I'm from the Santa Cruz / Monterey area of California and I backpacked around Kaua'i, Hawaii for several months before moving to Eugene Oregon 16 years ago. Hawaii has always felt like home to my heart and I hope to go back for a longer stay someday. For now, life is happening in Eugene.
I started writing when I was 10. My aunt Debbie helped me write a poem for a 5th grade assignment and it sparked a deep love of writing in me. That was almost 30 years ago. I've been hooked ever since. But most of the things I've written over the years were lost when I was younger, a sad and frustrating experience. Then life got crazy-busy with work and family!
I have two smart, kind, funny, great teenagers, and have been a single mom for the last 15 years. I have also run my own business working with young children for 16 years. In addition to all this, in June of 2017, I finally finished my degree in Child Development and Family Studies.
So, starting Love & Embolden, in February 2015, was a movement of self-discipline, to actually, finally push myself to write again. It had become clear that writing needed a place on my "to do list" again.
But this is also a movement of courage; as loud as the Writer's Voice is within me, the fear of my writing not being good enough was behind the wheel for far too long. I'm finally listening to my love of writing over my fear of having it rejected. Life is too short for anything less than to follow our hearts, isn't it?
I've noticed, over this last couple of years of writing my heart out, a theme emerging. It's a theme of finding our inner voices, hearing them, honoring them, and being bold with them. So many of us have our voices stomped on and stomped out when we're little, but we can't be true to ourselves without getting back in touch with them. We all deserve to speak up for ourselves, and for others, who still don't have the power or ability to do this for themselves! After all, we're all in this humanity thing together.
As a friend of mine would say, LOVE BIGGER. Life is too short not to love bigger.
Thank you all for reading, Lindsay Swanberg
Feb. 11, 2016
UPDATE:In 2018, I've published my first and second books! Book #3 is starting to develop an outline, too. It's very exciting! Please follow my Amazon author page where you can find my books in paperback and kindle form: amazon.com/author/lindsayswanberg. Thanks for reading, friends!