Bridging The Gap | Meet Author & Writing Coach Angelique L'Amour

I am honored to be a part of an awesome campaign called Bridging The Gap: a social media movement to create social change. Today on October 17th, 2017, 200 Influencers have stepped up to take part in an unprecedented campaign for social change. Age truly is just a number and in being a part of this campaign, I came together with other "midlife" women and "millennial" women to shift the perception of labeling and stereotyping when it comes to age!  This fall’s campaign unites the Millennial and Midlife Demographics to blur artificial boundaries while encouraging Reciprocal Mentorship.

Every woman at midlife carries a "Millennial" inside of her and every "Millennial" carries a future "Midlifer" inside of her. When we bond through our stories, we have the ability to get out of our heads where judgments occur, and connect through our hearts, where bonds take place. The most important part of the campaign is social service and improving women's visibility across all ages.

Through my involvement in the campaign, I got paired up with an incredibly lovely and talented woman named Angelique L'Amour. Sound familiar? Her father was the famous novelist Louis L'Amour! But that's not the only impressive fact about her - she is quite a force to be reckoned with,  juggling many roles as a storyteller and writing expert. She is even a cancer survivor. Talk about LADY BOSS! Currently, she is a fiction writer, and is also a fiction writing coach and teacher. In recent years, she published her book Chemo, Cupcakes and Carpools: How to Go Through Life Through Chemo with Your Family, Your Marriage and Your Sanity In Tact. To put it simply, Angelique is not only ridiculously intelligent, creative and talented but has shown true strength during some of the hardest times of her life. 

 We actually met in person and got to know each other over some delicious avocado toast and chia seed pudding at a local Le Pain Quotidien in Brentwood, Los Angeles. Our mid-week brunch was certainly TGB approved!

I was so excited to get to know Angelique and find out more about her story. She has been a writer since as long as she could remember, growing up with a passion for creative writing that started in school in addition to having a famous writer as a father. For her, fiction writing is simply her thing. She loves telling stories and creating worlds. She makes it look easy! 

Amidst being diagnosed with cancer a few years back, she decided to develop a creative writing program at her daughter's school. It was her saving grace - she taught through her surgery, chemo and everything that came along with her cancer diagnosis. Her goal amongst her teaching students is to enhance their writing.

So how did she end up in the blogging world? She wanted to help others. She became tired of redundantly writing the same emails over and over again to friends and to newly diagnosed cancer patients. Her blog would be a one stop shop. It's then that she drew inspiration to write Chemo, Cupcakes and Carpools. Her blog continues today to be a source to educate writers.

I was very curious when I met Angelique about how she continues to stay focused. Not only through her life hardships, but just with writing in general. I feel like sometimes I hit a wall or I lack creative inspiration. I am a creative writer, but I haven't come up with my own fictional story since my days in middle school! I was so intrigued by how she does what she does. I asked her what she does when she gets "writer's block." To my surprise, she said something that really stuck with me. There's no such thing as writer's block. People who think they have writer's block are lazy or have too much time on their hands. I was puzzled at first, but she explained and she couldn't be more right. When she doesn't know what to write about, she simply just writes. She could write about a random object, a room she's in, or how she's feeling. All of a sudden, it becomes something. 

She told me this and it reminded me of all the times I was in school and I was instructed by my teacher to write about anything for 30 minutes. I'd get anxious for the first 2 minutes, and by the time I had reached 30 minutes, I had 2 full pages worth of writing down. She was totally right. How could I have possibly forgotten this?

Angelique gave me the confidence an reassurance that you really can't ever run out of creativity or ideas. It's something I fear at times, but being able to speak so in depth with someone whose world is writing - who has gone through so much and had all the opportunities (and valid reasons) to "have writer's block" yet, those words don't exist in her book. 

Angelique is one of the most passionate people I have ever met in my life. She is so immersed and knowledgable in what she does, and doesn't let life get in the way of what she feels is her calling. She actually has the best job in the world - to create stories without limitations, teach and coach the writers that look up to her.

Another fun fact about Angelique? She used to work in event production, like me! It was cool to be able to talk to her about all that she had done. It's often hard for me to explain to people the intricate, very involved, time consuming and round the clock job it is to produce events, specifically charity events! She just got it.

Although we met for a brief period, Angelique and I just clicked and could relate to each other on many different levels. It's hard to believe I would have probably never crossed paths with Angelique, learned about her story or even gained this invaluable advice from someone if it had not been for this Bridging The Gap campaign. Sure, Angelique and I have some years between us but that didn't stop us from having a conversation and learning from one another. I think it is so important to be able to look past age and open ourselves up to making genuine connections with human beings, despite age differences among many others.

It's crazy to think how many people we could be getting along with, forming connections with and learning from if we looked past all the superficial stuff. We truly are #STRONGERTOGETHER and if it is one thing you take away from this post, it is to try to make an effort to give people a chance and simply listen. Imagine the wealth of knowledge and power we could all gain if there were no boundaries, limitations or judgements. Open yourself up and I am sure you'll find yourself with a "number" of opportunities to Bridge The Gap in your own life.

Big thank you to Angelique for teaching me something that I needed to hear and for listening to my own story. Cheers, to a new friendship!

Be sure to follow Angelique on Facebook, Instagram and visit her website!