KAT VANCIL THE STORYTELLER'S SAGA QUEST 101 Just after the pandemic, I was with a bunch of my dance classmates at a farewell dinner for a friend. We’d all had a great meal and were waiting to pay when one of them bemoaned 😭 “Ugh. I should have asked for his number.” “Whose number?” I asked. “The server.” “Which one? I can go ask for you,” I offered. You see, I’m already married and have zero ability to feel shame. She perked right up. “The hot one.” I looked around the burger restaurant...
2 days ago • 4 min read
KAT VANCIL THE STORYTELLER'S SAGA QUEST 100 Well hello there, Reader! Last week, my husband baked a sheet of brownies for himself to use as rewards while redoing our downstairs bathroom. 🚽 It was a large task—the whole half-bath needed to be gutted right down to the cement foundation. But by breaking it up into small tasks (with a brownie reward), it’s something he can accomplish mostly on his own. Where’d he get the idea to do such a thing? Some self-help guru? A YouTuber? A genius...
14 days ago • 2 min read
KAT VANCIL THE STORYTELLER'S SAGA QUEST 99 My last month has been a series of hotel rooms, hospitals, and airports between all my family members’ ill health, Reader. And on a recent adventure in Portland, we got stuck in traffic because of… The Cinco de Mayo festival (sponsored by Toyota!🛻). Protesters on the overpass. Then, well, who knows 🤷🏻♀️ the roads in Portland are like spaghetti 🍝 and we weren’t the only ones that seemed to be lost. But I really didn’t mind because one of my favorite...
28 days ago • 4 min read
KAT VANCIL THE STORYTELLER'S SAGA QUEST 98 Well hello there, Reader! Yes, it’s me, your friendly neighborhood storytelling Kat. Back in your inbox 📥 with more helpful advice 😸 Amidst all the chaos of mass protests and the dumbest president in history tariffing penguins 🐧 maybe you heard the other, other news this past month. You know, about National Novel Writing Month (and all of its companion challenges) being dead. Like super dead. 😵☠️🪦 If you read my post last fall, literally no one is...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
KAT VANCIL THE STORYTELLER'S SAGA QUEST 97 If you’ve ever been to the SF Bay Area, Reader, you know we have this thing called False Summer in March and April. The temp jumps up to the mid-80s, and we all have to break out the tank tops and fans for a few days. All of mine are generally from the Men's section of Target (or were). Mainly because they’re long and go up to my collar bone. And now that I think about it, they sorta remind me of the very first “big girl” swimsuit I ever had when I...
3 months ago • 4 min read
KAT VANCIL THE STORYTELLER'S SAGA QUEST 96 Beautiful and graceful-limbed dancers balancing on the point of a toe as they spin in feathered, moon-pale costumes. Timeless and tragically evocative music you’ve definitely heard in a commercial or two. A maiden transformed into a bird by a dastardly sorcerer. An enchantment that can only be broken by an oath sworn by one who has never loved before. I’m of course talking about Swan Lake, 🦢 my second favorite ballet. My first, of course, being The...
3 months ago • 4 min read
KAT VANCIL THE STORYTELLER'S SAGA QUEST 95 Well hello there, Reader! After returning home from our nieces’ 5th birthday this past weekend, me and my husband were flipping through the streaming networks looking for a movie to watch. Crime Dramas... Chinese TV SciFi & Fantasy… Epic Worlds… Period Dramas… Strong Female Characters… What’s this…? Among the various shows and movies you’d expect to see was Damsel (2024). And if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s well worth the watch. Damsel’s plot is...
3 months ago • 4 min read
KAT VANCIL THE STORYTELLER'S SAGA QUEST 94 Well hello there, Reader, Do you ever get to the end of the week and you’re just tired? So tired that all your bright and shiny plans for Sunday just go right out the window? So tired that you can’t even bring yourself to change out of your PJs despite the fact it’s long past noon? I was that kind of tired this past Sunday, Reader. It probably didn’t help that I was woken up way too early by our neighbor’s “valiant” attempt to train their dogs not to...
3 months ago • 2 min read
KAT VANCIL THE STORYTELLER'S SAGA QUEST 93 Well hello there, Reader! A few weeks back I saw a post on Reddit where a guy asked: “AITA for making fun of my girlfriend for writing Fanfiction and claiming it’s actual writing?” He seemed to think he wasn’t (the asshole). Oh boy, did the community have news for him. 😬 Now this dude is far from the only one out there who thinks this way, but he couldn’t be more wrong. And I’ll prove it with 5 ways that writing fanfic not only makes you a better...
4 months ago • 4 min read
KAT VANCIL THE STORYTELLER'S SAGA QUEST 92 Well hello there, Reader! It’s that special 💝 filled day, you know the one. I’m talking about Valentine’s Day. And in the week leading up to the day of love, sales of chocolates and flowers have been massive. But what about… Books? Yep, you heard me correctly. Over 2.2 billion books are sold each year worldwide. And of those billions, 25% were Romance books. That number jumps to 40% if you’re just counting books within genre fiction. Crazy right? 🙀...
4 months ago • 4 min read