DEBUT ANTHOLOGY - COMING 2026
NOMADIC WOMEN:
Tales of Triumph on the
Open Road
Curated by Trish Tassin
Nomadic Women: Tales of Triumph on the Open Road begins when a familiar life no longer fits—after loss, upheaval, heartbreak, or simply the quiet certainty that there must be something more.
Trish Tassin (center) with contributors Aerin Moon (left) and Tyler Dawn (right)
In 30 deeply personal stories, women step into the unknown and discover who they are capable of becoming.
Some are brought to a crossroads by illness, divorce, grief, or financial collapse. Others are drawn toward a life that offers more freedom, possibility, or room to become themselves. Their stories are different, but together they reveal the same hard-won truth: a life can be remade.
The road is only the setting. The real story is about transformation, reinvention, and the courage to begin again. It is about women who embraced the unknown, redefined success on their own terms, and discovered who they were capable of becoming.
Whether you are navigating loss, seeking a fresh start, or simply wondering if life might hold something more, these unforgettable stories remind us that a life can be remade.
Set to be published in 2026, the anthology will be available for purchase on Amazon, other major online retailers, and at select bookshops.
ISBN: 979-8-9965587-0-4
Format: Paperback & Ebook
“A deeply moving, must-read collection . . . for anyone experiencing an unexpected or long-awaited crossroads in life.”
“As a solo nomadic woman, I found comfort in [this book’s] reminder that freedom comes from letting go, asking for help, and trusting the unknown.”
About Trish Tassin, Curator
After profound grief and divorce turned her life upside down, Trish Tassin did what any reasonable person might do: she bought a used conversion van, named it Louise, and set off across the country alone.
Following a gut feeling that she just needed to go, she hoped the journey would give her the time and solitude she needed to clear her mind and recalibrate. Along the way, she came to know an extraordinary sisterhood of women whose resilience, generosity, and wisdom would forever change her own life.
Inspired by what she learned from them, Trish began collecting their stories.
Today, she is the founder of The 30 Journeys, a storytelling initiative devoted to amplifying nomadic voices and honoring the many ways people reinvent, rebuild, and create lives on their own terms.
Contributors
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Chris Antoinette is a spiritual life coach, educator, and the founder of Shadow Walker Coaching & Tarot. Rooted in Appalachian folk tradition and pagan practice, her work is trauma-informed, practical, and built on lived experience—not abstraction. She is a cancer survivor, a stroke survivor, a domestic violence survivor, and a legally disabled woman who spent years in healthcare, beginning her career as a nursing aide straight out of high school before earning her degree in surgical technology. Surgery gave her the financial independence to leave an unhealthy marriage and the confidence to trust her own voice. She came out publicly as queer in 2021, moved to Arizona, met her partner Terin, and has been on the road with them ever since. Chris is the mother of two, a writer, and a woman who has spent a lifetime learning how to rebuild. She grew up in the Appalachian hills of eastern Kentucky and currently calls the Bay Area home; a place where her queerness is celebrated, not just tolerated. She once dedicated her life to healing people’s bodies. Now she helps heal spirits. Find out more at: shadowwalkercoachingandtarot.com.
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Originally from Washington state, Rachel Fort has been traveling full-time with her husband James and daughter Shelby since 2015, first in a van, then in an RV, and since 2019, in the Resonance bus. Rachel and James facilitate drum circles and provide Sound Immersion Meditations and private Reiki + Sound sessions via their meditative drum and didgeridoo band, Drums Manifest Truth, with three albums available on all major streaming platforms. Find Drums Manifest Truth on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or Patreon at patreon.com/DrumsManifestTruth.
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Tyler Dawn is the owner of a spirituality and wellness business teaching yoga, meditation, and spiritual direction in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She has lived a very colorful and extraordinary life. She has two grown sons. In December of 2024, she sold her possessions and embarked on a one-year solo van journey. Tyler still travels by van today. She is passionate about recovery, health, outdoor adventure, nature, memes, and coffee.
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GoddessMamma is a mother and grandmother, and a gentle feminine guide devoted to the sacred art of a woman returning home to herself. With a nurturing spirit and grounded mystical presence, she weaves together natural and energetic healing practices to support self-worth, confidence, and spiritual awakening. Known by this name within her spiritual community, she is birthing the Magnetic Circle of Goddesses—a sanctuary of remembrance and renewal—where women are invited to soften, rise, and embody their truth with grace and radiant inner power. Find out more at: goddessmamma.com and magneticcircleofgoddesses.com.
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Full-time nomad for four years, Shari Lee Fleming currently lives in a 16-foot Scamp with her dogs Oscar and Dolly. Summers are spent in her home state of Wisconsin and winters in Arizona and California, exploring the desert and the remote wilderness. Shari’s calling is writing about God's beauty and healing, and her first book, The Gypsy Journals, is available on Amazon. Enjoying the outdoors and taking beautiful pictures is her passion, and living a nomadic lifestyle has freed her inner gypsy. You can follow her adventures on her Facebook page, Shari Lee Fleming.
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Kitty Green is a musician, visual artist, and shepherdess turned nomad. She spent a decade tending orphaned lambs on a coastal farm near the Welsh border, and now travels the American West with her dog, Pups. Kitty has performed on stages across the globe and has music available online at kittysmusic.bandcamp.com, plus several releases on streaming services. She also writes praise and worship songs under the name Karizoma. Kitty is writing a children’s book about feathered and four-legged friends, as well as a memoir drawn from her journals. Whether through music, storytelling, or spiritual reflection, Kitty carries gentleness and grit in equal measure. She has YouTube channels at @wanderbago and @kittys-music.
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In 2008, Aravel Forbes traded a middle-class lifestyle for a tent in the woods, working with the land in community. She was determined to reclaim her life from illness and sorrow, whatever it took. This venture went so well that she kept going. Aravel cultivated a nomadic lifestyle that allows her to stay deeply connected with the life of the planet while also staying connected with friends, family, and work. Currently based out of Bellingham, Washington, she lives and travels in her van with her collection of instruments. This is a journey of ongoing personal transformation that has taken her on emergent adventures in phenomenal places around the world, but these days mostly in the western U.S. Her passion is offering sound journeys and exploring deep inquiry with people. Singing and playing gongs, especially on mountains, is her fountain of vitality and love. Find out more at: thinningtheveil.info.
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Sara Greene is a professional photographer who left corporate life in search of something more expansive: freedom, connection, and truth on the open road. Raised in a small town in northern Utah, she moved through the shadows of chronic illness, depression, and anxiety before discovering photography as a powerful pathway to healing and self-love. Today, Sara creates transformative experiences for women, offering a safe and supportive space to soften and embrace their bodies, reconnect with nature, and rediscover their inner power. Her work is rooted in the belief that healing happens when we return to ourselves—fully and unapologetically. Her journey is one of awakening, rewilding, and liberation. Alongside her best friend, Sara co-founded Girls Camp on Wheels, a growing community where solo nomadic women come together to support, uplift, and celebrate one another on the road. Connect: IG: @lostcatwandering | @wild_beauties_boudoir | @girlscamponwheels.
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Kerri Hermary is a free-spirited healer, intuitive guide, and published author. She inspires and uplifts others through the transformative practices of gamma healing and the delivery of channeled messages. Kerri’s life has been a testament to courage, transformation, and unwavering trust in the journey. A survivor of breast cancer and a nomadic adventurer, Kerri transformed her most profound challenges into a powerful journey of self-discovery. She is living proof that healing is possible, intuition is powerful, and your soul was born to be free!
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Halle Homel is a seasonal nomad, writer, and multi-sport adventure guide whose love for wild places runs deep. She works professionally in the world of adventure sports, guiding naturalist hikes, backpacking trips, paddling trips, and teaching rock climbing while aiming to spend as much of her time on and around the glaciers in Alaska as possible. She has a degree in creative writing from the University of California Riverside. Her work also appeared in Blood Sweat Tears, an anthology published in 2024 by Rugged Outdoorswoman Publishing. When she’s not writing or guiding, you can find Halle hiking with her dog Lassen, trad climbing in Red Rock Canyon, paddling her packraft, or exploring deep in the mountains of Alaska.
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April Isaacs is a writer and photographer who has lived solo on the road for many years. She writes the Substack newsletter, The Ecstatic Wanderer, about her solo wanderings around the North American continent in a van called Firefly.
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After an early life filled with loss and trauma, Riz Kuhn married and had two children. Tragically, her son passed from an overdose at age 26, her husband died suddenly, and Riz lost a leg in a motorcycle accident. She put her daughter through college and then decided it was finally her time to seek out some peace and happiness. Riz accomplished this at age 65 with vanlife. Although she lost many things in her life, Riz says she never lost her sense of humor, her sense of survival, or her sense of adventure.
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Colleen Lovelace is a 62-year-young woman, mother of four adult children (Keira, Katie, Kody, and Kesiah), and grandmother to two grandsons (Ethan and Sebastian). She and her animal companion Mo call Arizona home. Colleen has been retired from teaching since 2018. She now spends her time visiting family and friends, participating in the Scottish Highland Games, and seeking new adventures with her sweetheart and best friend.
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Shannon McConnell is a former firefighter and EMT whose path through war zones, cancer recovery, and reinvention has taught her to trust what can’t be seen. After working in Afghanistan and surviving breast cancer, she now lives nomadically, coddiwompling across North America with courage, curiosity, and soul. Her story became her work at redefineyourradiance.com.
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Kim Mi’s life has been shaped by profound challenges and the deep healing that followed each. Her journey through adversity led her toward personal growth, inner strength, and transformation. For much of the past six years she has traveled in Pegasus, her Ford Transit van, alongside her beloved co-pilot Dexxter, a black Lab. Together they have explored all the contiguous states except for Maine (which Dexxter is still lobbying for). Kim Mi is a survivor of both abuse and breast cancer. Her path to healing has included therapy, multiple alternative healing modalities, her deep connections within the nomadic community, the road itself, and most of all, the sacred lands of her beloved desert.
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Aerin Moon is a sparkle-in-the-eyes, 50-something embracing the privilege to change it up, do it anyway, and stop explaining. After decades of duty and overwork, she hit the road with her rescue dog Murphy in search of something wilder, freer, and more true. Now living full-time in her van, Aerin seeks the moments, the smiles, and the giggles, and challenges herself not to waste a single one. She still dreams of finding a van pal or two to CB radio with, much like the Dukes of Hazzard. (Responsibly, of course.)
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Corbett Joan OToole is a white queer disability community elder who influences generations of disabled artists, scholars, and activists through her writing, artwork, mentoring and public speaking. Her groundbreaking book, Fading Scars: My Queer Disability History, became a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Corbett was named a 2022 Disability Futures Fellow. The Oscar-nominated film Crip Camp features her as a disability history expert. She lives full-time in Rolling Joy, her self-designed accessible camper van, traveling across North America as an uninvited settler on the lands of Native peoples. She loves fiercely, laughs loudly, and works tirelessly for the survival of people with disabilities. Her art, writings, and accomplishments are documented at corbettotoole.com.
Photo by Erin Anthony.
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Winter Ross is a writer, artist, ceremonialist, and mental health advocate. Her articles have appeared in Spirituality & Health, Earth First! Journal, Sacred Hoop, and The Journal of Shamanic Practice. She received first-place awards from the New Mexico Press Women’s Association and the National Federation of Press Women. An eco-feminist artist, her artwork resides in private collections and museums.
Photo by Lori Nagel (Sunflower).
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Jessica Rose Palencar is an avid pursuer of open roads, epic views, and all-around fun times. After living as a full-time nomad and traveling in a converted van, she now satisfies her wanderlust through shorter road trips and backcountry escapades. Passionate about the transformative power of nature, she hopes to help others discover what they're capable of when they step beyond their comfort zones. You can follow her adventures on Instagram at @j.rose227.
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Hannah Ruth Price is an octogenarian artist whose artistic career spans 50 years. A poet, author, and vegan animal lover, she has spent the past five years exploring the desert Southwest in her “Traveling Museum of Art.” View Hannah’s artwork on Instagram @kitfox789 and on her website, heartarget.bigcartel.com. Her novel, Flapping My Left Wing, is available on Amazon.
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Jessica Reilly-Chevalier is a writer, cannabis aficionado, and poetry lover. She is the owner of Jessica Reilly, Writer, a copy and content company that provides educational content for cannabis and psychedelic businesses, and the Editor-in-Chief for Fat Nugs Magazine, the premier independent cannabis publication. When she’s not writing, editing, or reading, Jessica can be found hiking in New Mexico with her dog and husband.
Photo by Derrall Peach.
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After a traumatic brain injury changed her life in an instant, Antoinette Santini lost the life she once knew—her health, her marriage, and the stability she had built for years. Forced into uncertainty and solitude, she left behind all that was familiar as she faced unimaginable challenges. In the midst of that pain, she found something greater: God, and a path to living her most authentic life in faith. With the help of kind hearts and unwavering belief, Antoinette was able to transform a used Amazon delivery van into a home and set out on a journey across the country with her loyal dog, Buddy. Through storms, setbacks, quiet moments, and breathtaking beauty, she discovered healing in unexpected places, including in the love of her children, Brooke and Jackson. Her story is a testament that even in our darkest seasons, God is working. There is meaning in the struggle, strength in surrender, and always purpose in the pain. You can see her photography and follow her travels at healingtimes.art.
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Eileen Sendrey is a mother and grandmother who values family and community. Professionally she is a somatic practitioner supporting adults, children, and infants to transform the effects of trauma, especially early in life, into healthier and better connections. Eileen is passionate about divesting from systems run by psychopaths and narcissists, while finding our way individually and collectively to experience more connection, mutual support, living by pro-social values, and freedom. Right now, nomadic living supports her in this way.
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Stormy Shafer is an author, indie publisher, commercial copywriter, freelance journalist, and marketing consultant. She has lived as a full-time nomad since 2018, in a series of travel trailers remodeled to accommodate constant road life, all named Wildheart. In her free time, she likes to draw, paint, carve wood, and metal detect. She teaches most of these activities, both on the road and when she’s stationary, and has written a guidebook, Metal Detecting for Beginners: 101 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started, which held the top-selling slot in three categories on Amazon and is available there. Stormy currently travels with two rescue cats, Mr. Binx and Miss Sparkle, who recently joined her on the road. A diehard weather weenie, Stormy runs the Severe Weather for Nomads Facebook group, and will be publishing a companion book of the same title later in 2026. She speaks at nomadic events and gatherings, and blogs at WildheartWanders. The only thing she regrets about her decision to become a full-time nomad is that she didn’t do it sooner.
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Carrie Silverhorn is a multidisciplinary creator whose work lives at the intersection of art, education, and hands-on problem solving. With a background in graphic design and fine art, her creative lens is deeply informed by her Native and Irish heritage, honoring tradition while embracing modern tools, technology, and storytelling.
After years of rebuilding life the “right” way, Carrie took an unconventional turn, trading square footage for self-sufficiency and becoming a certified RV Technician and Inspector. She is the owner of GSTRV, founder of Silverhorn Designs, and creator of myPocketTech, an educational platform designed to empower RV owners through knowledge, maintenance tracking, and practical training. Equally at home with a paintbrush or a wrench, Carrie’s work is rooted in one belief: Confidence comes from understanding how things work. Whether designing, repairing, teaching, or writing, her mission is to help others build lives and systems that truly fit.
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Holly Starley is a nomad, writer, instructor, and editor. Her work has appeared in The Memoirist, Apocrypha, 5 O’Clock Somewhere, Going Solo at the End of the World, and elsewhere. Find her most recent work on her Substack, Holly Starley's Rolling Desk. Over a two-decade career as a freelance editor, she’s enjoyed helping authors find their voices, and she teaches the joy of self-editing and revision as writing with Caravan Writers Collective. She took home AP Press awards as a journalist in West Virginia and has served as managing editor for nonprofit mini-magazines.
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With more than 45 passport stamps and a knack for turning detours into adventures, Trish Tassin has always had a nomadic heart. She has called London, San Francisco, Oregon, and Southern California home, and believes life’s darkest chapters do not define us, but rather refine us into something stronger, wiser, and unexpectedly beautiful. Trish spends her time with her three children and a multitude of friends, roaming freely with her loyal sidekick, Louise, her metal companion. Her true allegiance is to exploring, movement, mystery, and all the luminous spaces in between—living proof that devotion to one’s wild soul is sacred. This is her first book. Follow Trish at: the30journeys.com.
Photo by Integrity Media Corp.
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Mystic, tree-hugger, author, Mom, Grandma, Reiki Master and Certified Life Coach, Mary Ellen Telesha has been on the road since June of 2017. As an author she shares her authentic experiences as a nomad, along with how-tos, humor, philosophy, and the mysticism of nomad life, which she also shares on her website, cosmicnomadvoyager.com. Her first book, Wild Women On The Road; A Women’s Guide To Nomadic Freedom In The Modern Age, focuses on nomadism as a women’s movement, and is rich with practical advice and philosophical musings for women, whether seasoned travelers or newbie nomads. It is available on Amazon.
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Chanel Thorley is a mindset mentor, nervous system healer, and founder of The Opulence Mindset, a transformational framework that redefines abundance as inner safety, self-trust, and identity expansion. Blending somatic healing, spiritual insight, and lived experience, she guides others through identity shifts with resilience and embodied sovereignty. Living full-time on the road, Chanel views vanlife as both a lifestyle and a pathway to deeper self-remembrance. More of her work can be found at theopulencemindset.com.
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Trish Whitehouse is a registered nurse, exercise physiologist, and former anatomy teacher. Despite having a grasp on how the human body is constructed, building a van was totally out of her wheelhouse. She lives in Vermont with her husband (who was banned from the work garage after too much unwanted input), Bobby, and her two dogs, Arlo and Teaka. Trish loves hiking, biking, dog training, swimming, and doing anything outside. She now also loves to travel across the U.S.A. in her converted van.
Are you a nomad with your own story to tell?
Contact us to learn about possible submission opportunities for future anthology projects.
This work is an anthology of original essays and stories by nomadic women on the open road. The views expressed reflect the opinions and ideas of their writers, and not necessarily of Trish Tassin, Revelry Travel Co, LLC, the editor, or the publisher.
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