Museums are medicinal! Creativity expands your lifespan! Making things makes us happy! Dare I say that we could all use as much medicinal happiness as we can get these days?
April Showers open.substack.com/pub/gingerjo...
The blue logo for the Genesis retreat and a QR code linking to the application
I’ve just opened the application for the 2026 genesis retreat! Join us for a
magical week in Oxford!
Shout out to my #vcfa poetry peeps as we make our way through this #poetryfriday. Your words are balm for my soul. ❤️
I survived the night for another chance on the exercise bike! 😂💪🏻
The Gingerbread man and I made breakfast sandwiches for dinner: homemade biscuits w/ butter, scrambled eggs, cheddar, & vegan sausage. I’m telling you this bc I normally eat mostly vegan & I can feel my arteries slowly clogging. If I have a heart attack tonight, at least I’ll go down happy.
I have reached the age where I need help opening a bottle of orange juice. *sobs*
Halloween giveaway! Reply with your favorite scary (or spooky) book and you'll be entered to win a free audio version of my YA horror-comedy EVIL LIBRARIAN! Share this post for an extra chance to win! I'll draw a winner and notify by DM next week. (Follow me so I'll be able to DM you!) #giveaway
It was so great to see you!
The view from my window. That’s a wrap for this year’s genesis retreat with many thanks to our amazing 2025 cohort! I think I’ll take a week off before I jump back in the saddle to plan genesis 2026.
Let #thegenesisretreat shenanigans begin!
Always a good combo!
Maybe next year?
I’ve been preparing for the writing and creativity retreat I run in Oxford. It begins next week and I’m so excited! We’re talking about how play intersects with our creative practice, and we’re also writing and wandering and eating and it’s going to be amazing! #kidlitchat
Hope you’re healing and feeling better each day. 🌸
Working from the outdoor office today.
Love your wildflower pics.
A timeline cleanse from last night’s sunset over Galway Lake.
I think I’m delirious from the heat and it’s only 7 am.
Happy Juneteenth!
I spent my work day PLAYING in preparation for the genesis retreat. I seriously can’t wait. We still have three spots open if you’d like to join us. For more info: bit.ly/genesisretreatwebsite
Me too. I’d like my works to be evergreen. #kidlitchat
Just in a shallow dish on my desk. I have to see them to use them!
Friends, send all the good juju towards the quick delivery of a pool pump motor. It’s going to hover in the 90s next week and help me, Obi-wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.
I have tins—old coffee cans, enamelware cups, etc., that I have them sorted into by color. These are stored in an IKEA wall rack with hanging containers. They look empty right now because I have a bunch out for a project.
I’m going for a walk right now and I’m going to focus on the neighborhood roses in bloom, the birdsong, and the blue, blue sky. Hopefully that will purge my system and give me a reset after reading one news article.
View from a hammock of green trees and a flowering azalea bush at the right. Text reading: Respite. Dear Friends, What can I tell you today? I could tell you about a visit with my sweet friend in April and my time reading in a hammock while a monarch butterfly flitted in and out of the azaleas. I could tell you of the sound of the rooster who crowed all the day long, reminding me of our chicken . . . gingerjohnsonbooks.substack.com
Sometimes it's necessary to pull back from the world and find some respite. How are you finding respite these days? New Substack here:
open.substack.com/pub/gingerjo...
Mrs. Abbarno. She was the reason I began college as an art education major (but I switched majors as one does).
Caucasian woman’s hand holding ripe strawberries in a sunny backyard.
Yesterday’s backyard bounty.
Yay! Congratulations!
