Riva Augustine

My strongest natural tendency, to find errors in written materials, has led to a career as a proofreader. While I do find great satisfaction in this pursuit, my creative side languishes and whines about having no outlet for expression.
So, to stop the complaints, I plan to create a forum where I have to write and interact relentlessly, and maybe the whiney-butt in my head will finally shut up.
I would also like to see if I have sufficient thoughts to put together a book or three. There are some large wagers that I will fail; I suspect the oddsmakers, were they to evaluate my situation, would give good odds against. And I'm just enough of a contrarian to find that to be a reason to do it.
In addition to my strange psychological compulsions, I have a baccalaureate degree in Sociology & Disaster Management, which has led me to the field of Disaster Response Chaplaincy, and I pursue a number of hobbies more interesting than I am.
I make natural perfumes; I love to cook, especially with my children Brynden and Barrett; I fence (with épée and mask); facet gemstones and make custom jewelry; sing opera and jazz - on a purely amateur basis; learn languages but not enough actually to use them; and, read incessantly on my favorite topics ranging from anthropology, sociology, social psychology, neurolinguistic psychology, and language learning, to gemology, essential oils, complex systems theory, meteorology, perfumery, the state of the global economy, and the latest trends among professional chefs.
I am a charter member of the Professional Writers Alliance, and a member of the Association of Strategic Marketing. I am also inexplicably the branch manager of the Fargo-Moorhead Gluten Intolerance Group.
I truly love writing about cooking, food/beverages, and restaurants, about wines and spirits, about hygge and lagom and the French sensibility about food, about living a low-carb, grain-free lifestyle, and also about jewelry and gemstones, and perfumes and the art of natural perfumery.
I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and currently live in Fargo, North Dakota. I don't love the weather here, so I'm considering moving to Moorhead, Minnesota.