As you know, writing is a solitary profession. Writing groups and groups of writers can help combat the isolation and I’m lucky to have both–a weekly writing group as well as a writer’s collective to keep me company and cheer me on. The five women in my Paper Lantern Writers writer’s collective all share a [...]
The sun is hiding today. Taking a rest from all those brilliant days and exquisite sunsets we had through the holidays. I peeked outside at the mauve hellebores barely visible in the fog before scurrying back inside to pick up a new book someone thought I’d like for Christmas or an old favorite that nobody [...]
Because two friends I walk with in the early morning have been out of town for the past few weeks—summer travel has begun!—I’ve switched up my morning exercise routine by taking more yoga classes at the swim club down the road. Not entirely awake I stumble over to the sound of bird-song and the rhythmic [...]
I recently attended a wonderful writer’s conference near Bend, Oregon sponsored by Women Writing the West. One of the most memorable sessions of the conference was a workshop on “Landscape as Character” led by two Colorado writers – Dawn Wink and Susan J. Tweit. For anyone writing about people and places in the West, the landscape [...]
Today the air smells like smoke and the sky is buzzing with helicopters. I suspect they’re monitoring the fires north of us that are burning out of control. I am watching them circle the Bay and thinking about the Oakland Hills Firestorm in 1991. We didn’t lose our home but close friends did and I [...]
Achew! Pardon me while I reach for another box of tissues. It’s been awhile since I’ve had the kind of cold that keeps me up all night and napping through the day, but this week a doozy of a virus reminded me why it’s decongestants and not diamonds that are a girl’s best friend. I [...]
Reading about the young Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, this link to an earlier film about her life appeared. Watching it I was struck by her shy smile, the rushing waters where she lived in northern Pakistan and the inescapable violence that surrounded her. But I was also fascinated by her parents–the never photographed mother [...]
Every time I return from a trip I think “I’ve got to find a way to do this more often.” Not because my everyday life is so tedious, but because traveling helps me make the most of my day-to-day world. I always return more focused on what I want to do and less burdened by [...]
At the end of a rainy Friday, I left the house to run a quick errand and found myself chasing rainbows all the way home. I spotted the first one as I rounded a corner in downtown Oakland and immediately pulled over to admire it. Hoping to find a more open vista I drove a few [...]
Ever since I finished a ten-years-in-the-making quilt top on Tuesday, I’ve been happily plucking clipped loose threads off my furniture, clothing—even my hair brush. Now the top (and back) are off to be professionally quilted and I’m savoring the delicious pause between completed and new projects. I’m also taking a little break from fiction writing [...]
