Four Reasons Why I Listen to Classical Music

Four Reasons Why I Listen to Classical Music by @barbaradelinsky

I never used to. Well, I did occasionally, but it wasn’t my go-to station when I was in the car.  I mean, I’ve always appreciated classical music. I just never before needed it as much as I do now. What changed? Donald Trump came to power. That single happening has been so loud, so ugly, so divisive, that…

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These Are MY Reasons For Spring Cleaning

These Are MY Reasons For Spring Cleaning by @BarbaraDelinsky, Cleaning, Spring, Family

Are you into this? Such a cliché, the expression “spring cleaning,” and I never consciously set out to do it. But here I am, again this March as I do every March, sorting through unnecessary paper on my desk, disposing of expired food in my pantry, weeding winter-weary clothes from my closet. I tell myself…

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The Truth About Why I Don’t Own a Gun

The Truth About Why I Don't Own a Gun by @BarbaraDelinsky, Guns, Government

Why I Don’t Own a Gun It goes back to my childhood when I never had a toy gun. For one thing, I was a girl, and guns were considered improper toys for girls. For another, my parents never owned guns – largely because their parents had grown up in the shadow of Hitler, a…

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This is the Reason Women Must Still Rock The Boat

“Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History.” I saw this last week on a mug in my local CVS, and it brought back memories of a tee-shirt I had with the same message until dozens of washings decimated the words. I still have an apron whose bib reads, “Every mother is a working mother.” That one…

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The Good News and Bad News of Book Titles

The Good News and Bad News of Book Titles by @BarbaraDelinsky, Twilight Whispers, Before and Again, eBooks, Books

There’s good news and bad news. The Good News   Twilight Whispers, one of my earliest mainstream novels, is making its debut as an e-Book at the end of this month – on January 30, to be exact.  The bad news?  I can’t stand the title.  I’ve been struggling with it since this book was first…

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I remember seven spectacular summers …

This summer of 2017 has been amazing for me in a totally unexpected way.  My nine-year-old granddaughter went to sleep-away camp for the very first time – 3½  weeks at a girls’ camp in Vermont.  Every night, her camp posts several hundred photos taken that day, so that parents can see their daughters in action. …

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What is patriotism?

I’m playing with words again, but, hey, that’s what being a writer is about.  And now, with another Fourth of July here, the concept of patriotism comes front and center. By definition, ‘patriotism’ means vigorous support for one’s country.  And while I’m not one for marching in a parade brandishing guns, certainly not one for…

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The art of the apology

“I’m sorry,” she said in horror. Embarrassed, she said, “I’m really sorry.” “I am so, so sorry,” she said with heartfelt regret. I write these words in my books all the time.  In fact, I’m about to write a pivotal scene in Making Up in which apologies are key.  It’s between mother and daughter, Margaret…

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Emoji elegy

Not long ago, my nine-year-old granddaughter took my picture with her iPad and made an emoji of me.  I loved watching her do it.  She was totally adept at navigating her emoji app to pick the hairstyle most like mine, the color of my hair, eyes, and skin, the shape of my face and lips. …

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Confessions of a chronic dieter

I was a pudgy child, or so I saw myself.  Others may have called me solid.  One boy friend told me I wasn’t fat, just well-packed – like this was what a teenage girl wanted to hear from a guy she wanted to date? I have been thinking of food all my life.  Seriously.  I…

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