An awful thing happened yesterday. At two in the afternoon, I lost my Internet connection. Oh, my Wifi still had full signal, but Comcast was not reaching it. This wasn’t a total surprise. I’d been hearing trucks outside my window during the few hours preceding that and figured work was being done in the neighborhood. So I waited a few minutes, then tried again. Nothing. I waited a little longer, [...]
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. Thanks to my son and daughter-in-law linking me in, I’ve been checking out photos each [...]
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 blind support of our leaders when I think they are wrong, I do like to [...]
“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 and Mackenzie, ages 60 and 38 respectively, and they’ve been estranged for nearly five years. [...]
I remain devastated by the recent election, in part for how it relates to being a woman. Much has been said about the message Hillary Clinton’s loss sends to young girls. But what about me? What about other women my age? What about the message her loss sends to us? I’ve always worked. From the time of my college graduation, which coincided with my now almost 50-years-long marriage, I held [...]
Politics and religion are the two things I avoid in my writing. Oh yes, my regular readers can guess my leanings. But I don’t discuss them outright in my books. My readers come from all walks – right and left, north, south, and central. They expect a good story, not a diatribe. And I respect their right to that. Yet here I sit, struggling to come up with something meaningful [...]
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. As you see above, the final product is cartoonlike, but isn’t that what emoji are? [...]
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 don't need a shrink to tell me that food fills emotional holes. The first one [...]
You wordsmiths, you! Thanks so much for reading last month’s blog and jumping in with your own suggestions. I was thrilled with the words you posted – and dismayed at not having thought of them myself! In an attempt to rectify the latter, I hereby revisit the word revolution issue. Just to refresh your memory, last month I listed words that have taken on new and previously unimagined meanings. This [...]
Here's a fun exercise. But first, a bit of philosophy. Contrary to many people in the news who use words to destroy, writers use them to create. I love words – love putting them together in a way that paints an action, a sentiment, a hope or a dream. I play with them endlessly when I write, modifying, exchanging, and reordering them until I read them a final time and [...]
