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What kind of book could contain all these words together?  You’ll just have to get a copy of TSSoE and find out! decor (W11 1st sp; no accent) dishrag DJs dockworker drag race dumb-ass [...]

I tell my birth stories a lot, mostly because women are both fascinated and horrified that I had both my kids with no painkillers and not much medical intervention.  It is as if we as women have [...]

Writing and publishing a book could be the most deliciously yummy experience of my life. Here’s a rundown of how it’s worked so far:  I wrote the book.  Told myself my first draft was [...]

A little over a month ago my daughter went for a hot pink “ombré” dye to the ends of her hair and talked me into getting a blue streak in mine.  Now the experience is a guest blog at [...]

I’ve officially been humbled as a grammar geek.  First, I spend nearly a week with the geekiest (read: coolest) group of grammar nerds I’ve ever met.  Next, my editor lays a [...]

Words are wonderful little boxes. Unwrap them and they set loose smells and memories, convictions and questions. But other times they are too small to hold the thing you want to say. So it is for [...]

I got a cover concept on Thursday. It’s being tweaked and should be ready to share in a few days! I also got my copyedited version, the one that will go to print. The copy editor was sweet [...]

It is gorgeous on Cape Cod today, perfect weather for an important day. This is the view from my window, a special spot which will see a big moment later this afternoon. More to come!

Okay, not exactly.  But at 20 seconds into this video he thanks “brother Pablo,” and ACTUALLY means my brother Pablo, whose company hosted the presentation (below).  So if Pablo is [...]

Next week will mark the first time in my history of dog-mommy-hood that I will go away and my own mom will not be around to dog-sit.  But how hard can it be to get a dog sitter? Pretty darn hard. [...]

Options being considered are below.  Thoughts? [slideshow_deploy id=’1623′]

Happy Monday!  I hope your Monday is going as awesome as mine is.  I was just interviewed by Enrique Teutelo, host at Unimas, the Spanish language network.  The interview – all in Spanish [...]

The six-week old baby I held on September 11th, 2001 is now 12 years old. He has his own YouTube channel and takes out the garbage. Children are great markers of time, like growth charts on a [...]

I have often wondered why I do the things I do and why I don’t do the things I think I want to do.  Thanks to Stamford prof Kelly McGonigal, now I know.  I am a dopamine junkie. The role of [...]

My Facebook feed is aflutter with the accomplishment of Diana Nyad, the 64-year-old woman who swam the 110 miles from Cuba to the U.S. without a shark cage. I may be a bit of a contrarian, but I [...]

I love  to share my beloved old movies with my kids and watch their reactions.  This past weekend, I saw one of my favorite teen movies, Pretty in Pink, with my thirteen-year-old daughter. Pretty [...]

Welcome, OneFourKidLit readers and everyone following the chain of posts from YA authors who are publishing their debut novels in 2014. My debut is The Secret Side of Empty, about life as an [...]

Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines is an insanely catchy song that could wake me up from a coma. Blasting on my iPhone on a sunny morning in the new local park when I’m doing my 5K [...]

Now that I have my new iPhone with a working camera, you’ll have to suffer through some photojournalism until I get it out of my system. I bellyache a lot about my commute but I work in a [...]

[slideshow_deploy id=’1493′] By mid-morning Saturday on most weekends, I am in a full-on panic that I’m not going to get enough writing done.  And that’s because I’m [...]

Somewhere along the way, I went from “too young” for things to “too old” for them.  In my twenties, I was like a colt getting my legs under me, too young and bewildered to [...]

Going through the notes in my phone I found a list of random thoughts I jotted down during the extended blackout after Hurricane Sandy.  Almost a year later, they’re a little funny.  A [...]

Ever get the idea that conservatives are looking at you funny?  That’s because they are.  A study from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (shout-0ut to my Nebraska folks) suggests that eye [...]

By all accounts, Ted Cruz’ life story is inspiring.  Born of a mother who was the first in her family to go to college and a father who escaped Fidel Castro’s regime, Cruz went on to [...]

Channel Thirteen, the New York local PBS station, has revealed a series of ads mocking reality tv shows.  It makes me the teensiest bit guilty that I’ve neglected the station that saved me [...]

I’m feeling too scattered to write one cohesive piece (if, in fact, we agree that my pieces are usually cohesive).  Yet I’m feeling guilty that things are so crazy busy that [...]

Rainy days make me sad, but not the way they make other people sad.  I actually love rain.  But, lately, rain makes me wistful.  It makes me mourn all the better things I could be doing instead [...]

There was nothing remarkable about date # 29.  It was what happened two days after that made it notable.  The date itself was what all first dates are:  a rundown of family history, some [...]

I once had a writing teacher who said, “Writers don’t so much finish books as give up on them in despair.”   At the time, I so desperately wanted a book deal that I thought [...]

…And takes me with it! I set up a new Twitter account strictly for Secret Side of Empty book news.  I have not historically been the world’s best tweeter, so I’m giving it [...]