Gingerheart

Susan Anderson

Susan McFee Anderson is a Whistler-based writer. She has lived more than a few lives: as a rock and roll radio broadcaster, a television news anchor, an international award-winning corporate video producer, real estate investor, clothing shop clerk, fish gutter, weather girl, college teacher and property manager. She’s been single, married and divorced.

No surprise, then, that she writes for women who’ve checked off Partner, Kids, Home and Career on their life’s to-do list – only to find the list has a mind of its own.

Susan is passionate about her two sons, extended family and her friendships, some of which are more than forty-years strong. She loves to golf, hike and cross country ski. She swears in the mind, body and spirit-altering benefits of Pilates.

Although she recently de-cluttered her life she is pathologically addicted to bargain hunting. She can’t help it. In fact, Susan delights in paradox and that is why she chose the website name Gingerheart. Ginger is good for the heart. It calms but it also stimulates. In that contradiction – ginger as both chill pill and aphrodisiac – she sees the marrow of life.

You are invited to join Susan as she works on her current project Bounce Off the Rocks which asks the question: What do you do when your life is suddenly a blank slate? When life takes a 180-degree turn it helps to know you are not alone; in other people’s stories we can find inspiration for ourselves. Have you been through a major life crisis? Are you going through one now? Susan would like to hear from you. Check out her July 2010 blog for more details.

Gingerheart was launched in October 2008. At the beginning of every month, Susan details her torturous and exhilarating path toward publication. Each blog is intended to offer inspiration and information to those who love to read and write – and who just might share the same dream. Thank you for stopping by.

Contact: susan@gingerheart.com

July 21st, 2011

 Visit Susan’s WordPress Blog (2013 onward):

 

And now I can say I’ve made the journey around the world. The long story – complete with pictures – can be found in my online diary. (Click here: Facebook, Bounce Off the Rocks). The short story is: 102 days, ten countries, five continents, two emergency trips to hospital and one heart overflowing with gratitude for the hundreds of people I met along the way.

 

Upon my return home I completed the revision of my non-fiction manuscript Bounce Off the Rocks: Tell Your Story and Thrive After Crisis.

 

Last year I interviewed seventy people about how they coped after a major life crisis. Their stories – raw, flawed and brilliant – taught me what it really means to be human.

 

Bounce Off the Rocks: Tell Your Story and Thrive After Crisis invites readers to:
• listen to those stories
• look at their own coping styles
• tell their crisis stories – and thrive

 

In late 2009 I found myself starting over in a new town after a crisis of my own. I turned to others for insight. Unexpectedly, the interview itself became the centrepiece. People reported a sense of wholeness, forgiveness or accomplishment after telling their stories.

 

Bounce Off the Rocks eliminates blame, elevates the art of listening and encourages a return to what Maslow called, simply, becoming “a happy human being.” Between each chapter is a page or two about my crisis. Click here to read an excerpt from the manuscript, a memorable moment I experienced in Australia.