Happy end-of-summer, everyone!

It is happy, isn’t it? I suppose the end of August always feels bittersweet to me, as I imagine it does for many. I love the summer weather and the chance to be outside as much as possible during the warm months in Minnesota, but I also look forward to the start of a new school year and new routines in the fall. Fall in Minnesota is also the most colorful, beautiful season, in my book.

Of course, fall also means my two young children head back to school, which is again, bittersweet. I know they’re ready to be with friends, old and new, and to learn and absorb All The Things. They are also happier with a regular routine and schedule, whether they know it or not. School gives me more time to write, which makes me a happier, more fulfilled person.

Alas, I am not a Pumpkin Spice Latte person, but there are some local pumpkin cookies that always get me in the fall spirit… so there’s that!

I recently had the opportunity to be published in what I’d call a “bucket list” magazine: EQUUS. It’s one of the most highly regarded equestrian and horse care publications, and as a writer it’s a huge honor to see my words in print in those glossy pages.

 

I’m especially proud that my article features a non-profit I fully stand behind, War Horses for Veterans.

You can read the article online too, at Hope in the Saddle, a website that shares all the good that horses do for us.

I’ve also been toiling away on an unusual story for The Morgan Horse Magazine; it’s taken on rather epic proportions, as the subject of the article doesn’t use a computer, has no cell phone, and is usually out of range in the mountains of Wyoming. It promises to be a good read, however, no matter how long it takes.

I offered to take on the “pets” section in my local lifestyle magazine, and it’s been a fun passion project– writing & animals are two of my favorite things, after all. My first article features a neighborhood family with a lizard, a dog, and a cat (my kind of people!).

 

Tutoring Updates

My tutoring business will change this school year: instead of working privately outside of school hours with families, I will be working in a local St. Paul school two times a week, providing intensive reading instruction during the school day to students with learning disabilities like Dyslexia.

I think this new model is such a win for students– they get to receive that one-on-one help during the school day, rather than when they’re tired and busy after school, or need a break on the weekends. I’m looking forward to this new challenge and helping more children gain confidence in their reading.

Fall, here we come!

In the meantime, I’m off to get one many of those pumpkin cookies. And my puppy sure is hoping to get a pheasant or two this fall. Let’s do this!

Happy Fall,

~Julia