I gave a speech at my Toastmasters Club last week, and during the feedback session following the speech, one of the members in the audience said my speech almost made her sick. I took it as a compliment, which is exactly how she meant it. The speech was for a Tall Tales Contest, which is something I love taking part in. It gives me a chance to stretch my imagination, to improve my vocal variety and pacing, and to spend a little time being just [...]
“The Title Whisperer.” That’s the name someone gave me at a recent meeting of our WOW group, after I came up with book titles for three of the members who were there. WOW stands for Women of Words, and it’s a monthly writers group I belong to. We don’t meet to get feedback on our writing, but to share publishing and marketing advice and resources, and to support and celebrate each other’s work. Many of the women in the group are already published authors and [...]
It happened again last week. And, just as it has in the past, it caught me completely off-guard. I was at 5:15 Mass on Ash Wednesday, and hoping that my stomach wouldn’t start growling during the quiet parts of the Mass. This was a possibility not only because it was getting close to dinner time, but because I had followed the Lenten restrictions for Ash Wednesday, which are to abstain from eating meat, to refrain from eating between meals, and to have only one full [...]
“For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway, who was a master of the short story and of tight, spare writing, once made a bet that he could write an entire story in six words. With the above “ad,” he won the bet. This story – both the one by Hemingway and the one about him – has inspired a number of literary organizations and publications over the years to sponsor writing contests challenging participants to write stories consisting of a [...]
I spent last weekend at my dad’s house – the house that we moved into when I was nine years old, and that for me defines the word “home” when you talk about going home for the holidays. The main reason for the visit was to help celebrate my nephew’s 13th birthday on Saturday, and to attend the rock concert he was performing in that same day. He’s been taking guitar lessons for about four years, and every three or four months, the school arranges [...]
I slipped and fell while I was out running errands last weekend. Considering how much and how often it’s been snowing and freezing this winter, it’s probably surprising I haven’t taken a tumble long before now. As falls go, this one was pretty minor. It was a short slip, with a soft landing in a snowbank, which is a lot better than hitting the pavement or landing on the rock-hard asphalt of my driveway. I’ve done that a few times in winters past while going [...]
The world has lost a gentle and wonderful man. Most of the world never knew him, of course, and has no idea what a treasure he was – or how much he will be missed, and by how many people. But I do. After being healthy, active, and extremely social well into his 80’s, my father fell victim to a number of health issues and incidents that kept him either in the hospital or in a care center since early November. He passed away at [...]
I had an unsettling dream last week – not once, but twice. The dreams were very different from each other, but somewhat related. The common element was school, and in both of the dreams I found myself totally confused and unprepared. The first one was a common type of recurring dream. I was in college, and suddenly realized that it was the day before finals and I wasn’t ready. For one class, I wasn’t even sure where the classroom was. For another, I was flipping [...]
One of the gifts I received this Christmas was a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle of Betty Boop. I’ve always been a Betty Boop fan and collector, and I love doing jigsaw puzzles. One of my fond childhood memories is of sitting at a card table set up in the living room, working on jigsaw puzzles with my mom, dad, and sisters. I started the Betty Boop puzzle on the weekend after New Year’s Day, setting it up in our family room and working on it while [...]