Better than the Last
The first day of the year and it’s the coldest day we’ve had to endure since we moved up North three years ago. I suppose it’s best to get the worst out of the way ahead of time. Now the remaining 364 days will feel superior to this one. There’s a foot of new snow [...]
The Same
I’ve returned to blogging skeptically, reluctantly because I know some of things I share here have damaged my already delicate home life and I’m doing a pretty good job fucking that up without rubbing salt in the wounds. But I need this space somehow, this collective nod, the communal understanding, to help me make sense [...]
Testing, testing, 1 2 3
I want the rebirth of my blog, after months of silence, to be a worthy of resurrection, celebratory yet familiar, a great sigh of togetherness, an enveloping hug, and, instead, I’m afraid it’s gonna be a bitch session. Forgive me and feel free to turn the other way if this is not the sort of [...]
Large Format Reproductions
I have, in hand, large format reproductions of the property next door. Our neighbors have bulldozed and back-hoed their way to a blank slate, all smooth soil and anticipation. I have promised to help them, to select hedge material and shrubs that will thrive in deep shade, alongside a sunny pool deck and in front [...]
Timing
So what does a twice rejected nascent writer do after the receiving the latest in a series of loud and echoing No’s? Well, of course she gets right back in the saddle and fires off a few short stories to five different literary magazines and makes sure she enters a couple writing contests and decides [...]
A Fist Full of Lucky
As a parent to young children, I occasionally catch a glimpse of the person each child might become in adulthood. Usually it’s sort of a quiet moment of recognition. O on his first birthday spent the entire afternoon emptying the cooler of ice. He fished around in the chilly depths of frigidity for every last [...]
Another Glimmer of Profoundity
I need to thank ByJane today for her terrific post on embracing the process. She describes herself as coming from a family of strivers, people who appreciate the end game, the product more than the process, people who believe that there must be a reason to do something to make it worthy of the effort. [...]
Personal Statement of the Desperate Variety
Dear Esteemed, Professional Writers Who Will Either Grant or Deny My Enrollment in the ‘08/’09 Creative Writer’s Workshop,
I am struggling with the task of writing a second personal statement. First there’s the issue of a title. Should I call it my Very Personal Statement? Maybe last year’s essay, titled just Personal Statement, was not [...]
A Contestant of Sorts
I begged for challenges and only one obliged. Ron over at R World has tempted me to reapply to that damn writing program that wrestled my heart from my chest and hurled it in a dumpster last Spring. And so it begins, my e-mails and phone calls to the same administrative assistant that put up [...]
Teacher of My Life
This weekend we received a copy of a lovely letter, one written to My Better Half’s 85 year-old grandmother, penned by one of her former students who remembers her, all these years later, as the pivotal figure in her academic career.
Few of us ever take the time to thank the people that have made [...]
