I'm Just Sayin'

I have a new YouTube channel---which is why I haven't been here too much. https://youtu.be/Jn4UY7fWqAI Check it out! :)

Drawing by me, Stephanie Olivieri may not be used without permission. THANKS I have several trips coming up this spring and while I don't like the idea of winter weather while flying I do love flying and here is why.  1. No one can reach me while I'm on a plane so I get that alone time I so desperately need.  2. I get to do nothing and it's okay. It's okay that I'm not at the gym or doing squats at my house, it's okay that I'm not working on anything-I'm on a plane so yay, it's okay to do nothing.  3. It's soothing to my soul to be up in the clouds.  4. You can eat, drink, sleep, and watch TV/movies while getting to your destination.  5. I love to meet other people so while I'm not that annoying chatty seatmate, I do enjoy meeting others.  AIRPORTS. I love them. I love everything about them.  I know I'm strange, but I implore you to enjoy your next flight. Think about the fact that you are just there to relax an

Truth--it was Dec 22, 2008, when I decided to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. I spent the next 5 months researching it, planning it, and looking for any reason not to do it. At the end of the day me wanting to live outweighed my desperate need for the pain from grief to go away so I learned how to deal with it. That said, I went up TWICE, but as I stood on that beautiful bridge staring out towards the city I realized that life itself was too precious to toss away in just four seconds. I chose life. I still get swept up in grief from all the family losses I had from 2000-2006 but I know that bottling it up inside almost killed me so now if I feel like crying I cry. It doesn't mean that I'm weak in any way. I hope if you are grieving that you will not let it take over. Grief is powerful-way more powerful than most of us know. Also, I'll say this. No one knew that I was planning my suicide. No one. I didn't talk about. I knew that it would hurt people. I didn't care.

AVOID TAOS FOOTWEAR unless you want to be treated like shit. Usually I like to take the high road and let things go, but after thinking about this for the last 24 hours, I'm afraid to say that I can't not tell what happened when I returned a pair of shoes that didn't fit me to Taos footwear. First of all, I love their shoes. I ordered four pairs at $100 or more in less than a month, but they don't care about that, they just needed to be right and right meant downright abusive and awful to a paying customer. Beginning of June, I order a pair of Taos shoes and love them. End of June, I order a second pair, the Hey Jute because they were on sale for only $100 instead of $130. The canvas is super tight so I call them up and speak to a woman, Lisa I believe is her name, she was amazing BTW, she is the only one who is decent at this company-or at least who I have talked to.  She said if they were hurting my feet to return them, but they didn't pay for shippi

Well, it's been a long time since I've been here. Sorry about that. After the US Presidental election I kinda went into a tailspin of terror and worry, all the time. I know that I'm not the only one. 62 million of my country didn't feel that way. I've spent months trying to understand them, but I don't. I really don't. That all said, it messed with me and my schedule big time. I'm trying to live in our new reality and not be scared. I'm working on new writing and creative courses while searching for new representation for both my YA and my art. Please hang in there, I will be back with more opinions soon. I'm going to try to lean this blog towards satire instead of bitching about things I don't like. LOL Because it feels better to laugh and I don't want to be that girl. Namaste.

https://scbwikitetales.wordpress.com/2016/10/14/scbwi-community-corner-with-stephanie-olivieri/ My article about the SCBWI  The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators has changed my life for the better in many ways. It’s hard to explain how a group of book writers and illustrators can do that, but they have. I’m not sure where to start, so I’ll start at the beginning: I’m a writer, who also draws. I worked in animation for many years and have recently worked in children’s books both as a writer and an illustrator. In the summer of 2012 I joined the SCBWI and then, boom, my father died. I was broke and I couldn’t afford to do anything or go to anything. I was not only devastated emotionally, but financially as my job also ended that spring *click the link to read more