The historian in me thinks it’s important to mark the one-year anniversary of the pandemic. The writer in me would rather not. Maybe it’s insecurity – there are far better writers than me sharing their thoughts right now. Maybe it’s sensitivity – I’ve just started to bounce back from a really hard year and I...
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...
My husband does most of the baking in our house and has for the 29 years of our marriage. It’s one of his favorite pastimes. Yet after all these years, it’s still not unusual to show up at our friends’ dinner party with one of his delicious strawberry rhubarb pies or orange chocolate cakes and...
Brené Brown recently interviewed Dolly Parton on her Unlocking Us podcast. Dolly said two very different things that have been swimming around in my mind. The first was a comment about the pandemic. She said, “You can’t be too safe, but you can sure be too sorry . . .” Her second comment came in...
When people ask what my blog is about, I often say it’s an inspirational blog to help people tap into and support their inner artist. “Oh, that’s not for me,” some reply. “I’m not creative. And I’m certainly not an artist.” I’m always a little surprised by that response. It makes me realize somewhere down...
I was talking to an intuitive friend and expressing to her how lost I’ve felt lately. The pandemic, the failing economy, the social unrest, the political turmoil, and my own business downturn are always on my mind and weigh heavily on my heart. I’ve thought of myself as a driver. Someone who jumps in and...
I’ve always turned down invitations to join book clubs. Not because I don’t see the value in them and definitely not because I didn’t like the people inviting me, but because I always seem to have stacks of books of my own to read. Lately, though, I’ve found myself in three book groups. It so...
I’ve been listening to a series of interviews with legendary authors who were asked to share their life wisdom. I expected to be shaken to my core by their words of insight. After all, these are writers who have left us gasping at the beauty of their written words. Instead, I was shocked by how...
I’m not going to write about the pandemic this week. I mean it. I’m not going to elaborate on how this crisis is affecting every area of our lives. We all know that. And I don’t believe it’s truly all there is to talk about these days. Things are re-opening now, so it makes...
I get many of my best ideas in the shower, don’t you? But there you are, knuckle-deep in lathering shampoo, and all you can do is repeat the idea over and over until you can dry off and reach for something on which to write it down. Recently, I thought I’d found the answer to...