“AMO” means “I love” in Latin. It also happens to be the initials of my name, Angelika M. Offenwanger, which is why I took to using it as my internet handle around various places. Amo Vitam – I love life – is a statement of purpose. I do love life, quite a lot, even though sometimes I forget it in the midst of the heaviness which just being alive on this earth can engender. Life’s a funny old thing – there’s so much to laugh at, to cry about, to muse on, and to just enjoy.
In my off-screen life, I live in small-town Western Canada with my husband, daughter, three sons, two cats, a large number of dust bunnies, and of course my stuffed bear, Steve. I’ve been a nanny, a librarian, a homeschooler, a student, a soap maker, a painter, a potter, an editor, and of course the general-dog’s-body-chief-cook-and-bottle-washer that being a mom & homemaker entails (with the latter being the best, worst, most exhausting and most rewarding of all the roles I’ve fulfilled in my life). In between all of that, I got myself a couple of university degrees by distance ed, and in the process learned how to write.
And that’s what I’m doing now – writing. Blog posts, e-mails, short stories, the very occasional piece of poetry, and novels. I’ve been a voracious reader from the day I was six years old and first picked up Little Lord Fauntleroy, but I never thought I could be a writer myself, until the day in November 2011 when I sat down and typed out: “It was the blue pottery bowl that started it all.” Thirty days later, I had written a book, and to my great astonishment, not only did I like it, other people liked it too. It’s called Seventh Son. So it really was the blue bowl that started it all.
Hi Amo, I enjoyed reading about you and your new book! Very inspiring and encouraging! And to think that you have written in a language other than your mother tongue is amazing! The only thing I missed is that you didn’t write anything about your German heritage. You don’t need to be proud of being German, but it does say a lot about who you are. I would be interested if you would write a blog about what it means to you to be a German in Canada … Looking forward to reading “Seventh Son” — Heide (Mechthild’s class sister.)
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Hallo Heide, lovely to hear from you! And thank you so much for your comment.
As for the issue of my German heritage, I’ve written about that off and on in my old blog, for example here: http://amo1967.blogspot.ca/2010/11/poppy-conflict.html, and here: http://amo1967.blogspot.ca/2014/01/understood-by-book.html.
I’d say the reason I don’t specifically mention it here on my “about” page is that it’s so intrinsically a part of me, I don’t think to mention it!
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What a lovely start indeed. So glad to have ‘met’ you when you popped by after Desi reblogged me. I look forward to reading much more of your work, going forward.
Cheers,
Kathryn
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So lovely of you to stop by! And yes, it’s great ‘meeting’ here, isn’t it? Looking forward to reading more of yours, too!
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Hey there, friend! I just wanted to let you know that I nominated you for a writing challenge. I thought you might find it fun.
http://katemcolby.com/2015/06/11/allergic-to-e-challenge/
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Hello there amp! I nominated you for a writing challenge, it seems that both kate and I had the same idea….http://zachchop.com/2015/06/11/allergic-to-e-challenge/
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Hi amo, I wanted to let you know that I nominated you for the Post A Quote Challenge. http://zachchop.com/2015/06/29/post-a-quote-challenge-day-2/
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So what a delightful surprise is was to find out one of my lovely patrons is an author! I had no idea! I am going to request them.
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