✍️ Diary of an Author: I Was Failing as a Writer -- Until I Changed 1 Thing [Essay]

An essay about the magic of essentialism and the crispness of a fresh start. Plus: a guide on how to find your North Star.

It took a car accident to show how I was holding myself back.

At the time, I was a yoga teacher/TV writer/board member for a women-in-film organization/proud member of no fewer than 3 writers’ groups — or in other words, overcommitted.

I was on my way to teach a yoga class to a group of teachers at a school in South Central LA, a weekly class I taught not really for the money, but for the feeling that I was giving back and using a skill of mine to help others.

Out of nowhere — I was thrown forward with a bump. When the car behind me hit my bumper and caused a domino effect at a red light, my heart jumped to my throat — and then sank as the reality of the costly (but luckily minor) fender bender set in.

I wasn’t going to make it to my yoga class which meant I wasn’t going to make it to my writers’ group — and in my mind’s eye I saw how the ripple effect destroyed my day — and then boiled over my already overflowing week.

That car accident revealed that I was self-sabotaging in a way that most people do, and that seems pretty innocuous — until you take a second look.