My husband’s been working from home for the last week or so and it’s been very, um, enlightening. Thanks to Fragrant Liar’s recent post, it occurred to me to research our respective personality types so I could better understand our inter-dynamics and optimize our unexpected together time. As such, I’ve discovered that I am an [...]

This Saturday, I’m auditioning for something where I have to get up in front of people and talk. Boy am I nervous. I’ve written before that my fortes are pen, paper, and the keyboard. Say my words? Yikes. Sure I did it once before, but before I even began to talk I stood shaking for [...]

I took the weekend off from most things that exist online. I had to because I’ve been suffering from over-stimulation and saturation. It’s affecting everything — my creativity most horrifyingly of all. You know how when you exist within the same boundaries for too long and start to think that’s all there is? And your [...]

{{I’m just about there. Almost done. This holds me accountable. Next? Revisions. Oy gevalt.}}   The map fell with a clap from the front door and then all went quiet, except for the crackling of the fire. Annie tuned to look and in the flames saw the outline of someone familiar.   “Is that?” Coriander [...]

  Me (the blonde) and Romy (the exotic dark-haired beauty) Neither one was included in the swag bag. Photo from JennKL Photography   Sometimes a girl’s gotta break up the monotony of Big Jerks and hack parenting with a post about fun stuff she likes, you know?   This is that post.   But first [...]

  The month after I turned eight, my mom’s sister, Auntie Jo, invited me to her hip San Francisco apartment for Chinese food, the Nutcracker, and a sleepover. I red-lined the days on a calendar pinned to my wall, and after interminable, anguished waiting, finally crossed off the last numbered square. As I’d imagined for [...]

Today? This is your creative writing prompt mission:   If you could live within any book for a week, which one would it be?   Please post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.   First time to PROMPTuesday? Read a bit [...]

Teaching a child confidence.

It’s IndieInk Writing Challenge day once more. It dawned bright this morning, and I suddenly remembered the challenge Michael at Innocents and Accidents, Hints and Allegations issued to me this week. It was, simply, “Eight hundred.”   I pick up my glass. Again. For the eight hundredth time. I finish it quickly and re-fill. The [...]

Part One is Here.   We made arrangements. Big Jerk would fly to San Diego and meet me at my parent’s home. Meanwhile, his mom and aunt and grandma (oh my!) would drive from Los Angeles to reunite with the Jerk for a day before he left the state again. And BOY, did they show [...]

I have The site my friends and I put together? Might help you navigate the lay of the land that is SAN DIEGO, NOT Houston.   Wait. That line is kind of growing on me. “San Diego. NOT Houston.”   I bet Texans are gonna love us.  

Honestly? For the last few months or so, I’ve given much thought to retiring PROMPTuesday. There’s so many outstanding prompt websites out there, many which I visit regularly, that do it RIGHT. Stuff like full-on websites devoted to the prompting, Twitter parties, newsletters even. AND with all the prompt excellence, I don’t want to be [...]

  That’s my dad on the right. NOT the Big Jerk. This picture was taken about four years after the Big Jerk incident. There is no reason this photo is here. Other than the Big Jerk does not deserve to be pictorally represented.   In the sultry late summer of 1993, I packed up my [...]

It’s IndieInk Writing Challenge day! This one comes from Miss Ash, who prompted a quote from the book Little Bee: “I could not stop talking because now I had started my story, it wanted to be finished. We cannot choose where to start and stop. Our stories are the tellers of us.”   And so [...]

Boy. First of all, I’m LATE. I know. It’s Wednesday. Secondly, I haven’t updated much lately. I’ve been other places, but still. I miss my space here. Thirdly, I am once again re-running a “Greatest Hits” prompt. This one originally came from May, 2009. But I love it, I really do, and I plan to [...]

Today I have two things (posts? pieces? essays?) up (down? written? published?) at two of my favorite places on the Internet. The first is a searing (I’m just trying to sound important) look at free-floating anxiety (MINE, despite its title “Not Me”) (also there’s a wolf) (and I don’t use parentheses) at IndieInk, an inspiring [...]

I first met Mia, my most high esteemed hair stylist, when I was three months pregnant with Toots. My hair — normally a nest for rats on even the best days — was a ball of frizz and tangles. My face looked like zit pizza, and my stomach wanted to throw up all the time. [...]

  I sit here with a high-fevered little girl and to-do list stuffed to the gills…so I am re-running a PROMPTuesday from many moons ago. I hope you find it enjoyous.   Today’s PROMPTuesday is lifted from Naomi Epel’s The Observation Deck, and is:   Show, don’t tell! — a cardinal rule of writing — [...]