Blog
WRITING
BOOK_draft_v4_FINAL_new.docx
Let's talk about the file you're not opening. Mmmm-hmmmm. You know the one. It's got a name like BOOK_draft_v4_FINAL_new.docx, and it lives in a folder you scroll past on purpose. You know roughly how many words are in it. You know exactly how long it's been since you...
I’ve spent fifteen years making my husband sound useless
Every so often I write about Walt. How he got it in his head that sub-arctic temperatures sounded like a nice week away, and I went along with it, and came home short a few toenails. How I hand him the rental car counter, because I know he's going to chew those people...
My therapist said Candace was a gift. I asked for Prozac.
“Jealousy,” according to writer Anne Lamott, “ is such a direct attack on whatever measure of confidence you’ve been able to muster. But if you continue to write, you are probably going to have to deal with it, because some wonderful, dazzling successes are going to...
How to save $27 and lose $200k
I'm at a stage in life and in business that requires me to kill some old habits. Oh, being frugal and learning to do it all on my own has gotten me here, but it won't get me where I want to go. I know that. Maybe you do too. Which is where this story comes in.
READING
My daughter’s fancy school gave me one thing worth keeping
Long ago, the private high school my daughter attended had a wonderful yearly tradition. At the beginning of summer, they'd mail a reading list--a compilation of each teacher's favorite books--to the house. Now, I'm sure the design was to encourage students to read...
My mother has no idea what’s wrong with her (and she’s fine with that)
On Saturday I called my mother to check on her. She's getting up there in age, and she'd been flat on her back for a couple of weeks. Zero appetite. Which, if you know my mother, is the part that should worry you. The woman has never met a casserole she couldn't...
I once tried to hire a Navy Seal to babysit
Decades ago, back when my kids were just edging into adolescence, my best friend was a fellow single mother. She played cello in an orchestra, which meant she worked nights — orchestras don't tend to perform at lunchtime — and I often kept her son at my place when she...
Why I just lost two hours to a vegan TikTok (and what it taught me about your book)
The other night Walt sent me an Instagram reel of a Korean American woman making army stew while she told a story about her father, as a teenager, running for his life from police who'd just gunned down student protesters in 1960. Her dad's takeaway from a near-death...
LIFE
The Gortex thing is a lie
Walt has been telling the story of how we met for twenty-one years, and he has never once gotten it right. His version: he was on Match.com, scrolling, and he came across a woman whose profile claimed she enjoyed a little black dress as much as she enjoyed Gortex....
I’ve spent fifteen years making my husband sound useless
Every so often I write about Walt. How he got it in his head that sub-arctic temperatures sounded like a nice week away, and I went along with it, and came home short a few toenails. How I hand him the rental car counter, because I know he's going to chew those people...
My therapist said Candace was a gift. I asked for Prozac.
“Jealousy,” according to writer Anne Lamott, “ is such a direct attack on whatever measure of confidence you’ve been able to muster. But if you continue to write, you are probably going to have to deal with it, because some wonderful, dazzling successes are going to...
How to save $27 and lose $200k
I'm at a stage in life and in business that requires me to kill some old habits. Oh, being frugal and learning to do it all on my own has gotten me here, but it won't get me where I want to go. I know that. Maybe you do too. Which is where this story comes in.
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