Writing

Monday, it poured. The rain came in sideways and chilly. It was relentless, the kind of rain that makes you understand why in biblical times they thought it might be divine retribution. It ran in [...]

This past weekend, my daughter and I took a lo-ong road trip. She’s been accepted into four of her top-choice colleges, and now decision-making time begins. So we chose to visit two of them [...]

The other day, in the airport, I took an excursion to the bookstore. Airport bookstores are some of my favorite places – something about the careful curation of the offerings – and I [...]

On Saturday, I told myself I was due for a news fast. Wave after crashing wave of bad news has been leaving me drained, and I wanted a clear head and a fun weekend. With a bit of downtime but my [...]

This past week I got some disappointing feedback on my latest manuscript from an industry professional. (The feedback was, basically: do better). I ran through the usual gamut of emotions… [...]

The super cool author Jennifer Lynn Gillham was going on a trip… and offered to take THE SECRET SIDE OF EMPTY with her. (It wasn’t just SECRET SIDE. Follow her on Instagram to see the [...]

Here’s how I soothe myself when I am horrified by the massive derailment of our democracy that is currently underway. I tell myself, “This too shall pass.” Then I tell myself, [...]

I am about as rabidly anti-Trump as I believe you can get. I fear our country is in a dark time, and many of the tools intended to protect us – a free media, the rule of law, courts, an [...]

People, even the well-meaning ones, hold back an eye-roll. “It’s not as dramatic as all that,” they say. Or, “Stop catastrophizing.” “You’re always [...]

You may recall some time back I was talking about launching a new web design. Well, it took a while, but it’s finally just about ready to launch. Target launch date: February 15, 2018. [...]

I hate. That is the overwhelming feeling in my body, starting in a furnace where my rib cage meets my belly, crawling up my chest to my throat: hate. It wasn’t always this way. I have [...]

When my daughter was in middle school, she had to write what were called “Current Events.” Just that, the whole phrase a noun, an essay each week to prove she was, indeed, reading [...]

I am in my illegal apartment. It has a metal shower, the floor of it nearly rusted through, which is across from the kitchen sink and the stove. The toilet is in what looks like a small closet, a [...]

It is a common practice for writers to have a “Google alert” for their names to make sure they catch any mention of their books. I tell you this so you won’t think I’m [...]

I missed the Golden Globes, but I couldn’t escape Oprah’s Golden Globes speech. It littered my Facebook feed. It was on the news. Many of my liberal friends posted it with breathless [...]

Lay me down now the wildness of things The tilting at windmills The perking up my ears at the call of wolves The watering of forget-me-nots The holding of seats The silence of the hollow. And let [...]

“They’re saying it’s going to get down to one degree tonight.” I know. I’ve heat-wrapped the main pipe coming into my house and put my car in the garage. It’s [...]

I am – utterly predictably and like a great percentage of the Western world – on a post-New Year’s health kick. Yes, gym, and all that, but I’m also trying to squeeze in [...]

Holidays can be hard. When they’re good, they’re magical. When they’re not, they present the ideal in stark relief. Why aren’t you happy? Why does your family snipe at [...]

America is in a dark place, and it’s sometimes hard to watch. I was reminded of this as I read the news this morning: one headline said that some Republican law makers who voted for the [...]

Regular readers will know that the winter solstice is a special day for me, and that I often mark it with a post. The winter solstice is the day that taught me to look on the bright side. I live [...]

I am a world-class avoider of things. Seriously, I could teach a class. Like… a graduate-level class. I am singularly talented at not doing what I tell myself I want to be doing. Be it [...]

Twenty years ago, newly in possession of my first computer, I typed in to whatever passed for a search engine back then, “I want to die.” This is not easy to write, today. I am a [...]

A cold blanket covers everything. Your favorite spot to gather berries, down near a river, is frozen through, the bushes spiny bristles outlined starkly against the white. You’ve got some [...]

It is no surprise to regular readers that I am terrified of solo home ownership. I grew up in an illegal basement apartment, then in other rentals. I had never lived in anything much bigger than [...]

Last November, I was scheduled to go to two trade shows, back to back, one in Macon, Georgia, and one in New Orleans. It was my job to bring them in within budget, and when I crunched the [...]

Publishing is a bruising business. As regular readers know, I parted ways oh-so-amicably with my agent earlier this year. She was awesome, but didn’t seem to love the direction of my [...]

Today, Donald Trump tweeted that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand “would come to my office ‘begging’ for campaign contributions… (and would do anything for them).” He [...]

My heart, full of soot, dark. Rife with canaries I refused to hear. My hands hurt. Siphoning off all joy and spark Just today, but telling me the story of every day that’s left. I am the [...]

Thank you, legs, that walk so firm. Thank you, smile across the counter. Thank you, world knowledge in my hand, hawk suspended high above my head, warmth that rumbles on. Thank you, baskets [...]