I recently read about Greg Weinman in the Chicago Tribune newspaper who inherited over 2,000 newspapers, historically headlined, his father had collected for nearly a century. He needed to dispose of them because he is moving and no longer has the space to store them. Libraries and universities didn’t want them so he will lay them out on his driveway [...]
While I was writing my memoir, I had envisioned my book’s cover to be a picture perhaps of an elegant landscape in oil paints of wispy birch trees with their wavy leaves in soft greens, peeling bark in degrees of white to muddy grey and tan. The image would speak to you, inviting you to join me on my search [...]
I launched my memoir, Under the Birch Tree, ten months ago. My book events have wound down and are now inching along in pace with the spring weather. I recently attended three book club events in the past couple of months, and I was surprised at what I learned from them. Book club events are underrated and I underestimated my [...]
There's a lot written about starting a memoir, how to do it, how to organize it, if you have enough reflection and takeaways. And then there’s how to structure your memoir, too. But what happens after you’ve completed your revisions and edits, when you believe you have a finished work ready for the eyes of prospective publishers? Not so fast. Did [...]
The brightness of a sunny spring day and the clarity of a blue sky forced their way into the meeting room's tall windows. Multiple rows of six chairs were lined up like soldiers readying for their commands while a podium stood at the front of it all. The Chicago Writers Conference (CWA) was about to start. This was my first [...]
Recently, a best friend lost her beloved four-legged companion of thirteen years. I thought of how she must have felt: alone, lost, and sad. Eight-week-old Sydney had become family after my friend secured a job and then a new home, both of which she loved. Sydney was her connection to memories of being in a good place, of happiness and [...]
Instead of writing personal truth and reflection why not tap into my imagination with fiction writing? With no formal education or even self-study of any genre of fiction, I figured a slow and incremental start, dabbling in a few slush-piles of personal essays, would be my best foray into turning them into unexplored fictional ground. My delight wasn’t because of [...]
I find most reasons writers write are self-centered, inner directed, maybe even self-serving. Don’t get me wrong. I consider writers to be artists and artists create from the self, personal expressions manifested through words or pictures. But I wonder if there could be more to the egocentric responses." “Why I Write,” a title of an essay consistently pops up in writing [...]
Did you see “Green Book” and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” two movies that recently won Golden Globe awards? Did you catch that "Green Book" was divisive? Did you notice that Dr. Don Shirley didn’t consider his driver a close friend? That Dr. Shirley was estranged from his Black Family? Or how about “Bohemian Rhapsody”. While watching, did you track the [...]
I love the holidays, but I can dread them, too. As they quickly approach I expect a repeat of what happens every year—stress, loss of sleep, change in diet, inconsistent exercise, cluttered mind. And now after taking down and packing away the holiday decorations, I welcome the reintroduction of a routine I once knew well. I want to be [...]