Welcome to my blog! I named it Yellow Spiral Notebook because I love yellow, I love cheap spiral notebooks, and over the years I’ve recorded a million thoughts in them.
My name is Anne, and I don’t want to take this too seriously. (Please scroll to the bottom of this page to see my note about how I’ll never allow ads here, or try to use this blog for profit.)
This is my playground, really. I’m a writer, a diarist, and an essayist. I write a bit of everything – but I am deeply in love with the personal essay. I could read them all day long (and often do).
It doesn’t matter to me what the identity of the writer is. I don’t have to know a thing about them to thoroughly enjoy immersing myself into their world for a bit. Most of the time, I prefer not knowing.
I definitely have my favorites, but I regularly comb through countless literary journals to find new voices, new perspectives, new treasures. If I’m not at home writing, reading, hanging out with my husband, kids and pets, puttering around homemaking, wasting time on Twitter or YouTube, or staring off into space while listening to music – then you can find me in one of maybe four places: the school carpool line, the local library, a used bookstore, or the post office.
[Shout out to Rhonda – the lovely and always-helpful postal clerk who has been my go-to gal for almost ten years now…I am an avid letter-writer, pen-pal and postcard addict]
Not as often, but whenever I get the chance, I love hanging out at Writespace – a place for Houston writers to attend workshops, write-ins, open mics, and other gatherings.
I have social anxiety, and at times I’m almost a recluse – but I haven’t once felt stressed at Writespace, and that’s really saying something!
The above photo I took one day after dumping everything out of my backpack onto my bed and then arranging and spreading it all out. Most of it, I mean. I left out the balled up papers and assorted other junk.
If I had thought to set a fresh cup of strong, dark roast coffee on top of one of those books, the picture would be an almost perfect representation of my inner life. Come to think of it, I should have left the balled up papers and junk there, and then added a cup of coffee.
OH and if I could cram a bunch of pictures of my husband, three kids, pets, my collections of postcards, crow figurines and pictures* – then it would be complete. Maybe.
*I am very fond of birds – and totally nuts about corvids – especially crows. I’d say they were my “spirit animal” but that’s cringey and smacks of woo-woo, and I’m not into woo. I just know that I’m obsessed with them.
My favorite chair at the local library – I should get a plaque by now
This is Carlos the crow – I snagged him off the clearance rack at a drugstore after Halloween one year. He resides next to me on the side table where I write, and will never be packed away with the fall decorations.
*****VERY IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THIS BLOG*****
I write a lot about things I love – however, I do not use ads, affiliate links or anything remotely like that here, and I never will. That is a promise to you, the reader, and I take it very seriously. I paid for the Premium version of WordPress to ensure an ad-free experience here, and it’s worth every penny.
(If you ever see anything that looks like an ad – please notify me asap – I’m not exactly a tech genius, and I’d want to know about it so I can figure out how to nuke it.)
I created this blog for myself, for fun, and as a record of my interests, which can change like the wind. Maybe I’ll share it with friends, maybe not. I might toggle between making it public and private – I don’t really know.
If anyone happens upon it for whatever reason, great! Welcome! I hope you can find something interesting to read or learn about, with the security of knowing it’s a place with NO ulterior motives, NO cheesy rah-rah motivational e-books, spammy email newsletters, links to products I can profit from via fake review posts, and so on (I may or may not have a seething contempt for blogs like that, and I may or may not post about it one day).
If I link to a specific product page or use a particular brand name, shop, organization, whatever – it’s for one reason only: because I love it so much I want to tell you about it! I’m especially fond of Etsy, and I will definitely post about my favorite finds and shops (especially the ones with excellent customer service) only because I enjoy giving praise and shout-outs to things I cherish and the people who create and/or provide them!
Yellow Spiral Notebook 