I’ve loved writing from an early age. It’s my form of art, of creativity, that helps me express myself, work through things, utilize my imagination, and communicate. Through my blogs, it helps me to share my story, my journey with mental health, my ideas for spreading hope, my travel adventures, and now, what’s going on in my yoga, wellness, and writing world (featured on the the Blog tab).

Around 2013, I woke up with the opening line of a story in my head. I began writing that day’s journal entry with the line, one line grew to two, two to four, four to a paragraph, to several paragraphs. The next day, I continued the story in my journal. I hadn’t given it thought, analyzed where it might go. It simply came out of my brain via my pen, and wrote whatever came. By mid 2014, I’d written a novel. In pen and paper. I decided to type it up, so as not to lose it should something happen to the notebooks. Once typed, I began to edit it. In fact, I edited it myself several times over. Finally, once I’d edited as much as I could on my own, I had to decide next steps. Eventually, I decided to self-publish the book. Scroll down for updates, previews, and reviews below!

Because I believe so strongly in the power of writing, I like to help others write as well. Each month, I’ll be updating this page with writing prompts. Some months, it may be a prompt that can help you work through something that’s troubling you - I strongly believe in the power of writing and mental health. Other months, it may be something to spur creativity, to give readers a place to start if they want to write, but aren’t sure where to begin.

I welcome ideas and inspiration, so if you have an idea of a writing prompt you’d like to share, contact me!

After experiencing a painful breakup of a long-term relationship, therapist and part time author Hennie Barritt decides to finally pursue her long held dream of writing a novel.  While traveling up the coast of New England, she comes across a garden cottage that she feels drawn to, and on a whim, decides it is perfect location for her to make a fresh start, get away from the busy city life in Baltimore, and work on her book. As Hennie settles into her new life in Massachusetts, she learns of the unsolved disappearance of an entire family nearly a century ago - a family that vanished from the very cottage that she’s now renting.  Naturally curious and easily intrigued, Hennie becomes determined to discover more about the history of her house and family who once called it home. As she begins to investigate, with she’s drawn into a world of secrets deeper than she could have imagined.

Johnanna’s Secret was recently reviewed by Amber Farley for Wordgathering. Thank you to Amber, for taking the time to read and write review, and to Wordgathering for publishing it.

Novel Now Available!

M novel, Johanna’s Secret, is available via BookShop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play, eSentral,and more! Details about the official book release and paper version are coming soon! Check out the preview and my first review below!

Life’s been weird lately. For most of us, our normal day to day has been flipped on its head. We are likely going through a myriad of emotions and thoughts. So this month, my writing prompt is to just write it all down. It can be in the form of a journal entry or a stream of consciousness. It can be crafted into a poem or a short story, either a story about yourself (autobiographical) or a fiction story that you create that illustrates how all the thoughts and feelings swirling around through this experience. Get creative with it, and use whatever writing method feels best to you right now. But get it out, even if nobody sees it but yourself. It helps to process thoughts and feelings when we allow them and acknowledge them, even if how we’re acknowledging is to ourselves, through a fictional story or some other sort of creative work. So give yourself that opportunity, however feels most authentic to you.