How my reflective practice journal helps me manage my life
Something in my life needed to change. As a likely Highly Sensitive Person, I needed to become more intentional, and at the same time, more forgiving of both myself and others.
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Catching Up with Christa: The “2019 Can Downshift Now” Edition
Of course, “relevance” is subjective, and in the middle of major change, requires adjustment. Coming out of not only a period of burnout, but also an employment shift, I’ve been rethinking my own relevance to the different communities of which I’m a part; hence the quiet period on this blog.
January’s reads: What goes around, comes around
The books I read last month were notable not only for themselves, but also for the fact that I read them just following a layoff — from the same authors, and in the same order, that I read the first […]
2018’s readings in review
I pretty much fell off the reading wagon towards the last quarter of this year. It wasn’t that I didn’t read at all; I did, but I focused on pleasure reading, not analysis or review. I also read some draft […]
“The Kings of Babylon” is going to the Golden Globes!
There’s some truly fine work being done all around, showcasing a wide representation of different social issues of our day, so the idea that my novella — comparable in some respects to “The Handmaid’s Tale,” one of the shows on the nominees list — will be among the stories gifted to celebrities means more than I initially gave it credit for.
At year’s end: reflection and renewal
Yes, as I wrote in my last post, I’m still in the grips of burnout; coming out of it slowly, making tentative plans for the new year, yet not without considerable doubts because I had such high hopes for 2018 and now find myself limping, feeling rather beaten up (if only by myself), into 2019.
The illusion of success, burnout, and the long game
I had big plans for Thanksgiving week. With the Thursday and Friday off for the holiday, and my sons off from school on Wednesday as well, I opted to take the entire week off, myself. I had Big Plans for […]
The story behind the story: “God’s Country”
Many (though not all) of my stories start with a place I visit or see in pictures, which strikes me a particular way. In “God’s Country,” out in Nosetouch Press’ Asterisk Anthology Vol. 2, the story started with a swathe […]
The story behind the story: Tayaran
The idea for this story is fairly straightforward. The local Islamic Center offered a screening of the documentary, “Salam Neighbor,” and I was curious, so I went. Watching the film, I began to wonder: how would my son, then 10, cope with living in a refugee camp?
An interview with Raccoon Alliance Advocate MaryEllen Schoeman
Part of my book outreach efforts on social media, for Raccoon Rescue specifically, includes finding animal rehabilitation and advocacy groups to help spread the word. Sometimes they help with reviews, as Roo’s Corner and the Association for the Protection of […]