Picnic in the Park
St. Viateur bagels are a Montreal institution. When Montreal was just a gleam in my eye and my plans still vague, a friend who grew up here was already telling me about "the best bagels in the world." Julia Scott told me I had to go to St. Viateur to sample the...
Mont Royal = Montreal
If you are anything like me (an uniformed American) you might not have realized that Montreal is actually named after a mountain, Mont Royal. Said mountain is in a beautiful park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 - 1903), the same landscape architecture genius...
Are You a Writer?
Waiting for the muse to descend so you can write is, sadly, a tragic fallacy. “Writing is 99 percent perspiration, and one percent inspiration,” a wise person once said. Writing is work, and like any job, it requires commitment and sustained focus. I recently taught a...
Dealing with Noise that Drives you Crazy
I’m sitting in the balcony at Farley’s East Café at a “Shut Up and Write Meetup” attempting to block out the buzz. I could have stayed home. Here, though, I can’t dodge work by starting a load of laundry or suddenly deciding to vacuum. I’m fighting a largely hidden...
A Collection of Shells
"What's this, Mimi?" My granddaughter Francesca pointed at a glass vase of shells on my desk. "That's my shell collection," I said. Her blonde curls bounced as she nodded her head, "Oh," she said, "Can I play with them?" "If you're careful. Some are very fragile, they...
On Retreat
I joke that I’m a recovering Catholic, but really, Catholicism is not something you get over. From time to time, I find myself in a Catholic church, bathed in incense, surrounded by candles, flowers, and statues of the Virgin Mary. I spent many hours immersed in...
Gray Rocks!
Younger people are flocking to salons begging stylists to dye their hair silver. I spent 20 years paying stylists to cover my gray with blonde highlights. Now, gray is the new blonde. Who knew? Last February I decided enough was enough. It was time to go au naturel. I...
The Virtual Life of an Author
Friday I launched my new website. We reached dozens of people and had more than 250 views on the site as a result of posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We did it all from my kitchen table using a live Facebook video feed. I prefer interacting with friends, fans...
Building my Website – Behind the Scenes
As with any construction project, it took longer and cost more than my initial plans, pitting a beautiful vision against the reality of time constraints, competing priorities, and hard work. Rebranding myself as a writer was challenging – and a lot of fun. The project...
Memoir: Teasing Meaning from a Messy Life
Readers of my memoir, Swimming with Maya, often approach and say something like, “After reading your story, I feel as if I know you as an intimate friend. Wasn’t it hard to be so open about your life?” I readily admit that yes, it was hard – the striptease of writing...
