Another TEN Things to Know About Me
My poor, poor blog. In the past few years I’m afraid it has taken a backseat. That’s probably not even accurate. It’s not in the backseat. It’s hanging on the bumper of the car by it’s fingernails as I barrel down the highway of PTO meetings, baseball tournaments, and piles and piles of laundry. But this is me, making a fresh start - recommitting to it, and to writing in general. And to honor that, here are ten more things you never knew you always wanted to know about me.
1. I have been on this writing journey for about six and a half years. Some years have been more productive than others, and surprisingly 2020 was one of my best. Since starting, I have written countless picture books manuscripts, one middle grade novel, and about half of a YA book. I’ve had a couple of full requests (one agent even called the perspective of my middle grade manuscript “genius” - really holding onto that!), attended virtual conferences, and been a part of several critique groups, but never moved to the next level. Yet.
2. Audiobooks have changed my life. No exaggeration there – it used to plague me that I didn’t have time to read more. When I sit down at night, I want to be writing or sleeping. Anytime I sat down with a book I would get so antsy that I should be working on something myself. Adding audiobooks to my daily life – while I clean, or walk the dog, or drive to hockey practice or whatever - has transformed that time for me. I love it. I started in the summer and got through 18 books. This year my goal is 24.
3. Theatre is still so important to me. It’s one of the things I love most about social media. We have such an awesome opportunity to keep a finger on the pulse of Broadway through various content creators. And although I’ve not been able to be in a show since 2018, I get to watch my daughter discover her love for the stage and it is incredible. The other day she came home from a dress rehearsal and told me she had learned to say “Thank you, five” and my mama heart was so proud. She is a natural on stage and I look forward to someday being in a show with her.
4. We lost our two dogs in 2020 and 2022, respectively. Brewer and Little Dude took up so much space in our home and our hearts and when they were gone, everything felt a little empty. I made it a whole three months before finding a beautiful cream golden retriever through a local rescue and we brought home Lorelai (Gilmore) Ramquist in March of 2023. She is an absolute love and my daughter and I are really happy to have just a little more girl energy around this place.
5. Speaking of that energy – my kids are now 11, 9, 6, and 4. There is dance, swimming lessons, travel baseball, theatre, travel hockey, and soccer…so far. They are active and crazy and kind and loving and so much fun. My youngest has one more year of preschool then he will be off to Kindergarten. I always thought I would go back to work fulltime when that happened but now I’m sort of thinking that will be the big push for writing. We’ll see.
6. I have been married to my amazing husband for 13 years. He is the most generous and selfless person I know, especially to his family. His default setting is just to do things for his kids, whether it’s staying up till 2 am putting together a hockey goal, or driving to 17 different stores to find the right gift. I wish I could be more like him. Don’t get me wrong, I would do anything for my kids, but sometimes my own selfishness slips in. His doesn’t. He has a big, important job that allows me to stay home and I’m thankful that he is never resentful of that. What else can I say? He’s kind of a big deal.
7. I’m not sure any place will ever feel like home to me the way that Wisconsin does. I absolutely love where we live now, and it is an amazing place to raise a family. My kids are having a positively idyllic childhood here, in a neighborhood where they can play at the park till long after dark with all of their friends, while the parents stand around talking and laughing and having drinks. Even so, there is just something about the cheese curds, and green and gold, and a Friday night fish fry that will always have my heart.
8. I grew up sailing. From the time I was two years old I was toddling around our 22’ sailboat all summer with my Dad. As I got older, I helped him get it ready for the water in the spring and am still in charge (when on board) of climbing on the bow to hoist the jib. I try to make sure my kids get out on the water once a year, but I hate that heeling (that beautiful lean you see sailboats do) now gives me anxiety with them on board. When I was little, I loved when my Dad would tip so far I could put my arm in the water over the low side. With my Dad in control back then, not once did I think I was in danger. But with my own children there, and the realization that my father is in fact a fallible human being, it’s too much for me. We do nice relaxing cruises now.
9. Along those lines…I am generally a low anxiety person, but my biggest irrational fear is going into a body of water in my car with my kids with me. It’s getting a little better now that they are becoming stronger swimmers and aren’t in five-point harness car seats anymore. But there are so many retention ponds in Indiana that it’s a very real thing here. To be honest, I’m not sure how deep most of the ponds are, but I know that getting four kids out of a quickly submerging vehicle terrifies me. So that’s also why I always want a sunroof in my car.
10. I’m excited to get back to writing. My volunteer commitments have been eating up a lot of my time in the past few years and it’s been a little weird trying to connect as writer Twitter fractured a bit into other apps. But I’m finding my way and hope to get back into a regular routine of writing and maybe even updating my blog, ha!
I’ll wrap up in my usual way – quoting June Carter Cash: “I’m just tryin’ to matter.” Hopefully this is the year that the hustle pays off and maybe, just maybe, my words will matter to readers out there.
