Finding the Heart of Travel Writing, Bridging The Gap: How & Why Historical Writers Build Bridges to the Past. In between classes and volunteering, I cruised the book fair and pitched ideas to editors of literary magazines, met folks who could help promote my forthcoming book, and sought out independent publishers for my new memoir.

Now I sit at my desk with a pile of business cards for people I need to contact before I forget the details or they forget me, notes on where to send the next essay, or which essay to write next. I need to do the final round of edits for The Book of Spells. I need to interview business owners for my next article with Visit Bishop. And all I really want to do is write thank you notes for all my beautiful friends who hosted me. Instead of doing all of that, I did this blog. Just Write Girl. The rest will fall into place.

BTW, I did not come up with this blog title. Just Write Girl is the name of an organization, whose website is no long erup, but still inspires me.