Writing

I once heard that life is about being dissatisfied.  The thinking goes it’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Dissatisfaction is what drives progress.  Dissatisfaction with foraging led to [...]

Writing a book about something you’ve considered your biggest secret for most of your life has its challenges.  One is, well, telling the secret.  For the most part, telling has opened me [...]

I am really enjoying this book publicity stuff, as I knew I would.  I am living the dream! When I was a little undocumented girl living in a ratty basement, I would entertain my parents by [...]

Word is starting to spread about The Secret Side of Empty!  My 30-stop blog tour will kick off on a very special day:  June 14th, Flag Day in the U.S. and… oh, yes!  My birthday!  One of [...]

I will confess to having made it through advanced placement English classes all through high school and an English major in college without having read The Great Gatsby.   (There, I said it). [...]

I finally signed my book contract.  Since it’s the culmination of a lifelong dream, you’d figure I’d be in absolute bliss. And I am.  Sort of. Once a goal is achieved, it’s my nature to think of [...]

On Wednesday, May 15th, I took a stroll over to my wonderful agent’s office to sign my book contract. I didn’t think signing the actual contract would feel like much of anything, [...]

When I was little, I would lament the fact that I didn’t have blue eyes to my mom. “Why are my eyes not blue? Why are my eyes so ugly?” I would ask. “Be grateful [...]

I didn’t know Tim Hetherington, but I kind of wish I had. Although I don’t know what a war photojournalist would have had in common with a soccer mom, I somehow think he would have [...]

So… I can’t use my book’s title.  The title which has been its title since the book started as a glimmer of an idea.  The only title I’m SURE is its title.  The same title [...]

Today, after something of an Arizona spring (in NJ), the heavens unleashed a torrent that flooded sewers and made the inside of my car sweat.  Some cheesy Facebook acquaintance posted a [...]

The first time I saw Barack Obama speak, in 2004, I knew one day he would be president.  He just had to be.  On a business trip to Chicago, I read Dreams From My Father and the feeling [...]

I read this post last week and I put it on my (ridiculously, incredibly long) list of things to write about.  George Bush Presidential Library?  Seriously? I  decided I would write a post about [...]

Anyone who knows me knows that my birthday is a month-long event.  Coming smack-dab in the middle of June as it does, I have long considered June “Maria Month.”  So it stands to [...]

So, I was down the shore this past weekend and, with my new burning desire for YouTube fame I figured I would be SO CLEVER if I recorded my “how I got my literary agent” video in [...]

Is it wrong to call the President “adorable?”                    

Because, you know, the Port Authority isn’t bad enough on its own. Initial reports seem unclear but someone posted that some clown left a box with toy granades.  Freaking hilarious, loser! [...]

She turned my life upside down in the most painful way imaginable 10 years ago.  Then she disappeared.  Yesterday, she wrote me on Facebook, asking for a big favor.  It was something of a shock, [...]

You didn’t forget? Me neither. But what’s the use in remembering?                                 [...]