My Daughter, the Athlete
My daughter has always been a focused individual. I’ve described before her intense effort at learning to walk. Another example of her concentration has been her dedication to fitness and sports throughout her life. She grew up with a big brother who loved sports. He played T-ball, then basketball, and she tagged along to all […]
An Early Start on College
This post is about my mother, though not about Mother’s Day. While searching for a topic for a Mother’s Day post, I came across a photograph of my mother and me in an album my grandmother made for me many years ago. I’ve always liked this photo, because it shows my mother as a reader. […]
My Work-In-Progress, and the Temptation to Edit As I Read
As I reported to readers of my newsletter last week, I completed the rough draft of my work-in-progress in mid-April. This first draft took just under six months to write—not fast, but also not the slowest first draft I’ve written. Because it’s a contemporary novel, I didn’t have to do much research. It is set […]
Resurrection (or Inattention)
The trees at our new house were planted just days before we moved in, late last July, in the middle of a heat wave. We watered the sod and landscaping three times a day for several weeks, but nevertheless, it appeared that three of our four trees did not survive. The redbud in front looked […]
Signs of Adulthood: Toaster Ovens and Door Knockers
For my husband, the mark of adulthood was ownership of a toaster oven. He’d spent five years as a Navy officer, and presumably had some responsibility in that capacity. (I didn’t know him then.) But he was itinerant through his Navy days, and hadn’t owned a home or had a family. In fact, he hadn’t […]
Smallpox Epidemic in Oregon: A Scene from NOW I’M FOUND
Here is a scene from Chapter 44 of my novel Now I’m Found, describing a smallpox epidemic that hit the Oregon City area in October 1849. The following Sunday morning William complained, “Mama, I’m hot.”Jenny felt his forehead—burning. O’Neil brought her a bucket of water, and she removed William’s shirt and wiped his chest and […]
My Strength is “Input,” But Enough Already
Many years ago, my work group and I took the Gallup StrengthFinders survey. The theory behind this survey was that employees who get to do what they do best at work every day are more engaged and more productive in their jobs. The survey’s purpose was to identify what people do best. My top strength […]
Pandemic Reflection: It’s the Little Things That Bring Comfort
One blessing from the current coronavirus stay-at-home order is that I have realized how little I need. My purchases plummeted once I was confined to my house. No spur-of-the-moment stops at a coffee shop for chai. No shopping sprees for a new spring wardrobe. Not even a trip to the drugstore for new shampoo—there’s a […]
You Know Your Kids Are Grown, Part VII (Pandemic Edition)
It’s been over a year since I posted on this topic. In this time of the pandemic, I can’t visit my two adult children who live on opposite coasts, nor can they come visit me. In fact, they canceled a trip they had scheduled to Kansas City when the stay at home orders went into […]
Another Update on My Work-in-Progress
The silver lining in the pandemic crisis is that I have been writing diligently on my work-in-progress, a contemporary novel I intend to publish under a pseudonym. In Kansas City, the shut-down began in earnest about the weekend of March 14-15. At that point, I had around 70,000 words written on my first draft. As […]