photo by Shawn Winchester

What's New:

• The January Newsletter will be out soon. The December Newsletter is out. It includes Gratitudes 2.
• If you didn't get a copy, sign up for eMail and look for a newsletter sometime this month.
• Work on The Sinister Umbrella and You Are the Road That Led Me Home is on hold. I'm still working through all the classes from September and October, plus new ones that are really inspiring. I'm writing down ideas for revisions. I even took an online course on editing last week. But I must make last years taxes, unpaid bills, and January's newsletter a priority. I have a photo to inspire me. I'm grateful.

Writing:

• Damn The Dream, a published story
• The Sinister Umbrella, a novel in progress
• Times I Didn't Die, a selection of micro-memoirs, mostly from monthly newsletters.
  
• You Are the Road That Led Me Home, a memoir in progress
• 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.

Any time she had to choose, she'd chosen Option B because she didn't want Option A. Negative choices. 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 small cottage 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 (aka gratitudes):

• Paula Judith Johnson for her great resoponse to my story about a poem I wrote in Jr. High which was misinterpreted.
• Rona Golfen, RonaPhoto, for telling me that all the Times I Didn't Die are really gratitudes.
• Kit Ketcham for using one of my gratitudes in a Facebook post
• Tom Close for telling me about the strange events near a curve in the highway that features in the Times I Didn't Die: More Dreams (a micro-memoir).
• 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