Dear readers, I must confess something: I’ve been moonlighting, stepping out of my writing closet to work on something much bigger than my novel, bigger than any of my writing projects. I’m building a playground. Let me take a step back. My two kids attend a public elementary school with a woefully inadequate playground. I’m […]
The Closet Creative Blog
Starting Early…on a Love of Books
There was a minor Book Club kerfuffle in our house this morning, not with my book club of 12 years, but with my kid’s. It seems their elementary school has instituted an after-school book club, divided by grade, meeting once per week (an awesome idea!). My 1st grade son got an “invitation” to join the […]
Asking for Help, or, How I Quit Being an Idiot
I’ve just printed out some notes on my recently “completed” novel, “Happy, Indiana,” and am getting ready to dive into some “light” revisions. I say “completed” because this thing is really not going to be done until it’s published. I say “light” because the changes I’m making are minor compared to the multiple, major, revisions […]
Turn, Turn, Turn
There’s gorgeous, fluffy snow covering everything this morning. The kids hurried through breakfast so they’d have time to play in it before walking to school. My husband (who actually enjoys shoveling, go figure) happily donned his trapper’s hat and set to work on the driveway. I’m smiling as I write, and thinking, “Well, it’s about […]
Living (and Writing) Dangerously in the New Year
I’ve just read a wonderful essay by Tom Spanbauer titled “Dangerous Writing” in Poets & Writers. It’s a fitting piece to contemplate as I sit here on this early January morning, the kids packed off to school after a long break, the Christmas tree looking sad in the corner in its nest of fallen needles. […]
My Favorite Things—Fern Paintings
While in a check-out line this past weekend, I noticed the cover of Oprah’s magazine, which included a headline about her favorite things and how some lucky readers could win them. Now I’m old enough to remember watching her annual “Favorite Things” show in which audience members “went coco-nuts” (as my six-year-old would say) as […]
The Perfect Clutch for the Bookish Gal
It’s a book? It’s a purse? It’s both! My book club met recently for a night of wine and crafting (we sometimes also read books!). Under the expert tutelage of my friend Michele, we created clutch purses out of hardcover books. I used “Elements of Botany” by Joseph Bergen, Revised Edition, copyright 1906. The first […]
Community
In polls on well-being (aka happiness) conducted by the Gallup Corporation, “Community” is considered one of the five essential elements to a thriving well-being. (I read a lot of books on the topic when I was researching my novel, “Happy, Indiana.”) Community is quite simply the way we’re all taking care of each other. Specifically, […]