• Erick is stepping away for some time. His mom just got diagnosed with cancer, so he wants to spend more time and bandwidth on her. And I'm moving to Costa Rica this month! In 2 1/2 weeks, so it is cray-cray over here.

Fresh new episodes will arrive in February (with a little bit of a revamp) and a special series on getting back to your writing or creative practice after grief, loss, addiction, or big life stress, but do look for some bonus episodes from the road.

• Went to Breitenbush, Portland (Powell's), Seattle, Write in the Harbor writing conference in Gig Harbor, WA (*heart*), sold a car, rented the house, cancelling services, buying foreign auto insurance, washing ten years of dirt off of all the things we stored outside, tricking out the FJ Cruiser for the drive, buying special dog beds and storage for the vehicle, inspection and minor repairs today. Movers on Monday. Cleaners on Thursday. Walk on bark and blinds for upstairs, too. Saying Goodbyes.
• crossing the border at Tijuana, driving thru Baja California, taking ferry to Mazatlan; spending some time in Oaxaca with a friend

• What are you reading?

• Wild Dark Shore (Charlotte McConaghy)
• We Need Your Art: Stop Messing Around and Make Something (Amie McNee) (resource tip)***
• Creative Act (Rick Rubin)
• (Not ready to give up on them, but struggling to finish them:) Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman;

Segment 3 (Main Topic):

Notes:

Follow my drive to Costa Rica on Instagram! #puravidabound

And don't forget:

Go to valerieihsan.com to schedule a free consultation to see if Aligned Author is right for you.