My blog

In my twenties and thirties, I was all about righteous rage.  I railed at the injustices I saw, furious at the humans who perpetrated them.  In my forties, I’m trying to be more [...]

Just the other day, after watching THE BOOK THIEF, I pointed out to my kids that so many books (and movies based on books) feature writing and reading as the thing that saves the day or [...]

I have an opportunity to pitch an essay to a big publication with a theme on mothering… and I’m drawing a blank.  If you’re a regular reader and have found one piece or theme of [...]

THE SECRET SIDE OF EMPTY is out in paperback today!  My publisher is giving away some copies.  To enter, Tweet #secretsidepaperback Or click here to get your copy today. How funny how one changes [...]

Oh, silly me.  You may recall I was stressing the “Color Me Rad” 5K I’d signed up for but didn’t have much time to train for. I shouldn’t have! It was far more big [...]

Today I took a bunch of pictures of my daughter and me at a color run.  In order to protect our eyes from the falling bright-hued powder, we wore sunglasses.  They happened to be mirrored.  In [...]

A while back, someone tweeted the title of my book along with the hashtag #QuietYA.  What could that mean?  How did I feel when I found out?  A bunch of other writers also mentioned as [...]

I have refrained from writing about Trump until today.  I’ve tried.  Really, I have. I haven’t always abhorred him.  For starters, since he’s a New Yorker, he and I go way back. [...]

One wall of my daughter’s room is chalkboard paint.  I surprised her with it one year when she went on vacation with her dad.  Since then, she fills it up with cool sayings and drawings.  I [...]

Check out this incredible image of the Earth, taken from one million miles away.  It was taken by NASA’s DSCOVR camera (aptly called “EPIC”) this month.  It’s remarkable [...]

Last night, I went to my local CVS to buy some stuff in the late evening.  It was oppressively muggy outside – still nearly 90 degrees well past dusk – and inside the workers looked [...]

This coming Sunday, I’m doing a color run.  For the record, I hate exercising.  I do it, because I don’t want to be a sloppy blob, but I am eternally in search of the exercise that [...]

I’ve been meditating since I was 18 years old.  I’ve been a student of the positive psychology movement since it first started making news with books by Martin Seligman and his [...]

When I was a kid, my dad used to listen to a radio station that told the time this way, “In the greatest city in the world, it’s 3:00 o’clock.”  Since I was small, New [...]

I love going to new places. I love the unique local flavor of regions, and discovering the little details you can never get from seeing them on TV. I love how city streets feel different [...]

I love traveling for business.  I love everything about it – crisp, white hotel sheets, the little shampoos, learning to navigate new streets, discovering new restaurants.  Each trip makes [...]

Here’s an article about diversity in young adult literature in today’s copy of The Record, a New Jersey newspaper. (With some scintillating quotes from moi!). Read the story online: [...]

Call me sentimental, but I’ve always had a thing for Pluto.  First of all, it’s out there, way far from our sun, doing its faithful loop in the shivery, outermost reaches of our solar [...]

How do you like this wonderful Times Square billboard for the new paperback release of SECRET SIDE?  (Scroll down below it for the full story).               [...]

Guess what!  After I posted the “I hate small talk” graphic, a friend sent me the one below in reply.  Hooray!  It feels so wonderful to be understood. There are lots of us. [...]

I am not great at small talk.  At some point during a town party or barbecue, I have an out-of-body experience, watching myself incredulously, feeling super-awkward in my attempts to play the [...]

Hello dears!  I just got word that my interview in The Record, a local paper here in NJ, will be in the paper this coming Monday.  Wonderful, except… I’ll be in Seattle!  I’ve [...]

Have you read John Green (author of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS)’s new book?  No?  Well, you’re not alone, because it hasn’t been written yet and certainly hasn’t been [...]

I am a big fan of animated movies.  I think some of the best storytelling of the last 20 years has been done in animation.  I was reminded of this fact twice this past week, one when I saw Inside [...]

I thought I knew Answers And paths I thought I had to work And push And shoehorn my circumstances into the shape of my will I thought I knew But all that’s led to injuries And strains And [...]