Clik here to view.
The Historical Factor of Dolls
I wasn’t going to post until next week because I’m trying to concentrate on my manuscripts. But I just got a notification from WordPress that it’s the one year anniversary of this blog. So I thought...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vintage Trick-or-Treating, circa 1961: A Ghost Story
Tess Trueheart I’d been waiting at the door for the bell to ring, but I heard the scuffle of their shoes on the porch first and opened the door. Cindy and Judy, the big girls who lived next door, were...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Love Factor of Dolls
(Cross-posting this on The Family Kalamazoo under a different title) Thanks to a comment by Robin (be sure to check out the stories on her blog), I was reminded how handmade doll clothing can be more...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Rice Exercise
I plunge my left hand into the twenty gallon bucket of short-grain rice. It’s not an actual pail, but a lidded Tupperware container I once stored Lay’s potato chips in, and the rice feels dusty,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What Do Your Memories Look Like?
Maybe they look like scraps. Mine do. Have you found Anneli’s Place yet on WordPress? She showcases the work of writers on this site. She was so kind to showcase a little piece which introduces Scrap,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mom and Kennedy, Part I
Part I Fifty years ago, I was in third grade. I had no idea that I would remember that one day so well all these decades later. The following story, which I’ve broken into two parts so that it’s not...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mom and Kennedy, Part II
(Part I is here) Dad went to work the morning of the funeral. I could have bet he was at his hangout, the donut shop, watching the news on the old TV in the corner. He would sit at the counter, with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Glad Game, or Happy Birthday, Pollyanna
The best contemporary children’s literature is usually not preachy. If there are good lessons in the book, they are natural byproducts of a good story. That’s how we best absorb what they have to teach...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Path to Gratitude
On Monday I posted about the book that most influenced me for the lesson it taught about optimism: Pollyanna, written by Eleanor H. Porter. You can find that post here. Did you see this coming? Today...
View ArticleClik here to view.
She Asked Me a Lot of Questions . . .
Usually only “somebodies” are interviewed. But The Missouri Review isn’t confined by pedestrian boundaries . Although they are a well-respected and long-running literary magazine, they have a cutting...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Do Writers Need Headshots?
If you’re a writer, sooner or later, you are going to need a headshot. Until recently, I’d been using a regular pic from my camera for a headshot. That’s what you see on my Gravatar. It looks like...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What the Blueprint Your Bestseller Process Looks Like
Reblogged from unpackedwriter: This week I am throes of the writing process... .Writing and marketing coach friend Windy Lynne Harris of the Backstory Cafe at http://thebackstorycafe.wordpress.com set...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dutch-American Elms
Last week I discovered that some of my earlier posts that had cost me effort and time have never received very many views. I posted a poll about whether I should re-post or re-blog these posts to free...
View ArticleClik here to view.
From Coincidence to Serendipity
I first posted this story over a year ago, just after I started this blog. It begs the question of whether there is coincidence or serendipity in the little treasures we find as we “scavenge” our lives...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Your Sense of Play
I know that Christmas lights use too much energy. They aren’t the best thing for our environment. But there is something about the big light displays that bring me joy. Maybe you, too. When I lived in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Year’s Eve with My Dad
I first published this post last New Year’s Eve. I’ve added an update at the end. Although I rarely go to New Year’s Eve parties any more (cue: one big whine and then a hefty sigh of relief), when I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
For the Birds
A year ago, I posted this piece about the place of birds in my life. I wonder if you have threads like this that run through your life. I stand on a chair to reach my grandmother’s birdcage. My dress...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What Can You Learn From Reading a Memoir?
Six years ago, I had probably read fewer than 10 memoirs. To a non-reader, that might sound like a lot. But compared with the quantity of books I’ve read, it was an appalling number. Then I got the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Poet’s Memoir
Mark Doty, an American poet (b. 1953), wrote a wonderful coming-of-age memoir called Firebird. To the outside world, the four members of Doty’s middle-class family could be in a sitcom of the time...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Most Recently Read Memoir
I just finished Catana Tully’s memoir Split at the Root: A Memoir of Love and Lost Identity. This book makes for fascinating reading, in part because Tully’s story is so unique. She was a Guatemalan...
View Article
