The Writeous Babe Podcast has officially launched! 

You can listen to the show here, on PodBean, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. 

Check out the preview episode for some behind-the-scenes insights into the show and then tune into my debut episode, "What's the Big Deal About Journaling?"

 

 Journaling can change your life. For real. Think beyond the "Dear Diary" type of journaling you did as a kid. A transformative journaling practice can help you with your career, your relationships, your confidence and so much more. Tune in to this episode to find out how and learn more about what to expect from the first season of the Writeous Babe Podcast. 

Look for new episodes each Wednesday.

Be sure to follow, rate, and review and share the show with friends. I truly appreciate your support. 

Let's do this! 

Follow the fun! That's one of the lessons my soon-to-be-launched podcast is teaching me.

 

Last year, I grappled for months with the decision to start a podcast or not. And then once I decided to start one, I struggled to settle on a topic because I had so many different ideas.

Then one day a member of my writing collective -- See Jane Write -- said to me, "Just do what's going to bring you the most joy."

 

What simple, but powerful advice! I decided to follow it and that's how The Writeous Babe Podcast: The Grown Woman's Guide to Journaling came about.

 

My podcast hasn't even launched yet and my decision is already paying off. Because I've been talking about journaling so much, I've been invited to lead -- and get paid for -- journaling workshops for 4 different organizations.

 

So if you're struggling to decide which of your goals to work on next -- follow the fun and choose what sparks joy.

I'm reviving the Writeous Babe brand once again but this time for something a lot more uplifting than a cancer diagnosis. 

I'm starting a podcast! 

The Writeous Babe Podcast is the grown woman's guide to journaling, giving you the inspiration and practical tools you need to create a life-changing journaling practice.

I believe you have the power to write your way through anything and to the life of your dreams.

Each week tune in for uplifting conversation and thought-provoking prompts that will help you write your way to the best version of yourself.

Tentatively set to launch on Wednesday, March 29, the Writeous Babe Podcast will be available wherever you listen to podcasts.

I'm also reviving the Writeous Babe Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts, so let's get social!

I'm so excited about this new venture and I hope you'll come with me on this journey.

 

On January 24, 2020, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

 

Today, on December 2, 2020, I had my last round of radiation, completing active cancer treatment.

 

Here’s a look at everything that happened in between.

We need to talk. 

Inspiring. That's the word many of you have been using to describe me as I've been sharing my battle with breast cancer journey on my blogs and social media. You've seen me working and writing and blogging and building a business while undergoing chemotherapy and you've said I motivate you to keep going. 

And I'm very glad you feel that way. In fact, one of the reasons I decided to be open and honest about my diagnosis was that I'd hoped I would inspire you to go after your dreams even when your circumstances are far from ideal. 

When you text me or send me a DM via Instagram to ask how I'm doing, I probably respond with the same answer each time: "I'm hanging in there." 

But I need to let you know what that really means. 

 

When I told my brother I’d been diagnosed with breast cancer he responded just as I knew he would: “Man, you got this. This shit ain’t gonna beat you. Imma holla at God tonight, tell him to take care of my big sister and you gonna be straight.”

And that was that. I knew I would be fine because my baby brother said so.

Even though I am 7 years and 6 months older than my brother, even though I cooked his breakfast on the weekends, taught him how to tie his shoes and helped him with homework, in some ways he has taken care of me as much as I’ve helped take care of him.

 

I can’t keep my own secrets – especially when it comes to cancer.

 

So, I have some things to confess.

 

1.     If you ask me to do something within the next 8 months and I don’t want to do it, I will play the cancer card.

2.     If I’m in a FitBit competition with you and I lose I’m going to play the cancer card.

Photography by Megan Tsang Hand

On January 1 I vowed to walk for exercise every day for 366 days in 2020.

Then on January 24, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

I must confess that when I got the news one of my first thoughts was, “Crap! Is this going to mess up my plans to walk for exercise every day for 366 days?”

On January 24, 2020 I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

No, I hadn’t found a lump in my breast because I hadn’t been looking for one. In my mind, breast cancer wasn’t something I needed to worry about until I turned 40. And besides, I already had lupus. There was no way God would let me have two life-threatening illnesses, right?

Wrong.

I'm making plans for a beautiful school year.

As a teacher I get to make New Year Resolutions not once, but twice a year. Every August marks the start of a new school year and another chance to set goals and intentions for my teaching career and all other parts of my life. 

Here are my resolutions for the 2017-2018 school year:

As a writer I feel obligated to post some thought-provoking and heartfelt prose about what it meant to participate in the Women's March Alabama in Birmingham yesterday. But I'm honestly at a loss for words.

We're almost there. We've almost made it through the first week of 2017.

How did you do?

Did you tackle to-do lists like a boss? Did you go to the gym every day? Did you start working on your book?

If not, that's OK. Give yourself a bit of grace.

Grace -- that's my word for 2017.

I've only published 25 posts to WriteousBabe.com this year. But if you think this means I haven't been blogging, think again.

This year I decided to do most of my blogging at SeeJaneWrite.net, my blog for my business, because I decided I really wanted to take my business to the next level. In case you don't follow me there (or @seejavaciawrite on Twitter and Instagram), here's what I've been up to in 2016.

I don't usually write about politics, but last night's election results were not just political, they were personal.

In my classroom is a quote board and I don't care how cliche it may be for an English teacher to have one. The first quote I post each year is by author and poet Sylvia Plath: "I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart: I am, I am, I am."

Not far from the quote board is a portrait of Plath. When seated at my desk poring over lesson plans and pitiful thesis statements, I glance across the room and look into her eyes. They seem to say to me, "Keep going."

While a student at Smith College, Plath once wrote herself a list of Back to School Commandments, beginning with three rules on how to behave around her new beau.

Image via OpenCulture

Inspired, I decided to pen commandments of my own for my love and my labor.

As a girl growing up in church, I always wanted to know more about Lot’s wife, the biblical character known only as the woman who was turned into a pillar of salt after she looked back at Sodom as it was being destroyed.

What was her name? Who was she before she was Lot’s wife? Why did she look back despite the instruction of angels to keep facing forward and moving ahead?

In her novel Angels at the Gate, local author T.K. Thorne imagines the answers to these questions and more. Thorne’s historical fiction spins the tale of Adira, who is secretly raised as a boy in her father’s caravan. As she grows older, Adira rejects womanhood as it threatens her independence and nomadic life. But the appearance of two mysterious strangers, rumored to be holy men or angels, changes everything.

With its detailed descriptions of desert life and in-depth character development,Angels at the Gate instantly drew me in. As I read about Adira’s treacherous quest to follow the “angels” I was a nervous wreck, worried about how she and her beloved dog, Nami, would survive the dangers of the desert and the perils of Sodom.

Angels at the Gate recently won the Gold Benjamin Franklin award, regarded as one of the highest national honors for small and independent publishers. When I read a book and love it, I often want to interview the author. This time, I did.

Head to B-Metro.com to check out my interview with T.K. Thorne. 

A few years ago I had the honor of attending a lecture by renowned journalist Soledad O'Brien. During the Q&A period of O’Brien’s talk an audience member asked her a question often asked of highly successful women who juggle busy careers with motherhood: How do you balance it all?

O'Brien's answer was quite simple. "I don't," she said.

Let us be writeous. 

Let us be writeous babes. 

Let us be women who write and live lives worth writing about. 

Let us be the authors of our own lives. Let us write well and edit often. 

Let us be writeous babes. 

Photos by Brendon Pinola via StyleBlueprint Birmingham

1. God is Love and Love is Life. When it comes to faith, I have more questions than answers. Though I identify as Christian because I love Jesus, organized religion confuses me to no end. It always has. It probably always will. But I am sure that God is Love and Love is Life. My life should center on loving others and loving myself. I believe this is how we worship. This is why I consider my marriage a ministry and my feminism a divine calling. When I serve my husband, when I join hands with the women of my tribe to help them make their dreams come true, these are holy acts. When I share pillow talk with my husband, when my friends and I share secrets over a bottle wine (or two), this is communion.

image via

Trust in God; She will provide. -- Emmeline Pankhurst

Dear God,

I wish you were a woman

Because since I was a girl

I’ve pictured you as a white man

With white hair

Dressed in a long white robe.

And I am not a man

And my skin is a shade of deep chocolate brown.

So how can I believe that I was created in your image?