My month in review – June 2022: Blogging is my new passion

After spending the first two month of my sabbatical recharging my batteries, I worked and played hard in June. I started blogging and published two blog articles on creative writing and two articles on gender equality and tips for working moms (in German). The reactions and messages following the publication of these articles were simply heartwarming and overwhelming!

I found a new passion: blogging

„authentic“- „most inspiring!“ – „loved it!“ – „wonderful“ – „Thank you for opening your heart and life to the world with your writing. It’s beautiful! I wish you health, happiness and serenity“- „Loved the blog! So inspiring!!“

WOW! These are some of the comments I received after publishing my first blog Write and Breathe on earlier this month. In this blog article I shared some of the pain I had back in February/March after suffering two ps (pneunomia and pleurisy). Did you know that expressive writing has tangible health benefits? – I asked in my LinkedIn posting and received over 120 reactions. Thank you all so much for making my debut as a blogger such a great experience.

Besides the many lovely reactions, I also received this question from a colleague of mine. He asked: Stefanie, what is creative writing? This question inspired me to respond to his question in my second blog – What is Creative Writing?

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Besides my passion for creative writing, I am also in the process of writing two books. I am sharing my own process and experience of being a writer on www.stefaniebrodmann.com. My topics here are motherhood and motherlove, gender equality and being a working mom. I am writing my books in German, and so my blogs on these topics are in German, too.

I wrote a blog article on What is Gender Equality? My message: As women are spinning in the hamster wheel of expectations, equality is not stagnating, it is making a somersault backwards! I am particularly happy about all the comments from wonderful women that this article resonated with them. I posted a short summary of the blog in English on LinkedIn.

And finally, blog number 4: We humans are special, because we pass our stories and knowledge on to those who come after us. So here they are, My 5 Best Tips for Your First Steps as a Working Mom! and the summary in English.

Writing these blogs has turned out to be so much fun for me. I write them at 5 am in the morning, or during the afternoon rain on the terrace, or in a coffee place in Vienna, or – rarely – in my messy office.

 

I realized a dream: writing under the apple tree

13 years ago I spent a summer with my dear friend Carey in Guatemala, where she was volunteering at leading a local school. This is where I received my acceptance to begin working at at an international organization. She gifted me this card in the picture below (I was 29 years old; can you believe it?!) and we dreamed of one day writing our novels in a vineyard.

Now I live in a house with a beautiful apple tree, and so for years I have wanted to write under this tree. And I did it this June. On three mornings in June I invited friends to come over and write with me. My friend Rosa (from Graz), who happened to be in the area, and my brother-in-law Christoph, who was visiting for a few weeks from New York, came in week 1.

A few weeks later Christoph was asked during a local interview event what he does to relax from work. „Well“, he said, „I do yoga sometimes. And my sister-in-law just did something really fun and relaxing in the garden for self-care.“ So now I am known by my neighbors as the sister-in-law who does yoga under the apple tree… I guess any publicity is better than none 🤣 🤣 🤣

 

 

I worked hard and played hard

After spending the first two months of my sabbatical recharging my batteries, I worked and played hard in June. Not only did I write four blog posts and shared them on social media. I also worked hard to be ready to launch my brand-new website thewritingflow.com in early July. With the Writing Flow I want to share my passion for creative writing with. With simple writing exercises and a warm community, create the space to relax, experience the joy of bringing your inner voice to life and being fully present in the moment. Stay tuned for July! And if you want to sign-up for my weekly newsletter you can do so here.

Oh and then we partied. We had important birthday parties to celebrate: Henrik had turned 5 years old in November and Dalia had turned 7 in April. We also travelled to Legoland in Germany to meet up with my sister and my nephew Elias, who we hadn’t seen for 3 years. And of course, to fight with the Ninjagos!

And then there was the yearly city festival (which of course didn’t happen the last two years). At some point in the evening, we found our five year old son with his buddy at the bar of the local nightclub (owned by the buddy’s parents) drinking coke! My motherly heart couldn’t have been more in shock had they had a rum and coke! 🤣 🥳 🥳

 

 

 

What else happened in June 2022?

• We took spectacular family pictures high above Vienna with my dear friend and amazing photographer Romana Maalouf.

 

 

• I went to Vienna twice by train. Once with the family for a weekend to attend the last module of my non-fiction book writing seminar at the writer’s studio (and to have our family pictures taken). And once just to have lunch with my lovely girlfriends.

 

• My father-in-law turned 70 and celebrated with families and friends. My daughter read a poem that she and I had written aloud in front of 30+ people. I would not have been as cool as she was!

 

Preview July 2022

• It’s party time! On July 3 and 5 I will celebrate the launch of the Writing Flow, my passion project.
• On July 7 and 8 our dear friend Caro will be visiting us from Qatar, and we have important stuff to discuss: our reservation at the infamous restaurant Noma on July 22.
• And on July 10 we are off to Denmark, where we will be spending 3 weeks visiting my parents, and another 2 weeks on the island of Bornholm. There will be a lot of sand digging going on- same procedure as every year. I can’t wait!