News & Blog

FRIDAY HOUSEKEEPING! Dear Ones – We get a lot of new people joining this Faceb…

Sep 12, 2014

FRIDAY HOUSEKEEPING!

Dear Ones –

We get a lot of new people joining this Facebook page every day (thank you for joining our little community, new folks!) so once a week, I try to give everyone all the information they might want, about other places on the Internet to find me.

So let’s run down the list:

My website is https://ift.tt/sUqSyM. There, you can find information on all my upcoming events, see videos, read my thoughts on the writing process, and download book club guides to my books!

I have an email newsletter (where I always reveal my big news first, and sometimes run contests, when I remember to.) You can join the newsletter by clicking the icon on the left of this page called "LizNews" and signing up. (You can also sign up for LizNews on the homepage of my website.)

You can follow me on Twitter, where I basically just goof off, at: @GilbertLiz

You can follow me on Instagram (which I just started because some 14-year-olds told me to) at: Elizabeth_Gilbert_Writer

You can follow me on Pinterest (that addictive crack house, whose vortex I try not to tumble down too often because it’s a gorgeous suckhole) at: lizgilbertpins

And if you EVER want to buy to buy signed copies of ANY of my books, you can buy them online through the shop, Two Buttons, that I run in New Jersey with my husband (otherwise known as “that Brazilian guy”.) The link is right here: https://ift.tt/1pfR7PX

That is all, my dears!

(And yes, in all these various social media forums, it is actually ME doing the posting, the chatting, the responding, the pinning, the time-wasting. I like it. It’s fun. I like hanging out with you guys. I’m glad you like hanging out with me. Also, I have no children and my husband cooks, so I have plenty of extra time on my hands…)

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Thanks for everything!

ONWARD,
LG

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

Dear Ones – I’ve been searching all day for the right thing to say on September…

Sep 11, 2014

Dear Ones –

I've been searching all day for the right thing to say on September 11th.

I was in New York City that day. I slept and then meditated through the attack. When I finally got my morning started and turned my phone back on, I had two dozen messages. It had all already happened.

Wanting to help, I immediately went to a hospital and tried to donate blood, and was turned way because there were too many of us who wanted to donate, and not enough need. An ambulance driver outside the hospital told me, "There aren't many injuries. Nearly everyone who was there died."

In the years since, the world has changed — and it has not yet unchanged. There has been no end to war. There has been no end to fear. I have many feelings about this endless state of war, and the results of all the fear, but today is not the day to share those feelings.

Instead, my thoughts today turn to something I overheard in New York in the days after 9/11. There was a lot of anxiety and dread floating about the city, for obvious reasons, but I had one friend who remained resolutely fearless through it all, even when everyone else was having anxiety attacks about getting on the subway, or hoarding canned food, or creating apocalyptic plans for escaping town if necessary.

My resolute friend was talking to one of my most anxious friends, who asked, "How can you be so calm when we could be attacked again at any moment?"

My resolute friend replied, "Because I refuse to lead a panic-driven life, and because we are not under attack right now."

My anxious friend said, "But how will you behave if we DO come under attack?"

And my resolute friend replied calmly: "With dignity, hopefully."

I have never forgotten her words. The world is an uncertain place. We never will see what is coming. Uncertainty is the only rule. Hold onto your dignity, though — no matter what. And within that dignity, safeguard your compassion, your grace, your courage.

Sometimes that's all we have, but it's also the best we have.

All love,
Liz

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

#TBT Today’s throwback: Sweden, 1991. I was 21 years old, and my mother and I…

Sep 11, 2014

#TBT

Today's throwback: Sweden, 1991.

I was 21 years old, and my mother and I decided to spend a few weeks in Sweden, visiting our distant relatives (my mom is an OLSON, after all!) and tracking down our ancestry. But what we were really doing was being together — mom and daughter — for a long, sweet, uninterrupted period of time.

A lot of picnics. A lot of talking. A lot of long drives through beautiful countryside. A lot of moose. A lot of midnight sun.

My mom is still one of my favorite travel companions. She has that perfect balance of being super well organized, while also being willing to throw the plan away on a moment's notice.

Feeling the love,
LG

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall