A Love Story
I have spent all morning lying in the sunshine on the floor with Hannah the Lab, knowing it's our last morning together. She can't get to her feet by herself anymore. It came on fairly suddenly last week, this final diminishment. My husband and I can see that it's...
(Not) Working
I haven’t done a blog post in a long time, and a few people have been kind to mention that they’ve missed them. It’s not that I’ve forgotten. Life has interfered with my getting much work done. During late summer we had some minor (ha!) renovations done to our...
What Happens To Them?
Lately I have sounded a lot like my father in his last years, when he was in his nineties. I breathe heavily when I move. Rising from a chair requires grunting with exertion. Then there'll be a series of thuds as I grab the handles of a walker and bump my way around...
Lessons From A Two-Year-Old: The Limits Of Language
I'm chagrined that I missed Banned Books Week at the end of September. Normally I'd celebrate by buying as many as I can afford from an independent book store, but I was busy babysitting my two-year-old grandson while my daughter and son-in-law went on a four day...
A Life In Six Words
I was recently asked by the editors of a small press to write my life story in six words and to "Be as pithy as possible." Seriously. After fooling with this task for a completely ridiculous amount of time, choosing, discarding, and switching up the order of words,...
Why Writers Need To Exercise
This one is easy. Writers need to exercise because they spend way too much time sitting, usually with bad posture, usually in bad chairs. At least this writer does. So after my little chiropractic adventure (see last post) I decided to listen to my brother-in-law,...
Why Writers Need Good Chairs
The most profound insight I've reached lately is that a writer needs an excellent chair. Much better than the one I have, which I'm pretty sure is causing my back pain. (Another possible cause is watching TV while yielding most of the couch to a self-centered...
On Drought and Desperation
Corn languishing in one of Brian's fields.[/caption] I've gone back to the farm market every day to get that amazing sweet corn for the magical ten days the farmer will have it. I go in the late afternoon when I need a break from writing. Normally I'd be out hiking...
On Water and Words
Sometimes we don't know what's on our minds until we wake from a dream in a dark room. This is especially true for me when I'm working on a first draft, living a story in my head as I set down rows of words and take most of them back. Last night I dreamed of...