WriteAway

About the blog: It began its life as a public space on which I could share all the gory details, consequences, and rewards resulting from my decision to leave Ohio and return to California, where I was born and raised and which I love dearly. You’ll learn a lot about me, too, if you read the whole thing!

The results of my decision and the process of actually ‘doing it’ have been exciting, disappointing, maddening, stupid, silly… but ultimately quite wonderful.

About me: I’m old enough that some rip-off artist at a gas station out in the middle of absolutely nowhere in Nevada saw my gray hair, noticed the lack of a wedding ring, saw only an older woman travelling alone that he could scare enough to buy four new tires to avoid dying on the way to Winnemucca! Sorry, Charlie! You picked the wrong old broad! And not only am I infinitely smarter than he gave me credit for, I’m just young and adventurous enough to jump in the car all alone and head off into the sunset. Wish I could count the number of women my age (and younger!) who said, “Aren’t you scared?” No, if I was scared, I wouldn’t be doing it, would I!

Actually, I was terrified, but not of the drive. I had no idea of what lay ahead when I reached my destination, and that’s a whole story in itself. You’ll be able to read about some of it eventually, if you choose to.

Currently, I am back in Ohio, about as far out in the boondocks as you can get. I’m trying to supplement my modest retirement income with freelance work, including

• writing
• ghostwriting
• copy editing
• proofreading
• document design
• and just about anything else that anyone would like to pay me for, as long as it won’t lead to my being arrested or run out of town!

Once the miserable Ohio winter weather warms up, my camera and I will start rediscovering the glorious woods that are, quite literally, my back yard. I’m living in a small home on 8 acres in the rolling hills and farm country of east central Ohio. My sister and brother-in-law bought almost 49 acres here many years ago and built their dream house on it. After my sister’s death, the “big house” and 40 acres were sold, but these 8 acres remain in the family.

The people who bought the house were neighbors for years, and remain friends. I have access to the other 40 acres whenever I want to go exploring. And they’ve made some important improvements, including clearing walking trails through the woods–a huge improvement for someone with a somewhat less sure step than the 35 year old version had. I did some of my best early photography here, and am looking forward to taking new, better digital versions of some of the same amazing things that grow here or were deposited here during the last glacial period.

So even though I’m still struggling to overcome the consequences of more than a year and a half of unemployment (overqualified = too expensive and too experienced), the outcome is pretty positive. I have an opportunity to show some digital art very close by during the summer, my freelance business is slowly growing and I’m about to start on my first ghostwriting project, with a second one to follow, and a third one pending.

The first page of this blog will focus on my random thoughts on topics ranging from the weather to politics and my opinions on whatever I happen to have an opinion about on any given day. And I’ll eventually finish writing about my cross-country drive from Ohio to central California, the semi-disaster of my 14 months there, and the trip back.

For the moment, however, my primary aim is to sell myself as a freelance writer so, after taking lots of new photos of my back yard and selling as many of them as possible, I can once again head west, and take my job with me.

Look for the photo gallery page, coming soon!

Sunny