Writing

Today I felt like The Giving Tree, and not in a good way. In case you haven’t read it, The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein, is a children’s book about a tree who gives a little boy [...]

On a flight home from Orlando to Newark International, I got the exit row seat. I signed up for it because I like the leg room. I had forgotten that the flight attendants have those little jump [...]

I came home from a four-day business trip and here’s what was waiting for me: 1.  An Amazon box full of the five copies of my book I ordered just because. 2.  A certificate and pin from the [...]

When I was nineteen, I had a car accident at an intersection. The back of my car got hit. It wasn’t a big accident – I wasn’t going very fast and neither was the other guy. [...]

I was sitting at my computer yesterday, answering interview questions (which I’m pretty sure is the only thing I do with my “free” time these days), when I took a break to check [...]

…and today it visited New Jersey. I emerged from my cave and dragged my reluctant 12-year-old son to a nearby park where the snowpack was melting a la Everest, causing the paths to be [...]

Not a reader?  Not a problem! No reason to skip the joys (and sorrows) of  THE SECRET SIDE OF EMPTY.  It’s finally official that TSSoE will be an audio book through Audible, the world [...]

Today I can finally confirm that one of the reasons for my upcoming trip to Los Angeles is to meet my film and television rights agent from the marvelous Gotham Group!  Shimmy on over to my brand [...]

I love this review of THE SECRET SIDE OF EMPTY from Beverly Hills Mom.  My favorite quote: “MT’s voice is real and will resonate with adults and young readers alike.” Click here to [...]

Everything I love today: I love my electricity. I love that my wind chimes are singing in the crisp air outside my door, giving this glorious winter morning a soundtrack. I love that when I look [...]

Greetings from New Jersey, land of snowflake kisses and thundersnow dreams.  What’s thundersnow, you may wonder? Glad you asked.  Because it’s been going on for an hour here, long [...]

I glanced at my email  inbox and it struck me that it’s a perfect little snapshot of what my life is today.  Here are the top six subject lines, part wish-fulfillment, part writing.   [...]

Perhaps I’m just feeling extra cantankerous this morning, but I have a few things that are bugging me more than usual.  In no particular order, here they are, the Three Things I Could Live [...]

A month from today, my biggest life goal will be realized: I will be the author of a book in stores and libraries and in the hands of readers.  The journey has been magical and improbable.  And [...]

The other day I went to visit my website and the browser just sat there, spinning its wheels, taking forever to load the site.  I ran a quick site speed test, which let me know that a bunch of [...]

This morning I read a fascinating article about a certain thing that people did after the Super Bowl and I thought, “I have to write a piece about that!”  It was so devilish and [...]

Although I still don’t know the connection between football and tobogganing, I can verify that there is indeed a football toboggan smack dab in my way as I try to make it to work. The only [...]

I did not watch the State of the Union address.  There would have been a time that I would have had a viewing party, popcorn and a full analysis of the opposition rebuttal.  Tonight I was in [...]

Going to the American Library Association Midwinter conference? The fun is already getting underway! Check out this handy guide from School Library Journal. (And see information about my Saturday [...]

What cures the scandal that arises when your people capriciously cause massive traffic snarls in one of the world’s most traffic-beleaguered towns as political payback? Well, if [...]

I live in the next town just west of Fort Lee.  Whenever there is a traffic jam “under the buildings”  that are built on air on the New York side of the George Washington Bridge or [...]

I am a Real Writer.  All caps like that.  Not too long ago, I realized I’d been one since I wrote in my diary, at twelve years old, “Most of all, I want to be a writer.”  My [...]

There had been candlesticks and whispering in this room, full wine glasses and music. Dancing shadows on the wall, one of them tall, one of them beautiful. There had been love in this room. Now [...]

Have you ever noticed that we never quite realize the things that are going to change us or our lives in the moment they first come into our lives? We think we can control things, make things [...]

There was something about Black Friday bleeding into Thanksgiving that made me very sad, like something irrevocable was being lost.  It wasn’t just the rapacious greed of corporations [...]

I have always had a thing for Wonder Woman. Today, I am wearing one of my several Wonder Woman T-shirts. I have a cute little Wonder Woman ring I got handmade on Etsy. On the door to my bedroom [...]

Words are nothing more than everything.                

I am filled with the desire to unknow today. Oh, Paris, sweet, beautiful, stylish, confident Paris. How I wish I could unknow that you have seen such horror. And that you could unknow it too. [...]

I like horses, but I can’t say I necessarily like being ON them. They seem peaceful, but I can’t help but worry that there’s a whole lot of crazy they could bring too.   [...]

I was delighted to choose as my daughter’s godfather a man on the forefront of Alzheimer’s research. I