Spring is upon us at last! I write from the chair next to the window in my second story office from which I can see the apple tree beginning to blossom. In the side yard near my garden is a subspecies of apple that is not crab apple but blooms hot pink like a crab … Continue reading Pleasant Fifty-Year-Old Female
I'm writing to see who's out there after a long, unannounced hiatus ... Nobody died, nobody was born and no books got published. People grew. We're in the thick of middle school. I finished another novel. A new platform is coming soon, of which this blog will be a part. I just really wanted to … Continue reading Welcome Back.
Take a walk. Notice things. The scrubby park where you take the dog has been mowed. There is now a trail through the grass, thigh-high grass. Just yesterday it was April and you were walking through here looking at dead stems and discarded dog-fetching sticks. Now, on the day you’ve forgotten a fetch toy, you … Continue reading How To Survive the Last Day of School
Readers! About two months ago, I took a look at my inventory. The last essay I had published was in 2007, on literarymama.com. I had a poem published in Pearl magazine out of Berkeley in 2008; that magazine has since shut it doors. This is a peril of the long form: not a lot of … Continue reading Shameless Self Promotion: Part l
Every January for as long as I’ve lived in this region there comes a day, if not the better part of a week, of freakishly warm winds. I’ve written about this elsewhere, reported stories from Wyoming drivers who were forced to pull over when their windshields suddenly fogged over. I learned years ago the phenomenon … Continue reading The Snow Eater
I don't want to follow Tipper Gore's lead and start another Parental Advisory bru-ha-ha, but I've gotten into some trouble recently with my advanced reader. I've got an eleven year old who's reading beyond her grade level, and I know a lot of people in this situation: your reader is eager to read, picks up … Continue reading Your Young Reader: A List
In case you need a reminder as to what we were living with: Sept 10th was counter top installation. We are getting close. Floors sanded and sealed next week, our final move out before really moving in.
The remodel: Before: Late July August, as we prepare to move home: Yee Haw!
Okay my title was a ploy. There aren't any gifts. And I don't have it, my nine year old son does. I'll spare you the dull but trying process of getting the right diagnosis. Four doctors and a very high fever later, we are several days into the right antibiotic. But this isn't like strep … Continue reading The Gifts of Pneumonia
The novel I'm reading is set in Montana in the eighties. Since I'm writing a book set in Montana, I thought I'd better take a look at what's out there in the way of depicting modern Montana. This one raised my hopes because it was new, it was set in the last 30 years, it … Continue reading Country Life and the Western Writer