Category Archives: Personal

This Writing Life: Two Opinion Pieces

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Gabriella West

I was listening to the radio in the kitchen the other day, and the NPR announcer was talking about the search for the bones of the great Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote. Cervantes is very famous … Continue reading →

Posted in creativity and its discontents, Personal, Writing | Tagged Ann Bauer, Cervantes, dislocated, home, money issues, pauper, Salon, the writing life, time to write, unmarked grave | Leave a comment

Ebola…Now a Global Crisis

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Gabriella West

I’ve been following the course of the Ebola outbreak with increasing dread. The Ebola virus was discovered in 1976 but never spread outside remote African villages till the latest outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, where the disease is … Continue reading →

Posted in Health, Personal | Tagged cdc, ebola, ebola virus, global crisis, medicins sans frontieres, outbreak, teresa ramos, Thomas Duncan | Leave a comment

Singing a Happy iTune

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Gabriella West

Technology is a funny thing. I’ve always been one to be way behind the curve, and although I have always used Macs at home for working and writing, they are never the fresh and new models but reliable old workhorses. … Continue reading →

Posted in LGBT, Personal, Self-publishing, Writing | Tagged Apple, bisexual, Dorothy Richardson, Free, iOS 8, It's Not You It's Me, iTunes, Kindle, lesbian studies, memoir, queer, Smashwords, Steve Jobs | Leave a comment

Now on Pre-order: It’s Not You, It’s Me

Posted on September 14, 2014 by Gabriella West

Just a note to say that my 14,000 -word memoir, “It’s Not You, It’s Me,” is on pre-order right now at Amazon and will be released September 21! I wrote this memoir about two years after a devastating breakup with … Continue reading →

Posted in LGBT, Personal, Self-publishing, Writing | Tagged Amazon, breakups, Ireland, It's Not You It's Me, lesbian relationships, memoir, preorder, queer community, relationships, San Francisco | Leave a comment

The quality of our lives has an interesting rhythm. We strive to make our lives better, lighter, and then at certain times we feel haunted and pulled down by darkness. Certainly the horribly untimely death of Philip Seymour Hoffman this … Continue reading →

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Gabriella West | 1 Comment

Blossoms in January

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Gabriella West

I love seeing flowering fruit trees every January; seems like it happens here ridiculously early, and I’m always surprised. But we are officially in a drought in California. We’ve had no rain here at all for months. The governor has … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal, San Francisco, Writing | Tagged California, cherry blossoms, climate change, drought, fear, gratitude, IndieLesfic.com, January, lesbian authors, Mark Morford, Sapphica Books, spring, winter | Leave a comment

…and Happy New Year 2014

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Gabriella West

Twenty-fourteen has started with a nice little burst of energy. I got the flu in late December (it may very well have been swine flu, since H1N1 is a predominant strain this year) and was knocked flat on my back … Continue reading →

Posted in Health, Personal, Reviews, Writing | Tagged 2014, Covered California, Downton Abbey, Edward Snowden, flu, Google Doodle, H1N1, NetGalley, New Year, Pope Francis, the captain and claire, Year of the Horse | Leave a comment

Ah, Christmas. A woman called @KerriFar posted this pic on Twitter. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? (I hope she doesn’t mind me using it.) I’m sure I will be back with a newsy and books-y post around the New Year (when … Continue reading →

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Gabriella West | Leave a comment

Fukushima: Pacific Ocean poisoned, millions at risk!

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Gabriella West

Fukushima: Pacific Ocean poisoned, millions at risk!. An important issue, which I decided to reblog. Click the above link for more info… And here’s an excellent article from the Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/09/fukushima-fallout-threatens-fishermens-livelihoods It reminds me of the Chernobyl disaster, which happened … Continue reading →

Posted in Health, Personal | Tagged cancer, Chernobyl, Fukushima, nuclear power, radioactivity | 1 Comment

Connecting the Dots: My Midlife Journey with Adult AD/HD Is Published on Kindle

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Gabriella West

Two anniversaries slipped by recently. One was the two-anniversary of publishing my novel The Leaving on Smashwords (May 30, 2011). It was my first step into self-publishing and I had no idea then that I would end up publishing so … Continue reading →