This boat sits in the marina by my home. I walk by three times a day with Jack. At night, the warm light within makes it special. A man sits at the small table inside and works on a large wooden boat model. Jack and I slow to glance over every evening. The man sits…
I dropped my AirPod in the toilet. While I was using the toilet. How does this stuff even happen to me? Why didn’t I take them out on my way to the bathroom and set them on the counter like a normal person? No matter how many things I order, organize, or clean, I am…
Editing a manuscript is like a spin class. There’s something already there, my body’s not bad, but with a little effort it could be better. Tighter, leaner, more…defined. When I edit I start at the beginning, I can’t just move in and out of chapters because I lose track of where I’m at and then…
I need to be more serious. Expensive shoe wearing, fine leather bag carrying, author portrait where I’m looking over my shoulder in some way, serious. A scarf that’s not fuzzy with every color in the crayon box is in order or maybe even…lip liner. If I become more serious, play the part, then I will…
Characters. When I write, it starts with the characters. Some writers are inspired by places, or objects, or scenes. I need the characters first. I have to know them, all their wonderful qualities, what makes them tick, how they’re damaged, and their quirks. Quirks are my favorite, I actually collect them. They make a character…
Labor Day marks the end of summer. It used to be the last day it was acceptable to wear white or seersucker, but I’m pretty sure that’s changed. When I lived back east, school started after Labor Day. Oddly enough, Labor Day is also the second largest shopping day of the year. Second only to…
The photograph on the left is Migrant Mother by Dorthea Lange. It was taken in 1936. The photograph on the right is a publicity shot of Joan Crawford, also taken in 1936. One is a picture of a woman that looks like she works hard, she’s had…
Elevators are weird. A box attached to a cable that moves people from floor to floor. I had to go into work today to do payroll. I pushed the button on the wall in the lobby and after the ding there was this little box waiting to take me to my floor. For some reason…
“What are the directions?” I asked my 7 year old daughter when she told me we needed to do a Book Mobile for her reading book Chocolate Fever. She replied that there were no instructions she was just supposed to put pictures and fun things from the book on paper and tape them to a…