We sat near the back fence framed by hammered mirrors and garden spiders; she was on her 24th cigarette. She spoke with a thick tongue and sometimes indecipherable accent, but I knew she’d given something away years, most probably decades, ago. She’d come to America in 1999, from Russia, told fast money could be found [...]

  (Photo taken in New York’s West Village, October 2008)   A few months ago, I joined a writer’s coaching meeting that consisted of myself and two other people (who are near and dear to me). The ringleader for this meeting was Paul, who made it very clear that we ARE NOT TO READ OUR [...]

I imagine that every person in the world at one point or another, says, “I should write a book.” Whether it be a how-to parenting guide, a memoir about your life in the circus, or a good old-fashioned murder mystery, we’ve all thought it, right?   “I should write a book.”   Or maybe you [...]

As I may have mentioned, I was recently invited to the San Diego Zoo (thanks, Mel) to preview the new Elephant Odyssey exhibit, and as I also may or may not have mentioned, I don’t know yet how to incorporate “PR” content into my blog, so as I am wont to do, I wondered agonizingly [...]

About to get crabs.   I’ve had sex with exactly five (5) men in my whole entire life and one of them is my husband. Don’t get me wrong, I was kissually active, having touched lips with probably 8,500.02 males — and that’s in college alone — but I couldn’t “give” myself to someone unless [...]

My skull feels like it’s full of packing peanuts and my brain is taped in cellophane and bubble wrap all the way at the bottom of the box. So many peanuts! So much digging! And still right when I think I finger a bubble, it’s just another styrofoam peanut. Why so many peanuts, head?   [...]

The below song was inspired by a poem that Stevie Nicks wrote about an…   …Well, I’m not going to tell you yet. I don’t want to put premptive ideas in your head.   I don’t know about you, but I love imagining a writer at work. Often I picture a silent back bent over [...]

  Yesterday, the girls and I walked to the beach. We’ve discovered the most wonderful “secret” passageways leading down to Sunset Cliffs and are spending our time exploring them. There are rusty, rickety metal stairways, cement blocks crumbling into the sea, huge boulders piling the beach, “Do Not Enter” and “Beware” signs, and labyrinth evil [...]

Please consider signing this petition to eliminate drive-through mastectomies. I remember when my mom had hers and I couldn’t imagine her being released within hours of the procedure like is happening to so many woman now.  

Today I’m reminded why do prayers work for some and not for others. Why I’d rather just know, and punch hope. Screw the experimental medicine and the new treatment and the wait and see.   Today in December when I knew you would die and you said no you wouldn’t (NO! YOU WOULDN’T!) I saw [...]

I think I’m re-using PROMPTuesday titles. And I suppose I could check, but I’d much rather put my energy into posting this kick-ass prompt sure to blow your shirt up (a mentalist device otherwise known as “trying to convince oneself”).   Here it is, my pretty, pretty foxes (stands next to the curtain ready to [...]

So the Mom’s Nite Out thing, right? Big news here in San Diego Mommason land for quite some time now, and as such, I’m just itching to show you how it all went down.   But first, as I am wont to do, a little self-deprecating textual overview.   Let me just say that I [...]

  Thanks Tonya. My one true self has never been rendered so perfectly. It’s what my brain would look like if I wore it on the outside.   I wish I could say I have a San Diego Mom’s Nite Out update just waiting for me to finishing touch it before I post, but that [...]

  I didn’t expect to live there long. We never stayed in one place. Maybe a year at the most, and so I remained unsettled. Not in a bad way so much, more like a hummingbird moves from petal to petal, finding nectar in each color, yet keeping in flight, ready to dispatch itself any [...]

  I’ll just put it out there this week:   What was your favorite toy as a child? Write a vignette about playing with it. (What did you feel? Who were you with? Where did you live?)   Let’s hopelessly date ourselves with this one. What do ya say?   Meanwhile, for any new readers, [...]

Do you know that Mom’s Nite Out thing I’ve been talking about all over the place? Well, because It’s something close to my heart, so I’ve made you the below video to explain why it means so much to me.   And because I feel SO strongly about the healing nature of girl time, I [...]

  My friend, Eden, is among 100 semifinalists who’ve been selected for the next round of the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Now she’s in the quarterfinals and would love reviews of her first chapter. Partially based on these reviews, Amazon will announce three finalists for the Grand Prize on May 15.   Eden is [...]