Jean Hastings Ardell
Author ~ Editor ~ Speaker ~ Researcher ~Teacher
I became a full-time freelance writer because I kept encountering stories that demanded to be told, stories of place, events, and people. Ever since I’ve been publishing stories and working as an editor and teacher with others who seek to write their stories.
The profile has become a favorite form of writing: I’ve published pieces on authors Geoffrey Wolff and Dean Koontz (the Orange County Press Club’s Best Profile of 1994), Jack Peltason, president of the University of California, and artist Alexandra Nechita. At times a particular issue compels me: I’ve published features on the health hazards of electro-magnetic fields, domestic violence, charity telemarketing, and the Orange County (California) Republican Party. Recent profiles include Mr. October, Reggie Jackson www.newportbeachmag.com and Laguna’s Scribe of Summer, baseball author Arnold Hano www.lagunabeachmag.com.
Whenever I discover a place of interest, I like to share the news. My published travel articles include self-guided boat trip up England’s Thames River, a reprise on the 100th anniversary of one of my favorite books, Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat; the Wine Country of Santa Barbara County, published a decade before the appearance of the film Sideways; and the rekindling of a family tradition with my son and his wife on a camping trip to Mineral King, California. Food goes along with travel, and I’ve written about my encounter with the green chiles of New Mexico, dining out along San Francisco’s cable car routes, and the foolishness of trying to stick to a diet in France (lost weight anyway.) For more on the subject, please click on Travel: Leaving Home.
Speaking of travel, each March we head to Arizona for a collegial gathering of baseball historians, authors, and fans. To learn more, please click on the Nine Spring Training Conference.
For more on the subject of baseball, please click on About Baseball -- and to learn more about the book I wrote about women and game, please click on Breaking into Baseball.
949.294.3185
Coming Up
Writing the Truth of Our Lives:
A Short Course in Memoir
February 7 - March 13, 2012
Tuesdays at 6:30 P.M.
Newport Beach Public Library
~~~
Ongoing: Editing services and memoir coaching
~~~
19th Annual Nine Spring Training Conference on Baseball History and Culture
Rob Fitts, Keynote
Ila Borders, Lead-off
March 7-10, 2012
Fiesta Resort Conference Center
Tempe, Arizona
Co-Chair
~~~
May 2012
Latino Baseball History Project
Cal State San Bernardino
Moderator
Panel Discussion
Latinas and Baseball
~~~
Pitching Against the Grain:
My Life in Baseball
by
Ila Jane Borders
With Jean Hastings Ardell
Forthcoming
