Happy Almost Summer! First Draft of Memoir Complete & Celebrating 20 years of Marriage

​Hello friends!
These past few weeks have been chock full of milestones for me and I am doing my best to celebrate them instead of quietly filing them away and moving on to whatever is NEXT. 

1. I finished the first draft of my memoir. (Working title: "A Kickass Book I Wrote" cause I wrote a book and yay, that's hard), I am making a deliberate point of sharing this news, being proud of it and celebrating the thing I set out to do. Write a first draft by June 1st.

My biggest fan awaiting my debut, also bacon. 

I know there is so much, MUCH more work to do and I am being intentional about celebrating and acknowledging the process. 

I think my creative happiness lay firmly grounded in finding joy in the process because product, well, let’s be honest, whoever knows how that is going to go?

2.  20 years of marriage to Cody! Another moment I am breathing in. When I was young, I did not think married life, and definitely not happily married life was for me. Big (and joyful surprise) it is!

On our honeymoon in Australia, hanging out with rescue kangaroos.

3. 3 years since I published my first ever essay in Ms. Magazine. I’m proud to be the tiniest part of Ms. And I feel it’s important to highlight what George Tyndall did and how USC turned a blind eye for years. It cost them over $1 billion but I know, without a doubt, he would still be abusing patients it if was not for the brave group of women who came forward.

And here's a quick update on a few other things:

1. Some of you may know I'm involved with the Project for Advancing Health Stewardship at University of Minnesota. I've attended almost every (FREE) virtual forum over the past couple of years and I LOVE it. The community, the writing prompts, the time taken to consider the idea and potential steps forward in Healthcare Stewardship are powerful. You can sign up for the free forums, that start in June, RIGHT HERE.  And the October forum will be guest facilitated by Me with a presentation by my good friend and brilliant thinker, Kim Rowe. Come check us out!

2. #90 of Where I’m From this Tuesday! I continue to be both impressed and grateful for each and every guest. Since my last newsletter I've heard poems and been in conversation with: 

#81 Jess Davies
#82 Lisa Rayne
#83 Elise McCall
#84 Heidi Barr
#85 Sara Blair
#86 Maud Newton
#87 Jo-Ann S. Finkelstein
#88 Dan Brazier

3. Femme On, lots of great episodes! I love being in conversation with so many awesome people, including:
Dr. Ingrid Clayton, Amy Bobeda, Ivana Shein and Kim Rowe.

4. What I’m Reading 
Wow, so many excellent books, that continue to expand my understanding of the world and myself. 

Thanks to my friend A.R. Farina for recommending, Sensitive: The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World by Jenn Granneman and Andre Sólo

There’s a reason I cry all of the time. And they wrote a book about it.

(Special shout to A.R., who's YA Jane Austen retell Welcome to Mansfield comes out Monday, congrats!)

And here’s one that I want to talk about with everyone I know, because so MANY reasons. If you’ve read it, let’s CHAT.

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer

5, What I’m Thinking About: SUCCESS

What goal are you trying to reach? Creatively? Personally?

What is it? And what does it mean to you? I just recorded an episode of Femme On Creatives with the wonderfully talented and delightful, Claire Keane. We spoke about finding our creative voices and interwoven with that is defining what success means to us. Claire said, “It comes down to how do I want to live this one life that I have?”

And I want to collaborate, tell stories, hear stories, and be a part of something that reminds me (and others if possible) we’re not alone. In my one life, I know, we are in this together. 


Keep writing. Keep thinking. Keep believing in yourself. I do. Alyson



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