photo by Shawn Winchester

What's New:

• The November newsletter is out. It includes three micro- memoirs about almost dying in St. Louis. If you didn't get a copy, sign up for eMail and look for a newsletter next month.
• A new blog entry about The Sinister Umbrella is available.
• You Are the Road, a Memoir has new information about the changes that will inspire a new version.
• The October Newsletter has been added to the newsletter archives.

Writing:

• Damn The Dream, a published story
• The Sinister Umbrella blog (it's not too late to be an alpha reader, but I'll be doing a lot of revisions to the latest version for a while)
• Times I Didn't Die, a selection of micro-memoirs, mostly from my monthly newsletters.
  
• You Are the Road That Led Me Home, a memoir in progress. Some info is in the October 2023 entry of The Sinister Umbrella blog.
• Stories memories, anecdotes - What are yours?
• Creativity Where do you find it?
• Inspiration How do you find it when you need it?
• Memes Some are for fun, some might inspire you, and some might help release your creativity

Sandy Reay, Author

In her late twenties, Sandy woke up one morning and asked herself, "How did I get here?" Nothing was drastically wrong with her life, but nothing was exactly right, either.

She decided that she had made negative choices. Any time she had to choose, she'd chosen Option B because she didn't want Option A. She'd never explored the other letters or numbers.

That day, she promised herself that she would make positive choices and be open to whatever came along. She wanted to reach the end of the road remembering all the adventures. If she had any regrets, they'd be from sins of commission.

Guess what? Opportunities opened up. Sandy reinvented herself many times, from bored housewife to career woman, from a house in the city to a horse ranch in the mountains, from overworked wage slave to owning her own business, from photographer to jewelry maker, from race car driver to river rat.

And now, thanks to Damn The Dream, she started her latest reinvention: from songwriter to author.

It's a wonderful ride. Welcome aboard. Enjoy the journey.

Many thanks to:

• Dolora Reay for telling me to write about the Times I Didn't Die in my monthly newsletters.
• All the alpha readers and critique partners who provide feedback on The Sinister Umbrella.
• Joanie O who sent me a photo of A Cow and her story many years ago
• Lynn Kopelke of Open Crown Productions for the drawings of Don Quixote Now
• Jennifer Epps for three of the images used for Women Who Write
• Roberta Crownover for suggesting a darker color for the background
• Joanna Springer for the photo of her journals in the heading image
• Shawn Winchester for the photo of Sandy sitting on the moon
• Bill Patterson, Patterson Photography for the photo of Sandy on her profile page
• Rona Golfen, RonaPhoto for the photo of the Inspiration tree, and the story and photo of the crabapple tree growing out of a dead cherry tree.
• Deb Ewing for the Creativity restroom sign