Kindle, A New Way To Read

Friday, October 30, 2020

A Room Of My Own by Louisa Rogers

I finished reading Virginia Woolf’s famous essay, “A Room of One’s Own,” late one night and lay in my bed musing. Fifty years earlier, in the 1920s, Woolf had argued that women needed independent space to be creative. Glancing across my studio at the Smith-Corona typewriter where I spent most afternoons tapping away, I knew she was right. Having my own private sanctuary had jump-started my own writing practice. 

At 24, I had a part-time job I loved, teaching English to adult foreigners. Stimulating as it was, though, my work was not enough. Since childhood, my dream had been to be published. Every afternoon when my classes were finished, I’d ride my bicycle back to my apartment and plug away at the travel article I was writing about my recent trip to England. Occasionally while pondering a word choice, I’d look up at the row of sparrows sitting on the telephone line outside of my window. 

After weeks of writing and rewriting, I sold the article to a regional airline magazine. My first article in print! And byline! For days I glided down spongy streets, giddy with excitement at my success and at the sense of promise and possibility ahead. 

That same month, my boyfriend and I decided to rent an apartment together. I was ready for our next stage of commitment, but anxious at the thought of living with a man – even my man. How would I satisfy my need for a private refuge, where I could brainstorm, dream, plan, and write? 

To my delight Barry supported my desire for a room of my own, but it turned out he wanted a space of his own, too. (The nerve!) We couldn’t afford a larger apartment, so we decided to sacrifice the bedroom. Every night we unrolled our foam mattress on to the carpet in a corner of the living room and made the bed, reversing the process in the morning. In my office, I’d type away at my desk, occasionally glancing up for inspiration at my print of delicately patterned kimonos hanging on a clothesline. 

During the six month we lived in that apartment, I sold every article I wrote. Looking back, I don’t believe I’d have been a successful had I squeezed my desk into the bedroom. My office was a metaphor for my sense of professional worth, a statement announcing that I took myself and my writing seriously, and that I would not compromise my goals. 

In the 45 years since, wherever Barry and I have lived—homes on both coasts, four states, a Canadian province, and a Mexican state—I’ve always maintained an independent space. It hasn’t always been a formal room with four walls and a door: in one small apartment, I had to settle for a nook bracketed off by a divider. And when my stepdaughter lived with us, I rented an office. 

In all those rooms, I kept publishing: personal essays and columns, articles and op-eds, reviews and blogs. Throughout my career, I’ve always focused on what compels me: physical and emotional health, food, home, travel expat life, family relationships, spirituality. My writing has been published in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K., South Africa, and Brazil. 

How prophetic that I read Virginia Woolf’s essay only a few weeks before moving into the apartment with my beloved. The timing seems almost eerie. I had no idea that my mentor’s words would have a such a lifelong effect. The sanctuaries Woolf inspired in me have not only been places to write, but havens to grow, evolve, and discover who I am in the world. 

Article from Writer’s Digest July/August 2020

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Signs That You’ve Found You’re Calling by Dr. Lissa Rankin

You may think you’ve identified your calling, questioned it, become disillusioned, left it and then come back to it in a different form. The following clues let you know you’re on the right track.

You realize you’ve been training for this since birth: Even the gritty things, the disappointments, regrets and screw-ups have all been preparation. Major life disruptions and failures were all just teaching essential lessons so that you can become who you’re called to be.

You sense ease: In the face of obstacles—such as doors of suspected opportunity that are shut tight or relentless struggles impeding a course you thought was right—it can be hard to tell if your commitment is just being tested or you’ve veered off course. Such hurdles can be part of the growth process cultivating your “inner hero” necessary for the journey. Trust the sense of movement towards ease, which likely will include supportive synchronicities.

Your health may improve: Cravings for unhealthy foods will lessen and you’ll feel more energetic. Old aches and pains might disappear; even chronic illness can fade when you’re focused on your life purpose.

You feel strangely peaceful, despite reasons to be anxious: Your soul longs to express what you’re on Earth to express, and when you finally rise into alignment with your calling, your soul does a happy dance. Even if everything else seems to be falling apart and others consider you crazy, you’ll be centered in peace, relieved that you finally know what you’re called to do.

The universe rolls out the red carpet: When called to do what is needed for the highest good of all beings, the universe bends over backwards to hand you whatever you need. No request is too small. Unexpected money flows in and other resources appear just as you’re ready to give up. You’ll know you’re on track, even if it is not quite clear what you’re on track to do.

People find you: Few can fulfill a calling alone. Most of us need a tribe to lift us up as we do brave, scary, world-changing things. When you’re aligned with your life purpose the right people, including magic-wielding mentors, will find you at the right time, if only you’re courageous enough to be vulnerable about what you’re being called to do.

Natural Awakenings Magazine
July 2016


Insider Secret: Surround Yourself with Positive People

:07 - "Stay away from the NIOP's. Do you know what a NIOP is? The Negative Influence of Other People. Because they don't want you moving forward because when you're moving forward, they're moving backward and they don't like that stuff so they get that lasso out and pull you back. Get away from them! They're not your true friends. Your true friends will love you, encourage you, support you and build you up. They won't try to pull you back."

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

New Year, 2017!

A little luck never hurt. I lit this candle, on Jan 1st. 

Saturday, June 20, 2015


Sunday, May 31, 2015

Sunday, January 25, 2015