Welcome to the Accidental Career Girl

I have wanted to be — and have been — a writer since I was 10 years old. Blame it on the mynah bird, which was at the top of my tenth birthday wishlist. I was fascinated by the talkative bird when it appeared on an episode of The Lucy Show (for my younger friends, it was the show that Lucille Ball did when Desi no longer loved Lucy). I assumed I could train the bird to do all my dirty work — yell at my sister, tease my brother — while I innocently walked away. Those dreams were dashed when my parents visited the local pet shop and learned that mynah birds were not as adorable as Lucy would have you believe. Considered invasive and aggressive (who needed that with a bossy older sister around?), my parents learned the birds are also frequent poopers and, thereby, messy. They moved on to the next thing on my list, a typewriter. Thus, the start of my writing career.

After putting writing aside for many years, I picked it back up again during my travels, sending amusing missives to friends and family back home (at least they told me they were amusing). Encouraged, I fulfilled my 2020 New Year’s resolution by enrolling in a class at Gotham Writers Workshop that started in February of that year. Serendipitous, huh? finding my voice and discovering what I most wanted to write about — me. Well, not just about me but about the things that I observe happening around me.

I’m starting this newsletter to start sharing that writing with a wider audience. Many of you have seen glimpses already and you’ll likely see those old stories pop up here, maybe with a few tweaks here and there. Some of what you’ll see will be the beginnings of the memoir I am (slowly) writing (also called The Accidental Career Girl — a name I will put in italics when it is actually published). I’ll also post some of the essays and short pieces I’ve written and will be writing for various classes and workshops.

A caveat — though I am a stickler for grammar, I am a horrible proofreader. Forgive me if you see a typo or two or three.

Feel free to share this newsletter with anyone you think might be interested.

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Humorous personal essays by a woman who learned to pivot long before the world started spinning.