My birthday is on New Year’s Eve, and oh boy, there’s a lot of pressure there, double the pressure I might say, to examine a whole year’s worth of accomplishments and shortcomings and look onward with either the rosy glasses of optimism or the very, very dark glasses of pessimism, depending on how many champagne […]
Selfie Finishing a Novel
Why don’t more writers take selfies? Ah, because this is what we look like. You’ll only see writer-selfies at awards ceremonies. If I set my computer to take automatic pictures of me while I’m working, you would see a whole bunch of photos of me frowning at the screen. Sometimes, my brow might have a […]
The $10 Dresser DIY
What could you do with a few bucks, a cast-off dresser and a whole lot of swearing?* Why, you could create a fabulous DIY project! So, a friend of mine took off and moved to Texas, and I’ll never forgive her, but as a lovely parting gift, she gave me her daughter’s dresser because, you know, when you’re […]
Super Seuss-Themed Reading Chair
So, there I was helping to decorate our neighborhood public elementary school for a Dr. Seuss-themed Right to Read Week, when someone pulls out a cell phone and starts trolling for “ideas” and sees that someone once painted Dr. Seuss quotes and whatnot on a chair (damn you, Internets!), and I’m all like, “I can […]
The DIY Writing Residency
I’ve just returned to Ohio from wonderful Austin, Texas, where I completed a five-day “writing residency” at the house of friends. While there, I managed to draft the first chapter of my new novel, as well as spend much quality time with old buddies, eat empanadas from a food truck, buy a local author’s book from the […]
Guest Blogging My Sweet Tooth
Hi Friends,Just a heads up that I’ll be guest-blogging over at the site of best-selling author and psychologist Dr. Susan Albers (www.eatq.com/blog) for the entire month of February. It’s all part of her Mindful Eating Chocolate Challenge. Did you know yours truly has a HUGE sweet tooth? ‘Tis true. Dr. Albers has given me a […]
The Most Frequent Piece of Writing Advice I Received Last Year–and Why I’m Ignoring It
In 2013, I took chances with my writing, threw my hat into the air a la Mary Tyler Moore and yelled into the wind with an unusual (for me) joie de vivre, “Markets be damned! I’ll write whatever I want! I’ll write whatever makes me happy!” The result? Good things, dear reader, good things, but […]
Carve that Tofurkey! A Writer Approaches the Grown-up Table
November has been kind to me, even after I went around publicly bad-mouthing it (I’ve pledged myself eternally to October), and given the season, I feel the need to say thank-you, to the editors, fellow writers, family and friends who indulge me in this creative endeavor. This month, I had fiction published in The Rumpus, which […]