Proust may have had bouts of nostalgia remembering the taste of madeleines, but I woke today feeling nostalgic for my life in Africa, especially Tanzania. Out of the blue, and many years since I last heard it, I started singing the National Anthem of Tanzania. “Mungu Ibaraki Afrika”… There is much I miss about those […]
Remembrance of Things Past. Read More »
Taxes bloody taxes…is there anything more aggravating than all those little bits and pieces of paper with sums on them having to be organized and counted and set in a list and pray that you won't be over paying or worse underpaying! I think we are done, I pray we are done, wrapping everything up….I
The Once a Year Anguish of Taxes Read More »
There are moments in writing that feel so spontaneous that it is hard to believe they have come from oneself but instead are descended in the form of a writerly-grace. When Jane Yolen and I wrote Except the Queen, we began by separately creating characters, each with their voice and chapters, intuitively stitching them together
One Does Not Say No to Baba Yaga Read More »
I love this beautiful image from artist Ana Teresa Barboza because it is precisely how I feel these days as I work on healing myself from a series of unexpected near disasters. Three years ago, I discovered my cholesterol was somewhere in the stratosphere, an inheritance from my father, who died of arterial sclerosis. I
The Year I Stitch Myself Back Together Again Read More »
When it comes to writing novels, I am tortoise. At least with the first half, and there is something thrilling about the second half, like sliding down a long snowy hill, or as in below, leaping off the top step. I am still the tortoise right now. For assistance, I return to a 1968 Paris Review
When the Tortoise and Then the Hare Sit Down to Write Read More »
I am bringing an old post back because I wanted to review again the fabulous discussion on women's art, especially the work of Katherine Ace and the events that surround and shape the direction of women's lives. And re-reading it again, I still find it as fascinating and with much to offer as when we
Katherine Ace: The Open Ended Metaphor Read More »
Probably because my status has shifted from mother to um…crone (even though I don't have the long white braid wrapped around my head like a secret ninja whip — wouldn't that be cool? )…I have been rediscovering with a new found pleasure all those story variants of the old woman who went to hell and
To Hell with a Handbag. Read More »
We had a great time in the mountains in Pittsburgh, hiking and taking pictures of a wide variety of mushrooms — most of them unknown to us. Whenever I am in the woods, especially one as green and dreamy as this place, I just want to camp out and breathe deeply of the moist, fresh
The Amazing Varieties of Mushrooms: Family Hike Read More »
I am excited to see the first of my revised novels about to go live in a Kindle Edition. It has been a long journey for me (with more than enough roadblocks and frustrations along the way) but joyful, too, as my dream starts to come true. You can find the Kindle edition of the
Hannah’s Garden Available in Kindle Edition Read More »
It is such a luxury to live along the Colorado Front Range, surrounded by beautiful high mountains, forests, rivers, and a wide diversity of flora and fauna. We had a great time at a recent family hike up Mt. Brainard, which tops out at a little above 10,000 feet. The forests were full of wild
