This post originally ran Aug. 24, 2019 I’ve wanted to write a novel about my Mexican grandmother since I was fifteen. I’ve known all along what the first line would be: “When I was nine years old, Poncho Villa rode into town and killed a merchant in the street.” Whenever I think of that line,...
A friend and I are going chapter by chapter through the book It’s Not Your Money by Tosha Silver. We had both read it before, but not one chapter a week as the author suggests. There’s a very important section in the book where the author talks about getting rid of clutter. Casting out the...
I was chatting with an artist friend the other day whose career is taking off. I complimented her by saying she’d done everything right over the years in terms of following all the steps to achieving her desired career and being patient with the process. She said something to the effect that it wasn’t hard...
My book club recently reached a full consensus about a book: none of us liked it. In fact, four of the ten chose not to finish reading it. The conversation about the book was entertaining because whenever there’s agreement, people can speak freely, and some of their comments about how much they disliked the book...
This week marks the seventh anniversary of this blog. Someone asked me how I had maintained the stamina for such an endeavor and how I came up with new ideas every week. I told her it all comes down to passion and permission. In 2014, friends had been urging me to start a blog for...
When I was a little girl, my younger brother and I listened often to a beloved record of old cowboy songs. Growing up in Idaho, we had real live cowboys walking down the street and we were fascinated by them and by the outlaws of the Old West. My favorite song on the album was...
I confess that I, too, have been using the word “unprecedented” to describe our current condition during this COVID-19 pandemic. And in so many ways, the word seems to fit. But then I came across these lines in Bill Bryson’s book, Shakespeare: The World as Stage, “London’s theaters were officially ordered shut, and would remain...
I’m heading into week four of isolation during this coronavirus pandemic. My days consist of a 24/7 cycle of working, exercising, and connecting with friends and family. I haven’t talked this much on the phone since I was a teenager. I’d thought I would take more opportunities during this “downtime” to read books or go...
Having worked for years as a writer’s coach, webinar presenter, and speaker, I often run into people who’ve taken a class from me or heard me speak about the importance of making time for their art. They often seem happy to see me, yet can’t quite look me in the eye. And then comes the...
The other day, I went for a walk. I was looking forward to listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell. The sun was shining, the weather was mild, and I was excited to get away from my work and out into the fresh air. Very soon, though, I realized...