I’ve decided to come back to blogging. I’m getting over the fact that I hate that word, and succumbing to the pressure that as a writer, it’s simply the easiest and most effective way to keep building content to hold on to you, my clearly addicted readers. 

The best way to dive back into anything in the writing department is to find an outlet that’s enjoyable and a topic you feel passionate about. So to kick things off, I will be writing lists on the perils and pleasures of my favorite thing in the world- traveling.  This coincides (not by chance) with my trip to Texas, and this particular post is being written in a lovely, wi-fi laced Dunkin Donuts in the Jetblue Terminal, during a layover in Boston Logan International Airport. I had a medium coffee with milk and an egg white veggie flatbread, for those keeping score.

Here we go. List Number One: Why I Love Flying.

10. Because airports symbolize freedom. (Once you get through security, frisking, and the unfair dumping of water bottles and hair/face/body products.)

9. The portion-sized snacks and drinks. You know you’ll never binge-eat on a plane.

8. Window seats. The curve of the coast line, the way the bricks, stones and steel that make up the unique city skylines burst out of a sea of greens, blues and browns. The tiny rows of homes and developments that always remind me of Monopoly pieces, and the way you can see the soft white foam of the ocean waves from literally thousands of miles in the air.

7. The moment that you anxiously await to see who will be sitting next to you. I stare down every individual that boards the plane and make silent bargains with God over my seat-partner fate. Today I had Empty Seat! Outside of Handsome Mysterious Stranger, that is best case scenario. Worst-case scenario being Heavy Breather, Smelly, or Loud Snorer- or a combination of all three. 

6. Airport restaurants. So much fun to post up with a good book, people watch, and eavesdrop on conversation.

5. Movies! I rarely watch TV and get to maybe one or two movies a year, so I love a long flight where I can catch up on all the films I’ve been meaning to watch since 2009. Watch out for those tearjerkers though… I remember one flight to London where I basically sobbed for 5 hours. I think the guy next to me thought I was having a nervous breakdown, but I was simply watching “Water for Elephants.”

4. The Map. On International and select Domestic flights, I love to watch the map that tells you exactly where you are, what speed you’re traveling, altitude, arrival time, etc. You can literally watch yourself travel through time (zones). So cool.

3. That feeling when you first step off the plane and arrive at a place you’ve never been. Pure excitement. Who will you meet? What will you see? And most importantly, where’s the ladies room because I have to pee.

2. The Arrivals gate. The signs, the smiling faces, the hugs, the love. I know this sounds very “Love Actually” of me, but that’s been one of my favorite parts of flying since I was a little girl. It connects people. And that’s a beautiful thing.

1. It’s amazing. Plain and simple. The plane is one of the greatest inventions ever made. It’s the gateway to the world.

… Keeps those unhealthy relationships away.

March is Health Awareness Month, and to celebrate I’m offering a free download of select chapters from my book, DEFRIENDED: A Guide to Breaking Up and Shaping Up, this week only!

Make sure to like the DEFRIENDED Facebook page, where I’ll be posting the link to where you can download the chapters for FREE. Here’s the catch- each available chapter will ONLY be listed for 24 hours, so you’ll have to check the Facebook page daily to see when it goes live.

Staying healthy emotionally, physically, and mentally is crucial to living a happy and fulfilling life. May you carry the lessons, advice, and anecdotes in DEFRIENDED with you long after the final chapter has been read, and gain the strength to make changes in the name of happiness, wellness and love. 

Cheers to being healthy, in every sense of the word.

www.defriendedthebook.com

Three and a half years ago I came to NYC to pursue a career in writing, and in hindsight, that’s exactly what I did. Sort of. First I started a blog. Then I started another blog. Then I decided I hated the word “blog” so I turned it into a website. (There IS a difference.) For over two years I plugged away as a “writer,” conducting interviews, writing professional bios, building content for websites, editing, and taking on assignments with independent music magazines. 

But none of those jobs were actually what I wanted to be doing in the writing world. They don’t accurately represent my voice. They weren’t on topics I deemed myself an expert in. (For those of you wondering, I deem myself an expert in traveling, the artist brain, getting dumped, business fundamentals, and calling people out on their shit.)

So I decided to stop playing victim to the Universe’s warped sense of humor.  And accepted that I couldn’t expect people- publishers, editors and literary agents- to hack into my computer to discover my never-released writing and subsequently turn me into a mega superstar. I was going to have to do it myself.

For the past month I’ve been on relative lockdown prepping my new book, DEFRIENDED, for publishing.  Though the concept and writing of the book has been in the works for about two years, it wasn’t until last fall that I buckled down, put on my big girl panties, and decided to make something of it.  

Being an independent author is no joke. Without an agent or formal editor I’ve had to rely on friends and Craigslist to get another pair of eyes on the book for spelling, grammar and content. Without a publisher I’ve had to format both the print and e-book version myself, and I’m not even close to a design expert. And without either of those support systems I’ve had to fund everything from cover design to distribution, out of pocket. If you’ve seen pictures of my fridge lately, you’ll know how well that’s going.

Nonetheless, I did it. When you want something, and you believe in it with your whole heart, you find a way. You stop making excuses. You own up to your life, grab it by the balls, and say, “I’m going to do this if it kills me.” Because it won’t, even though you’ll wish it would at times.

So whether the book is scoffed at or treasured, it will always hold a special place on my shelf. It established my place in the literary world as a published writer. 

One more thing to cross off the list.

**To get your copy of DEFRIENDED: A Guide to Breaking Up and Shaping Up, please visit www.defriendedthebook.com.**