A Welcome from And She Writes

Welcome to And She Writes! I'm Samantha -- one of the voices behind this digital space. I am eager to use this platform with my good friend, Fay, to offer thoughts, ideas and recommendations that can support you personally and professionally.

I'm a writer and information gatherer. It's taken decades for me to discover this truth about myself. My love and need to write began when I was nine years old. My maternal grandmother gifted me my very first diary. It had a purple plastic cover with images of flamingos across the front cover. It had a lock and key, which I used everyday. My grandmother gave it to me just before my family moved from western Pennsylvania to the Heartland. She told me it would be a good way to record my experiences and make sense of all of the changes in my life. It was a brilliant gift. My first diary, and the many that came to follow, became an important part of my childhood and adolescence. I am forever grateful for this gift from my grandmother who never finished high school.

My family's relocation was monumental. You see, I had lived in the same Rust Belt town my entire life. My parents and their parents grew up in the community and nearly all of my family -- grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins -- lived within a few miles of each other. Our family of four -- my dad, mother, younger brother and I -- moved 1,000 miles away from home. It was an emotional and confusing time.

Back to the diary... I loved it. I wrote in it every night for 10 years. It wasn't until my freshman year in college that I stopped it all together. After a few instances of mistrust with my fall semester roommate, I brought my diary home for winter break and it never returned to my dorm room. Once I stopped the practice of writing in it, I never went back. I can recall my last diary. I don't remember where I bought it, but it was a small soft brown leather book with brown text lines on each page. It was high quality. Perhaps I should have purchased one with a lock?

I believe my practice of journaling, which included reflection and introspection, formed my love and need to write early on. In high school, I was an active member of our weekly newspaper staff (we printed actual newspapers and we physically copied and pasted the pages' layouts -- no Command+C/Command+V or "right clicks"). In addition, I worked at local book stores for nearly five years. My desire to write and read carried into college where I majored in journalism and minored in English.

In the last 20 plus years since I stopped daily journaling, I've read thousands of books, blogs, websites and articles. I've written essays, two unpublished manuscripts (more on that later), social media posts and maintained a family photo blog. As I close in on my fourth decade, I'm inspired to share a space with thoughtful, relatable and fun content!

Welcome to the World, And She Writes. It's your birthday!

I'm Fay--the other voice behind And She Writes. I'm so excited to share this space with my good friend, and with all of you. With a full time job and a family, my goal is to focus my time on reaching milestones in pursuits that are meaningful--writing, reading, quality family time, success in career, and developing emotionally and physically healthy habits.

I also hope to share what I have learned with the hope that it can help someone else achieve their personal and professional goals. You'll find a lot of my thoughts on our Tuesday Morning Tidy series, where we will explore organizing, simplifying, family-friendly ideas and other helpful concepts.

My Midwestern roots and professional experience in higher education will be evident in a lot of what I write. I spent my collegiate years in creative writing classes, and though it's been (ahem) quite awhile since I graduated, my profession has allowed me to spend a lot of time behind a desk crafting messages. It's both challenging and rewarding.

I've also been organizing since I could walk, so I have lots of practice. My favorite outing as a kid was to the office supply store, and one of my favorite grade school birthday gifts was a filing cabinet! I've read a lot, and I'll share what I've benefited from and enjoyed the most. Thankfully, there's still a lot to learn and my home could use a good spring/summer/fall/winter cleaning--clearly, it's a lifelong journey; a marathon, not a sprint. Meanwhile, I may just curl up on the couch with a good book.

So, welcome to And She Writes, where you’ll find content that is relatable, thoughtful and...fun.