Writing

I miss you every day, but after this week’s devastation most of all. If there was one person who could have made this feel better and less hopeless, it would have been you.

This week I am mourning the death of someone. It was unexpected and shocking, happening in a way I would have never imagined possible. It feels premature, as I thought I’d know this person [...]

This is my 200th post on this blog!  Woo-hoo!  Cause for celebration.  I have been writing consistently just about my whole life.  And, yet, this blog is special. Before I learned how to write, [...]

When I was small, I was religious in the simple, heart-felt way only a child can be. People told me things and I steadfastly believed them. I used the stories I heard as the backdrop for my games [...]

I often find myself frustrated that I don’t write more.  Words swirl inside my head constantly, wanting to be written down, stories, plots, insights, ideas.  I’m sure they’re [...]

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, in vim libris civibus iudicabit, id harum nihil nostro nam, in vel veri congue voluptaria. Quo accusata splendide eu, malorum salutandi ad sed, oblique propriae [...]

ramen noodles Reconstruction Red Bulled (coinage; stet) run-in SAT schoolwork shirtsleeve signaling single-mindedly slo-mo smart-ass (n) smart-mouth (v) [per Webster’s Third Unabridged] smiley [...]

As weather and events point increasingly to the impending apocalypse, the National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for a big portion of the Northeast, including New York City, all of New [...]

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 [...]

Okay, last sappy post for tonight. Or hopefully forever. It’s a hard week, y’all. Give me a little leeway. Sitting on my hands this last time is the hardest thing. —- Sweet one, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Writing is a struggle against silence. Carlos Fuentes It is a rare moment when words are not a sufficient container for me to pack in the things I’m feeling. Words are in my marrow. When I [...]

There I was, texting with a new guy from Match. It was going so well. We’d quickly graduated from messages on the website to an hours-long text conversation about love, trying again, [...]

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 [...]

For a long time I resisted the term “midlife crisis” when applied to me because, damn it, I wasn’t in midlife.  But, at 43, I think it’s safe to assume I’m somewhere [...]

I was at a conference I helped organize ten years ago when I spotted my first Blackberry. One of the attendees- a wealthy woman ahead of the curve on many things material – was using it to [...]

coming up!

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 [...]

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 [...]

Your hair still smells like that faraway place, the one you went to without me. Foreign shampoo and laundry dried on a clothes line. Was your hug always this firm?  In three weeks you’ve [...]

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 bailed on speed dating this weekend.  Allegedly (and I say allegedly because this is story that I told myself, but I don’t believe for one minute) it was because I was knee-deep in the [...]

I just read Eve Ensler’s Manifesta to Young Women and Girls.  Click here if you’ve never read it.  My first thought was, “I want to read this to my daughter.”  My second [...]

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 [...]