"As you approach the holidays, remember: grief is both a necessity and a privilege. It comes as a result of giving and receiving love. Don’t let anyone take your grief away. Love yourself. Be patient with yourself. And allow yourself to be surrounded by loving,...
Ken Budd recently published a post in The New York Times opinionator blog entitled "When Writers Expose the Dead" about writing a memoir closely describing his deceased father. He raises interesting questions for memoirists writing about people who have "turned in...
Nichole Smith at Chaos in the Country asked me to write a guest post for her blog from the perspective of the family of an organ donor. Nichole understands donation on a very personal level: her niece received a donated heart. We are both grateful for the miracle of...
I'm delighted to be a guest on Choices today, the blog of a wonderful writer and dear friend, Madeline Sharples. Madeline challenged me to write a guest post giving readers the low down on writing memoir. Whenever someone says she is writing a memoir I smile and...
For today's stop on the WOW! Women on Writing blog tour, I am visiting Journaling by the Moonlight, a wonderful site hosted by Tina M. Games. Tina provides tips, encouragement, and resources to journal writers everywhere, with a special focus on mothers. She invited...
“There's no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were.” -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, American president Let’s begin with the sobering statistics: 21,000 children die every day around the world. That translates to a child dying...
About six months after my 19-year-old daughter Maya died, I remember walking home from the commuter train station in so much pain I was not sure I could make it. When I reached my driveway, I was choking back tears. I looked up and saw a giant Redwood tree, the furls...
In our hyperconnected, ping-me-now world, an author’s work is never done. You could spend 24/7 promoting your book and never check off every task. So how do you keep your writing vital and alive while also promoting a book? Today, I'm visiting the Literary Ladies blog...
For today's stop on the WOW! Women on Writing blog tour, I'm visiting Mom Loves 2 Read, to talk about grief recovery - an important skill for mortals. Sooner or later we all lose someone we love. How do we move forward after loss? It’s been 21 years since my...
When I look back on my 25 years of single parenthood, I shake my head in wonder. I pulled on my pantyhose every day (this was in the 1980s and 90s) and went to a corporate job. I made breakfasts and lunches, drove kids to school, helped with homework, scheduled and...