I recently re-read Persuasion by Jane Austen and was struck by this description of Anne’s friend, Mrs. Smith (who is not much older than herself) … “She had no child to connect her with life and happiness again, no relations to assist in the arrangement of perplexed affairs, no health to make all the rest supportable….
Blog Posts
The Good News about a Messy Middle
What L.M. Montgomery’s most fearless heroine teaches us about the path of true transformation … The first time I read The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery, I didn’t love it. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t consider it some of Maud’s greatest work (in league with Anne of Green Gables and the Emily of New…
Dead or dormant? (And a song)
Do you ever feel like your creativity died when your adult responsibilities took over? This is a topic that comes up occasionally among my friends who are raising young children. It sometimes feels like there’s just no time, or energy, to explore creative habits, old or new. While it’s true that seasons ebb and flow…
The good news about birds: a song
After I shared my last post about the chorus of birds I was tuning into, and how the habit tends to realign my perspective to reality … I thought it would be fun to record a song for you. I wrote this song 17 years ago, in college, and played it at many-an-open mic night/Starbucks…
Ten Fiction Books to Realign your Perspective to Reality
The birds are singing a full-on chorus right now, have you noticed? They must do this every year, but ever since we moved to the country, I’ve noticed things in nature that went undetected in our former bustling city life. What they are singing about, we can only guess. But I like to wonder what…
Sour Cream Softies: A cookie to die for
You can read all about what I learned about my German heritage, and my sweet German grandma Fern who gave this cookie tradition to my family, in Eat Like a Heroine, but the primary purpose of this blog post is to get the scent of these perfectly fluffy cookies wafting through your kitchen ASAP.
If Your Story Had a Cover …
I have a question. If whatever it is you are going through right now – your current story – had a front and back cover, would it be easier to let go of the ending? This, of course, assumes you struggle with letting go, like I do. I struggle in very subtle ways I’ve come…
Leisure: the foundation of the creative life
There is a crucial component to the creative process that feels frustratingly ironic when you are in the throes of bringing something to life, and that is: leisure. You can’t freely create from a place of love if you are running around trying to control the outcome. And yet, things have to get done. I…
BIG NEWS: Cover reveal and pre-orders open!
I’m so excited to share the cover of my book with Lorilee Craker, Eat Like a Heroine: Nourish and Flourish with Bookish Stars from Anne of Green Gables to Zora Neale Hurston AND share that it is now available for pre-order! The book will be available everywhere books are sold on August 6, but our…
Are You a Seed? Part I
I’ve been thinking a lot about seeds lately … I’ve also been incorporating butterflies into my work more, and wondering about an area of my creative life that has remained dormant for many years, that has recently, without explanation, become alive again. (More on that another time.) So more broadly, you could say I’ve been…
