Heading out my front door as a child I had great choices. I could turn towards the right through the yard and maze of rose bushes, to the tree house, back fields, or tiger lilies. If I went straight ahead I could climb the pines, skip down the gravel drive, or jump the fence to the horse. And ...
Memoir
How Long Should a Novel Be? (and other anxious doubts)
This weekend marked an enormous milestone for me: I completed the first working draft of my novel. I did not celebrate. In fact, I cried. Here’s why. I’ve been working on this story for a year now and finished the first structural draft last fall. It had a different working title ...
It’s Already Hard to Get Up and Run on the Second Day
I was staring at the ceiling but with my eyes closed– have you ever done that? I was seriously debating not getting up to run on DAY TWO under the reasoning that we are planning the beach tonight after work and I could run then. Which, often gets cancelled if our work runs late. The ...
I don’t have many indoor memories from the summer of my 9th year; it’s all fireflies and long days, strawberry jam sandwiches on homemade bread and only needing shoes on Sunday. My birthday party was near the rose garden; I remember pink streamers and getting Rebecca of Sunnybrook ...
All of these things are true. In between working and driving, within the last seven days I… Saw my oldest son graduate in dress blues and white cap from Navy boot camp. I cried during the Star Spangled Banner and The Navy Hymn. Stood on the shore of Lake Michigan with my husband, ...
Of Bullies and the Lasting Impact of Words: Why Trying EVER Skincare Seemed Like a Hard Thing To Do
“Self-conscious” means to have undue awareness of one’s self, one’s appearance, or one’s actions. I remember the day self-consciousness replaced self-confidence. In 4th grade I was a rough and tumble woods girl, living in the upper peninsula of Michigan. That April we moved to Florida, land of ...