Hello and Welcome!

 

Welcome to The Gourd & the Quill

I’m Anita Harlan, and I’m so glad you’ve found your way here. Pull up a chair, mind the pumpkins, and make yourself at home.

I was born in California and have lived all over the state, collecting zip codes the way some people collect little trinkets. I like to think of it as method research for storytelling. Every place leaves a mark, every move adds a layer, and all of it eventually finds its way onto the page.

By middle school, I was happily lost in the worlds of science fiction and history. My love of the past was sparked by an eighth-grade history teacher who proved that memorizing dates was fine—but turning them into stories was far better. I later graduated with a degree in the arts, though my true education came from turning homework into short stories (a loophole my teachers may or may not still regret).

Somewhere along the way, someone told me I had no skill. Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on your perspective—I’ve never been very good at listening. I kept writing anyway, and I haven’t stopped since.

These days, I call Minnesota home, where I live with my cat: an opinionated calico roommate who demands snacks even when she isn’t hungry and treats midnight zoomies like a full-time performance career.

Cat tax!

At one point, a reviewer declared that I “write with all the skill of a fermented pumpkin.” Instead of wilting on the vine like they expected, I crowned myself the Pumpkin Queen. Turns out, fermented or not, pumpkins make excellent stories—and I’ve been ruling the patch ever since. After all, why be the Pumpkin Princess when you can rule the whole patch?

Here at The Gourd & the Quill, you’ll find essays, fiction, reflections, and the occasional bit of literary mischief. History, fantasy, survival, sarcasm—it all gets stirred into the pot. I believe stories matter. I believe they’re how we make sense of the world. And I believe they’re best enjoyed with a little humor and a lot of heart.

If you’d like to follow along or say hello elsewhere, you can also find me on Facebook here:
👉 https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005104067398

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you’ll stay awhile—and maybe come back next week. The pumpkins will be waiting. 🎃✒️