Maybe There Will Be Cupcakes

Ginny Bartolone's Blog of Many Years

Author: ginnybartolone

  • 5. Dear Pilgrim: On Navarra Through Burgos

    5. Dear Pilgrim: On Navarra Through Burgos

    You’ve made it past the Pyrenees; past the anticipation of the first steps. Ahead of you sit the Basque hills of Navarra and the fertile vineyards of La Rioja.

  • 4. Dear Pilgrim: On Finding Your Way Back

    4. Dear Pilgrim: On Finding Your Way Back

    To read more context for the letter below, check out this post here:) Dear Pilgrim, Logistics can be a comfortable hiding spot: how to get to the airport, how to pack, and how much money to budget. Off the Camino, it’s easy to lose yourself in the safety of planning. Disney lovers, cruise-takers, and big-city tourists…

  • 3. Dear Pilgrim: On the Pyrenees

    3. Dear Pilgrim: On the Pyrenees

    There is an invisible threshold between a challenge and a terrible idea. Before crossing the Pyrenees, be honest with yourself about the whereabouts of that line.

  • 2. Dear Pilgrim: On Wild Boars & Other Dangers

    2. Dear Pilgrim: On Wild Boars & Other Dangers

    I’m fascinated by the brand of terror that engulfs people when I tell them about the Camino de Santiago.

  • 1. Dear Pilgrim: On Identity

    1. Dear Pilgrim: On Identity

    There is a footpath that slips its way through the Pyrenees, tiptoeing over the line where we stop calling it France and start calling it Spain.

  • An Inevitable Turn Toward Craft: The Antidote for AI

    An Inevitable Turn Toward Craft: The Antidote for AI

    There’s a mental game I like to play when I’m out with friends. How many minutes will it take for ChatGPT to slip into the conversation? I’m not immune to the rage and anxiety that comes with AI showing up uninvited to the party—not to mention nearly every commercial during the Olympics—and nor should I…

  • Before This All Happened

    Before This All Happened

    Content warning: This post includes talk of cancer and my mom’s very rough hospital stay. Before this all happened, I won a trip to Finland. I was standing in the living room when I swiped down on my phone’s email app and the subject “Helsinki Happiness Hacks Awaits!” appeared on my screen. The contest I’d…

  • The First Connection

    The First Connection

    Two Septembers ago, my husband and I sat at a long wooden table built for 12 in a hostel in the middle of Spain. There were only four of us at dinner that night–Ben and I, the owner of the hostel, and a man from Denmark who was volunteering there for the year. The pandemic…

  • And Hey, the World Still Spins

    And Hey, the World Still Spins

    I find it hard to believe that not all writers are secret catastrophists. I can’t be the only one who fears that the misused words and typos will come banging on my apartment door to haunt me like Jacob Marley. I’ve spent the past week throwing my causal daily dose of anxiety toward the upcoming…

  • Losing Sleep Over It

    Losing Sleep Over It

    An early draft of my memoir manuscript started with the sentence, “I come from a long line of women who don’t sleep.” It then stretched back to the prophetic dreams of my great-grandmother, my grandma sitting up all hours of the night, my mom feeding the cats at 2 AM, and eventually to my sister…