This photo is from a trip I took to Portland in August 2019. The hand is that of my youngest daughter. She and I were out on a walk, exploring her neighborhood. I thought that today, we could use it as a writing prompt. One of my tricks for breaking through writer’s block is to imagine different worlds within the various pictures I see streaming by in my Instagram timeline. It helps me to shift gears when I’m stuck in…..
My mom died on January 27, 2020. Grief is a strange experience. Grief is also NOT linear. Even though she has been gone for three years, there are still memories of her that appear at random times, popping to the top of my consciousness like errant butterflies flitting across a garden full of flowers waving in the breeze. That’s her in the picture—the brunette nestled next to her dad. She was the elder of two “oops babies” that arrived when…..
Writer’s block can be frustrating when you’re facing a blank screen. As the cursor blinks in anticipation of your forthcoming syllables, it can seem a bit accusatory, if not contemptuous. What would you say if I told you there’s a way to write without writing? A life hack that I recommend to busy clients when encouraging them to increase their blogging activity is that they use dictation applications instead of writing. People traditionally speak faster than they type. It’s also…..
Today is writer Virginia Woolf”s birthday. Born in Kensington (a London residential district) 140 years ago, her writing remains as relevant today as it was when she first committed her thoughts to paper. This quote of hers in particular resonates with me as a writer: “If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.” ― Virginia Woolf Writers are observers, and while some writing can be classified as nonfiction, all writing that has…..
What kind of cook are you? The “measure-y, by the book” sort or the stir, sniff and sample sort? For what it’s worth, I think that not only does each approach have merit, but there are certain times when it pays to err on the side of the extreme of either. When I was a little girl, I used to perch on a stool in my grandma’s kitchen and watch as she cooked dinner for us. My knees drawn up…..
At the turn of the year, I ask you to take stock of everything that is going WELL in your life right now. If you’re having a difficult time thinking of anything, here’s one thing to consider: if you can read this, you have access to the internet and the ability to read. This isn’t my attempt to “doom shame” you, and it isn’t meant to minimize the extreme suffering experienced by millions of people this year. However, it is…..
Welcome to the last week of 2021. Making it this far is definitely an achievement and something worth celebrating. New Year’s Day is traditionally a time when people set goals and intentions, designed to shape and change their lives. Like most people I know, including Yours Truly, they prefer to know where they are going. To use a hiking analogy: using a compass keeps us on course; and when visiting a new city, we rely on maps. There is a…..
One of the best features of Twitter is the opportunity to connect with other people around a specific topic via online chats using a hashtag to “sort” the conversation stream apart from the rest of the flow of general tweets. These interactions expand my horizons, introduce me to other minds and concepts and also give me an opportunity to refine my thoughts about any given topic. Today’s post is about blogging, but more specifically, what inspires us to write. There…..
Now that the temperature is beginning to drop into the 40s, I make sure to get at least five miles in during walks around my neighborhood while it’s still relatively warm. Winters in Chicago are usually pretty soul crushing and claustrophobic, but the pandemic has ratcheted my despair levels to eleven. During my walks, I encounter families, dogs, hipsters, teenagers and other people like me who enjoy stretching their legs for some exercise. There are those I encounter regularly, as…..
[ALT TEXT: Did you know: The first poor grade I ever received was from Mrs. Ring in the fourth grade. It was for my penmanship, which she deemed, “borderline illegible.” I vowed to improve my technique. A lesson I took away from that experience is that even the best message is useless unless it can be effectively communicated]. I lived in Iowa when Barack Obama was running for president (both terms). As someone with over three decades of media experience,…..