My writing projects
As I begin this new chapter as a writer, memoir has become my starting point. My first books grow out of the experiences that reshaped my life, but they are only part of what I hope to create.
I’m currently working on 2.0 You are awesome! and 3.0 You got this!, while also developing other writing projects that continue to explore identity, change, relationships, and the unexpected directions life can take.
This page is where those projects will grow with me.
2.0 You are awesome!
This is not a story about coming out, although so many people want it to be. My story is about how my life changed quickly and unexpectedly and how I navigated through it. I arrived in Atlanta with a husband, seven dogs, no tattoos, and an absolute disgust for beer. After just a couple of years, I was in a relationship with a woman, had a cat, several tattoos, and a love for a cold wheat ale. I had a new job that afforded me unique opportunities and created a new lifestyle expectation. I leaned into a life that made me rethink who I am and what I want from this one life.
Although my sexuality is a huge part of this story, and one that I don’t mind addressing in detail, my life is so much more than just a story about two women who fell in love. My evolution involves my whole self. At age 41, I took a leap of faith without knowing what was ahead. I was optimistic, excited, and all in for this life-altering decision. And no matter how much I dreamed about my new life, I never could have expected all that would come my way.
Of the mottos I’ve carried with me, one has guided me most: I only regret the things I don’t do. So much so that I had it permanently inked on the inside of my upper right arm in German: Ich bereue nur das, was ich nicht tue. It reminds me not to stand in my own way, not to let fear or doubt keep me from saying yes.
This book is about the consequences of saying yes — the opportunities seized, the risks taken, the mistakes made, and the reinventions that followed. It’s about transformation in all its forms, and what it means to build “Jennifer 2.0."
Risking it all
When I left Indiana for Atlanta, Georgia, I wanted to see big changes in my life. I wanted a better job and a more fulfilling existence. I certainly got that but not with the person I planned it all with, and the path to get there was certainly full of challenges, revelations, and moments of unknown strength.
2.0 You are awesome! explores themes of love, sexuality, grief, resilience, self-worth, and hope.
3.0 You got this!
Just months before my fiftieth birthday, the life I had built in Atlanta collapsed. My partner’s betrayal left me reeling, and the work I once believed in had become toxic beyond repair. Suddenly, I was single, unemployed, and terrified, staring down a blank page I had never planned to write.
Anxiety took hold. Depression followed. For months, it was the people who refused to let me disappear, my friends, my therapists, and one dear family member, who kept pulling me back toward the light. I thought I had already hit bottom and that eventually I would begin to rise. Instead, I kept falling. Self-harm, suicidal ideation, and a visit to a psychiatric ward followed.
Starting over at forty-nine was not just about finding a new job or a new partner. It was about learning how to exist again. Who was I? What did I want? I had to rebuild my confidence, my independence, my identity, my sense of purpose, and my ability to trust myself. Nothing felt real or familiar. Pain and loneliness consumed me even when I was surrounded by people who loved me.
Even dating became an education. For the first time, I was learning how to meet people in a world of apps and algorithms and, even more bravely, how to actively pursue relationships with women. Every step took me back to the confusion and uncertainty of adolescence.
Thankfully, I also found women who helped me navigate that unfamiliar terrain. They became beautiful, unique, and deeply supportive friendships, my unofficial spiritual lesbian advisors, offering humor, perspective, encouragement, and the occasional reality check as I tried to figure out this new version of my life.
3.0 You got this! is the story of finding my footing in the unknown and discovering that rebuilding is not just about survival. It can also be transformation.
The new me
At forty-nine, everything I thought I had finally figured out began to unravel. The relationship. The career. The confidence. Gone.
3.0 You got this! is a candid and deeply human story about starting over when you thought you were done starting over. With humor, heartbreak, and hope, I explore what it means to rebuild a life from crumbs. I learned how to be alone, how to listen to myself again, and how to believe that even the darkest and most painful endings can still lead to something beautiful.
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