This year for my birthday I had the good fortune of hiking the Santa Ana volcano in El Salvador. In hindsight, I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I agreed to climb 2.5 km uphill to the Ilamatepec crater.

Thirteen of us gathered in the lobby of the hotel. Jorge, our guide, gave us a pep talk before we began …

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You may already know that the 2026 #1000wordsofsummer challenge is under way. This writing challenge is dear to my heart because when I first participated in 2024, it led me to begin this newsletter. And for that I am eternally grateful.

I’m not as gung-ho this year about writing 1000 words every day, unlike I was in 202…

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Many moons ago before I became older and wiser, I was young and beautiful (or at least that’s what I like to tell myself).

When May 21 comes around each year, I am reminded that in 2004 I got married. This year, had I remained married would have been my 22nd wedding anniversary. I was never one of those little girls who d…

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My astrologer says there’s still hope for my writing. He gave me all the concrete evidence in my chart that this writing life is truly something that is a part of me and not just a whimsical idea I stumbled across once upon a time.

Although writing can be whimsical and isn’t that why we love it?!

I consulted my astrologer b…

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I want to talk about a very unsexy topic: meal prepping. Yes, you read that correctly. This newsletter is about meal prepping; we will see where my curiosity led me and how it all began.

A few weeks ago, I began to get ads for a meal delivery service called Thistle. The ads had beautiful young women selling freshly m…

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I’ve always been pro strikes and revolution. In fact, I have been secretly wishing for a revolution I could be a part of since I was a teenager. I am for the people and of the people.

It is thrilling to be part of a strike! I am a Physician Assistant in the midst of an open-ended strike, Day 18 strike # 2 to be exact.

But it …

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On a sunny Sunday afternoon, I walked out of my local bookstore with my next short story collection.

I burst into tears.

I wiped my tears because I didn’t want strangers walking by to see me. I looked down or looked away, but I am sure I wasn’t as slick as I think I am. I couldn’t quite understand what had set me off.

As I …

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Now that we have closed out the holiday season, I am rather sad it is over.

For Christmas, I usually travel to northern California to visit my family. It involves a road trip on the 5 freeway. The weather can be unpredictable in the winter and this year it was. We had heavy rain predictions throughout California which p…

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“The magic in the writing is in the surprise” Maggie Smith

The holidays are upon us!

For some this brings feelings of dread, for others excitement. For me, it’s a little bit of both. But this year, I want to take it in stride. I am trying to not put too many expectations on myself or others.

For Thanksgiving, I was feeling…

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Newsletter #19

For as long as I can remember in my adult life, I have wanted a purple lipstick. I have secretly been shopping for it, not really admitting to myself that I wanted a purple lipstick but it was always on my mind. I'm not even a lipstick person. Or so I thought.

Last week on a Wednesday morning, I walked in to see my 11:00 a.m. 80 year old p…

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Happy July!

July is my favorite month of the year! There are a couple of reasons for this, it is my birthday month, and it is summer. Leo season also begins at the end of the month and there is an underlying optimism and overall sense that something good can happen at any time. Maybe it’s the warm weather or maybe it's the…

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Happy Summer! It's finally here, my favorite time of the year…summer! Ahhhh!

Once again, I am participating in the #1000wordsofsummer writing challenge. If you're unfamiliar with this, it's a fun group challenge to write 1000 words per day for 2 weeks. I first did this last year and that's how this newsletter began. A…

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The Sunday Los Angeles Times has a weekly column in their Weekend section called, How To Have The Best Sunday in LA According To… and some famous person’s name who lives in LA follows. I wanted to write my own version, even if I'm not famous (yet), so here we go.

8AM

Sleeping in is essential. Ideally, I like to turn all …

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I visited my daughter in Seattle, WA this past weekend. Since she is a college student, people (my brothers) feel the need to tell me that I am “bothering” her by visiting.

Exxcccuse me?!?! First of all, I am of the belief that a mother’s presence does not bother. Sure, we can be annoying but only because we want the b…

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The recent devastating Los Angeles fires have me and all of us who live here (and those who care for us) on edge, worried and stressed. The destruction and loss that they have caused is saddening to say the least.

I live a few miles from where the fires are burning, to be exact about 10 miles away. That might seem f…

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I began the morning of December 31st thinking back on my personal challenges and triumphs of 2024. This allowed me to also reflect on my writing triumphs for this year.

At the top of my list is being published in Dismantle Magazine on March 18, 2024. If you have not read my short story yet, here is a link to it. It …

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I am part of a writer’s group that meets once a month. During our time together our leader, Theresa, gives us two writing prompts to do before giving us dedicated time to write whatever we want for 1 hour. These writing prompts are meant to stir our imagination and as she likes to say, “untangle the cobwebs”. My favorit…

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I struggled to find something to write about for this newsletter. With the recent election results we are all consuming nonstop information about what happened and why. I didn’t want to be part of the noise, but the truth is, this is all I can think about. Since the results, all I want is chocolate. 

I have made a commi…

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I wrote my first Substack newsletter June 11, 2024, after doing the 1000 words of summer challenge. When I started the challenge, I didn’t know what my writing would amount to or if it would amount to anything at all. But to my surprise it inspired me to write these newsletters. I am now on Newsletter #9 and still feel inspired and optimistic about cont…

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