It’s probably not such a good idea to put domestic paperwork into a pile in my writing area. Without fail, I end up not putting important dates onto the calendar; I forget to pay bills; I lose track of “must sign” schoolwork for the children.     Every so often, I’ll tackle “the pile.” I’ll […]

Read more "Picking Through the Pile"

I’m sure that when high school seniors get those acceptance letters from Harvard University there are several among them who figure that someone has pulled a practical joke on them. The crest is easy enough to find on the internet and with today’s high-resolution printers, a dummy letter could be slapped together with ease. Standing […]

Read more "At First I Thought It Might Be a Practical Joke"

This morning I awoke to a curse on my day. It wasn’t some happenstance misfortune. It wasn’t a surprise. The curse was planned, outlined, and executed with precision. I will be spending my day with a special song in my head thanks to my dear, sweet husband who in the late–and unsupervised–small hours of the […]

Read more "The Worm that Keeps on Singing"

The spring season is still many weeks away. The fields remained closed. Most kids and parents haven’t a clue where the uniform and equipment were stored at the end of last season. Doesn’t matter. The posturing, threatening, and grandstanding has begun: parents advocating for their “super-star” to be put on the A Team roster, coaches […]

Read more "The Scummy Underbelly of Kids’ Sports"

While many people chart out their personal objectives based on a triggering event, usually a date like the start of a year, the start of a month, or even a Monday, I’m thwarting convention and picking the second Tuesday in March to set down some goals. As the date is random, so is the order […]

Read more "Everyone Needs Goals for the Day"

Reflecting on the last couple of days, the phrase “First in, first out” came to mind. No, it’s not the motto of the Marines–which I thought when it first popped into my head. In fact, it’s not the motto of ANY armed forces unit. The closest I could find was the U.S. Army’s Pathfinders’ motto: […]

Read more "“First in, First out”"

When I was in college, I would delay, procrastinate, and put off what I needed to get done until the very last minute–usually at the end of the semester. “Finals Week” for me was a collection of empty 12-oz. diet soda cans and a haze of chain-smoked cigarettes. (For the record:  I have long since […]

Read more "Working Under a Deadline"

While it’s easy to be measured in comments about those things of which we are wholly ignorant, it’s less easy to keep our mouths shut when it comes to the wider categories. For instance, I’d never contribute to a conversation about coding. In fact, never having heard a conversation about coding, I’m not sure these […]

Read more "You Never Know . . . Unless You’re Told"

I deserve either a medal or a public flogging. Yesterday I managed to be some odd incarnation of myself. Possessed with the spirit of awful, I went off the rails twice: once with the 15-year-old and once with the dog; and to complete the “bad things come in threes” truth, blew it with my son–on […]

Read more "Trifecta of Parental Failure"

Yesterday I learned of a competition where fifteen editors volunteer their time to work on a manuscript (or two) with writers who wish to tighten and strengthen their fully-completed MSs. After those 15-30 MSs are honed and polished, there is an “agent round” where the writers can pitch their now-stronger novels to prearranged literary agents with the […]

Read more "Betting on a Long Shot"