It’s November 2019 and my husband just threw in the towel on our marriage. I ripped myself from social media to avoid my heart any unnecessary roughness while he began his new relationship with the woman he’d been courting at the end of ours. I still had my band and businesses to nurture on the socials, otherwise I was isolated and sequestered to lick my wounds in peace. I found a sweet spot to live that I referred to as the Magic Hut where I dove deep into my healing for about a year. It was the best, a time I will forever cherish. At four months into my journey, Covid locked us down and I dove deeper. That’s when I removed myself from social media altogether. Now, I’ve been off for more than four years and can I just tell you, it’s been amazing! I was a slave to promoting my best self, my hobby of a band, a twenty plus year old skincare business and the pottery I’d been creating to avoid the afore mentioned shitty marriage. As I let it all go I found a new lease on life from the never ending guilt of feeling like I wasn’t producing enough postings, juxtaposed to feeling like all I ever did was work on creating content, which was torturing me. Plus, I’m now convinced, not one bit of my effort ever really moved the needle forward on any of it.
Fast forward to March 2024. I’ve been a licensed esthetician for 29 years and I’ve always had a side hustle of one kind or another, but right now I’m at the peak of my game. After my time at the Magic Hut my life took a turn for the better. I even brandished new personalized license plates that read NT N DA. I was really in a good space. I’d moved into an apartment in a different city that made me feel safe, accomplished, and enveloped in luxury. When I look around, I’m completely satisfied with my choices, the perfect furniture has been placed in all the perfect spots. But, the most striking part of it all is every piece of furniture is new, not a single hand me down, this was a first for me. Over the last three years, on two separate occasions, I experienced going to a dealership, picking out a car I really wanted, while knowing I was living within my means. Then I got those plates, mentioned earlier, that reminded me I was living a polar opposite existence from before. I’d finally made it. I was putting money away for the golden years, making real estate investments, I even have a new boyfriend that is a grown ass man, who loves me, especially when I fly my freak flag high and proud. Seriously, at the top of my game. Oh, and I was in the best physical shape of my life, which was a blessing because…
March 25, 2024 was the day my neck was broken in a car accident in Washington DC, whilst visiting the monuments with my Fam Bam. Let me tell you, all of my spiritual training served me in those moments when I couldn’t move a muscle. As the paramedics pulled my limp body from the car my chant was, “I am whole, complete, and perfect.” I was in the hands of the first responders and there was nothing for me to do, so I closed my eyes to buffer myself from the chaos and repeated my mantra to keep my mind from spinning. By the time I was rolled into the MRI tube, my mantra had leveled up to, “I am stardust and I can be put back together.” I’ve since had surgery and I am doing well, but I’ll never be able to go back to my career as an esthetician, as my right hand is still lacking in the motor skills I need to delicately remove blackheads, twirl a wax stick, or tweeze those stray bikini hairs. But, I can type! Well, I peck with my right index finger. And, when I really get going my thumb sneaks in to hit a key or two! So, during the seven weeks between my accident and the surgery I dissolved all of my money making enterprises and succumbed to the system. Thank god for my sweetheart, he’s keeping a roof over my head and food in my belly as I surrender to my recovery and the grief of losing my earning capacity that I’d become so proud of. Plus, I miss my clients.
While I was recuperating, I jumped, with both feet, into www.masterclass.com. My cooking has definitely leveled up thanks to Gordon Ramsay and Thomas Keller, but mostly I watched 95% of their offerings on writing. A solid dozen writers told me about their process and the pitfalls of writing. After my very first lesson with the amazing Malcom Gladwell I wanted to jump right in, but I forced myself to hold off. That night I fell asleep envisioning a character. She was a personified Chihuahua, living on the streets of NYC, who had a bug eye, was snaggletoothed, and wore a screwy face. But, for some reason, her tit’s were on point! She was selling her wares on a street corner and the locals knew her, were kind to her, and supported her efforts. Even with such a compelling character, I did not begin, I continued to listen and learn.
I’m not sure exactly how many weeks passed as I studied, but on June 26, 2024 I took the leap. To date, I’ve written over eighty-two thousand words to complete my ‘shitty first draft’, as Anne Lamont refers to them. At the crux of this completion I’m taking a break to create this website/blog for myself and the work. After I procured my domain name I grabbed an Insta account. Why the social media change of heart? I’m working on something I’ll eventually need to promote, right? So, I guess I’m back. This, simultaneously, excites and terrifies me. I’ll go back to rewriting and editing the novel after I finish setting this up and pop out a few blog posts about my novice experience. But, I’ll be honest, I’m doing this in hopes of connecting with people before my book comes out, so that when it launches something might actually get stirred up. This strategy comes from the brilliant Seth Godin. (He has a new book out worth reading.) And listen to me, like as soon as I’m finished with my first novel I’ll immediately get published… HA!
That’ll be a whole other blog post, to be sure.
I’m hopeful though, because I’ve got stories in me, starting with Shrine, my first body of work. It has history, magic (the real kind, not fantasy), interesting relationships, and side plots. The characters include salt of the earth, charismatic, and outrageous, but all of them are worthy of being known. I’d like to think most of them are emotionally mature and working at being better versions of themselves. There are plot twists and fun revelations. Shrine, our main character, discovers a few magical items while she managed a huge estate sale in Northern California, she refers to them as The Trinity. I hope that someday you’ll get to read to find out where the relics came from, how they’ve changed the lives of everyone they’ve come into contact with, and where The Trinity ultimately lands. Plus, I cant wait for you to meet the cast and feel the magic.
Hope to see you back for a hang soon,
E
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