Dear Friends, Family and Followers, As you may know, I am releasing my memoir, Under the Birch Tree this month. I am humbled and thrilled by the positive reviews and reception it has already received. So many of you have already supported me in my writing and I hope you will help me me spread the word about Under the Birch [...]
I recently read through the “memoir” category of books in Kirkus online reviews to see a mixture of abuse and dysfunction, trauma and grief. These were just a few of the many descriptions among an emotional tumult of topics. Though my heart was heavy, I couldn’t relate to their experiences. And because of this, I saw what most other memoirs [...]
Giving away copies of my new book Click on this to enter now!
Connection. That word is well-known and well-used thanks to social media. Our electronic conversations never lack the words “get connected” or “connect with me.” The social media applications—Facebook, Instagram and Twitter —are the top contenders that keep us connected with others. Through our connecting posts, we learn of others’ daily lives, who they meet, places they go, even the foods [...]
You will take over 200 million steps in your lifetime. Imagine if your feet could narrate a travelogue, report miles and destinations, when they are at rest, and injuries they may have sustained. What would they say? They dance and run, burrow in sand, hold you in mountain pose. Your feet connect you. Your feet track memories, record the spot [...]
Do you find yourself taking an unexpected pause during your daily travels? For unexplained reasons you stop to consider a feeling or emotion, even a memory that has suddenly hit you? Consider three scenarios. The first, you take a walk, a hike maybe, along a dirt path through a forest preserve where there is an abundance of trees and other [...]
He reminded me of Dennis Rodman, sans tat art, sporting a sparkly studded gray square earring that covered his earlobe. And he worked a toothpick in his mouth like any good gum chewer works his gum. “So, how ya likin’ this weather?” the dark-skinned driver asked me as I took a big step up to slide into the front seat [...]
I'm usually not a rule breaker. But, full disclosure: my memoir, Under the Birch Tree, reflects a rule, a memoir is not an autobiography, that I broke. Though Under the Birch Tree is now memoir, it maintains characteristics of autobiography. How I handled this telltale suggestion tipped the category from autobiography to memoir. The leap from a chronological autobiography to a memoir [...]
The asphalt path just north of Oak Street was abuzz with bikers, runners, inline skaters and walkers. Warmth radiated from a sunny sky to cool the early afternoon spring air. I jumped on the path to join the others in a pace too fast for me then but would later be a rhythm I could fold into. Following a pulse [...]
I am three months away from publication of my memoir, Under the Birch Tree, published by She Writes Press. To be honest, I feel as though I’m hurrying up to wait. While indulging in the need to be doing something, I absorb social media, from Facebook to Pinterest and all media in between. I take notice of my fellow authors’ posts, their follower numbers, [...]