There was a story on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition show on July 16, 2013, about “summer melt.” These are the students who say in spring when they graduate from high school that they are going to college in the fall, but they do not actually enroll when autumn comes. […]
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Hiking in Switzerland and Family Diversity
Fifteen years ago, in July 1998, our family took a hiking vacation in Switzerland. We arranged the trip through Distant Journeys, which sets up self-guided trips for adventuresome souls. My husband and two children qualify as adventuresome, if I do not. We flew to Geneva and took the train to […]
Continue readingCottonwood Trees Are No Picnic
I attended a picnic last week. It was a gorgeous day, spent with good food and company. The only flaw was the cottonwood seeds floating through the park shelter and into our meal. I’d been missing the cottonwoods this year, until the picnic reminded me how messy they are. When […]
Continue readingWhat Books Don’t (or Won’t) You Read?
It just so happened that last Wednesday, I read two articles about when and why readers quit reading a book before they finish it. One was Guilt Complex: Why Leaving a Book Half-Read Is So Hard, by Heidi Mitchell, in the Wall Street Journal, June 5, 2013; the other was […]
Continue readingGrammar for Fiction Writers: The Language of Fiction, a Writer’s Stylebook, by Brian Shawver
You might think grammar is boring, but it is the writer’s toolbox. I marvel each time I sit down to write that I can create a blogpost or a scene in a novel or a poem from various combinations of twenty-six letters and a few punctuation marks. That’s all I […]
Continue readingSticking to Goals as a Writer (and Not)
I had a boss once who always knew what percent of the year had already passed – it was roughly 2% per week, a little more than 8% each month. He would cite the percentage down to a fraction. I’ve come to adopt that attitude, as I watch time and […]
Continue readingReunions, Memories, Age, and Wonder
I recently received a notice about my fortieth high school reunion this fall. Fortieth!!! How can it be forty years since I graduated from high school? I still feel seventeen. Well, except when my back hurts. And my knees creak. I remember when I was fifteen and my parents went […]
Continue readingRemembering: It’s What Mothers Do
My daughter chastises me for not documenting her childhood completely in her baby book. She claims I didn’t write as much about her as about her older brother. This week – the week of her birthday as well as of Mother’s Day – I’ve gone back and looked at her […]
Continue readingDiversity in Families: A Mother’s Day Gift from My Son
On Mother’s Day, when he was eleven or twelve, my son gave me a pair of earrings – dangling strings of tiny freshwater pearls. I was surprised when I opened the little box he sheepishly handed me to find such a personal and beautiful gift. The earrings must be inexpensive, […]
Continue readingHow Do You Read? Ebook or Paper?
I have always read avidly, as much as my time permitted. Libraries are invaluable, because I couldn’t afford my reading habit without them. My husband gave me a Nook Color e-reader for Christmas 2010. I was skeptical when I opened the box. I wasn’t sure I wanted to switch to […]
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