I am a writer.
I am a traveler.
The two are not mutually exclusive.
Rewind to the mid 1980’s. I’m in high school in New York state and rocking quite the expansive perm with highlights. It is time to take the English writing exam as part of the “Regents” diploma (which is now required of the state – back then it was optional.) I recall writing about one of the following: Christmas traditions in our family OR a film that spoke to me. I later learned that I had scored the highest grade on the English Regents exam in my grade.
But I still didn’t consider myself to be a writer. Why? Because my SISTER was the writer. She was a grade ahead of me, a true scholar, a fabulous test taker, and an eloquent writer. How could I be a writer if SHE was the writer? I never pursued it. I never thought it was mine TO pursue.
Instead, I became a serial traveler. I must have flown to London 20 times before I was 25. I typically flew Air India when the curries were delicious (and spicy!) and the upgrades were flowing like lassi. Ah, those were the days!
I became an international educator and eventually an edu-preneur when I founded Melibee Global. I blogged about our field and then about things that struck me as important to say. My voice became alternative, loud, and clear. It became frequent. I started to embody my voice and the freedom to use it at will.
And after countless blog posts, hundreds of thousands of visitors to my website, coordinating and facilitating creative gatherings, and booking spoken word artists, I began to accept the reality.
I am a writer. (And my beloved sister is too.)
I’m a writer that is often moved to put pen to paper after traveling abroad. The problem is that I don’t do that so much anymore. Life seems to get in the way. There’s work, the terrific distraction of our 2.5 year old son, other family, friends, and typically more work.
Craving to write more, I registered for a course on making space in my own life for writing with the fabulous author and founder of Life is a Verb camp (which is FABULOUS – go if you can – don’t overthink this one!) Patti Digh, to ensure that writing would fit into my routine – NO MATTER WHAT. While I haven’t written it enough, I have succcessfully prioritized writing letters to our son. Now that I’ve made that part of my life cycle, I want to write more about my reflections on crossing cultures. The easiest way to do this is to make it part of my work – so I have done this by creating this new webinar – Writing Your Cultural Stories.
After all, writers have to be creative! l will not only lead the webinar but write alongside you all in our virtual space!
Won’t you join me in this writing quest? After all, we are all writers, whether we announce it to the world or not.
I hope so.
The best part about this webinar is that you don’t have to have a body of work online or anywhere for that matter. You just need to be open hearted and willing to write in the privacy of your home, office, or space. You can share your writing as you want. You can write and burn it later, or publish it, or give it to a friend to read, or wallpaper your house with it. It is YOUR writing and YOU choose what to write and how to write it.
I’ll lead the way…you follow and forge your own path as a writer.
I can’t wait to go on this journey with you by my side!
For more information on this live session (it will be recorded if you cannot make it live), please visit this link.
Meanwhile, write on! 🙂