News release:
Wandering
Writer
58 year old Andrea Reynolds sold her condo and gave away
most of her furniture to take up residence in her 6 year
old cargo van with her 12 year old, white cat, Casper. Her
van is primitively equipped with a desk, camp stove, tents,
adult commode, bicycle, battery operated lamps, small
fridge, laptop, copier, printer, TV, cell phone, windup
radio, hammock, sleeping bags, clothes washer, and a
library of books. Received mostly from Freecyclers and yard
sales, they are all she needs to work across America. As
she slowly makes her way across and around North America,
keeping a log of her experiences and observations for a
future book project.
The term for people who choose to live in their vans
full-time - even when they can afford not to - is Van
Dwellers. They make their 30-40 square foot homes-on-wheels
quite livable with enough space to sleep, cook, eat, bathe,
work and relax. Many hold full-time jobs, but have no
mortgage or rent payments, so they live below their means
and put away money for their "retirement". Many feel they
are already retired - from the rat race - because they are
free to travel, free from accommodation expense, and able
to work when they want, at work they are skilled at or
enjoy doing. They earn money and save for the future.
Reynolds, a former freelance broadcaster with a degree in
home economics and marketing and communication (Kent
State), also hopes to appear on talk radio as she meanders
for the next few years, raising awareness of the "hidden
homeless". She wants to demonstrate that healthy, educated,
professional people can become homeless because of
circumstances that have nothing to do with chemical
addictions or mental illness. She is not unhappy about her
newly acquired social status or lifestyle... in fact, she
advocates simplicity and relishes the idea of freedom from
cavalier condominium board members and chauvinistic
property managers. It was the decision of the latter that
she be forbidden to use one of her bedrooms as an office
where she quietly and discreetly wrote books and web sites
for people she never met face-to-face.
Reynolds is open
to invitations to give lectures and seminars at
conferences, conventions and colleges; and, as a former bed
and breakfast business owner, she would love to fill in for
vacationing B & B hosts, which will not only give her a
temporary home where she can write and meet new people -
especially other writers, but help couples keep their
businesses running in their absence.
She calculates it will take her 7 years - to age 66 - as an
itinerant writer working every day to earn enough income to
get out of debt, generate enough savings to be able to
retire and live comfortably off the interest. When she
dies, the principal will become a foundation providing
scholarships to train future home economists who
write.
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For Interviews: Contact Andrea Reynolds by Email
