Hello, readers.

Nell here. How did I get here? Your guess is as good as mine. I come to you via Michigan, Madrid, Istanbul, Florida, Mumbai, Brooklyn and a few other places I have now forgotten due to age. According to the GPS indicator on my cell phone and the large number of people around me in the coffee shop sporting down vests in combination with shorts and flip flops, I currently live in southern California.

Before trying my hand at blogging, I was at one time or another a camera assistant, a paralegal, a waitress, a vagabond volunteering in India, an au pair, and an executive assistant to a mediocre stock trader — in other words, "a writer." My poor mother still has no idea how to tell anyone what I do in her annual Christmas letter to the relatives.

Anyhow, enough with the niceties. I'm looking forward to your feedback on my audition in the comments.