What's on My Mind?

Stories from a writer, road-tripper, birth pro, seeker...

Gold faucet with one drip of water falling

Publishing & Your Dripping Faucet

DIY, Hire an Expert, or Hybrid? Most of our personal and work projects aren’t rocket science, so we actually have a choice of how much we do ourselves or hire out. Whether it’s a dripping faucet, creating a website, creating a garden, or launching a space shuttle (wait, that one is rocket science!) you have…

Red pen lying on white paper with black typing after editing

NEWBIE AUTHOR LEARNS THE TRUTH ABOUT BOOK PUBLISHING!

How many of you thought – like I did – that to get a book published you: Sit down and write the book Edit your book – once – after you’re done Find a publishing house The publisher edits your book one final time and gets it ready to publish The publisher promotes your book…

Grand midwife

Be Revolutionary!

I was recently filling out an online dating profile (yes, I’m looking’ for love ♥), and one of the profile questions took me back to a birth I attended eight years ago. The question was: Okay, I’m a sucker for anything radical, out of the box, un-mainstream, and bucking the status quo, so I was…

solar eclipse 2017

Solar Eclipse 2017

We woke up at 4am, put a case of Mason jars filled with rain water in the trunk of the car, grabbed my moonstone pendant, and headed down I-5 to Salem, OR. That was four years ago yesterday, and my son and I were on our way to witness a total solar eclipse. It was…

Brightly colored sticky notes arranged on a desk

How Do You Like to Work?

I like to do things BIG, all out, no half-stepping. I take on huge projects, plan and organize them, implement them (usually with lots of cursing throughout), and then I’m done. Making a pottery studio in my home. Remodeling my house. Creating an urban farm (three times). Starting my own business (twice). Doing a van…

Person wearing white t-shirt holding an open book in front to them

Gestating My Book

The response to my book announcement has been overwhelming! The concept of putting a book out into the world had been abstract for me, until now. All the positive feedback has made it so much more real. Thank you readers! So, let me tell you a bit about the journey my book and I have…

Close-up view of typewriter keys and ribbon with title 'My Book' in center of white page

I Wrote a Book!

On March 22, 2020, one week into lockdown for the COVD-19 pandemic, I decided to write a book. I’d been thinking about writing for many years and had a few ideas. Being stuck at home seemed like a great time to start. That day, I wrote the first 1,751 words of my book. And today,…

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Two months

I have now spent: Two months living in a van. Two months doing a complicated upgrade of a van conversion. Two months living during a pandemic. I lived on the road in my camper van for two months last summer, making my way from Seattle through the midwest, across the southwest, and up the Pacific…

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Van Life in the Time of COVID-19

Written March 27, 2020 For the millions of RVers who use their vehicle for vacationing, they have another home to go to.  For the thousands of van-lifers and full-time RVers that live out of their vehicles, these are extremely challenging times.  They may not have homes, or family or friends where they can park and…

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The Build – Part 2

One important thing to remember in doing a van conversion (and in life) is that you don’t have to do all the things at once. In fact, it’s often a much better idea to do some things, live with them, learn from them, build on them, and rinse and repeat.  So Part 2 of my…