What’s in a surname, anyway?

As a youngster, my DNA was evident through my green eyes, light brown hair with a cowlicked plume of honey-streaked hair just above my right eye. Could these physical traits have been carried down the DNA ladder? I recently did one of those DNA tests to find out about my ancestry. With a Polish mother and an English father, I [...]

2018-09-19T20:25:23+00:00September 19, 2018|Categories: ancestry, home, memoir writing|Tags: , , , |

A walk outside-to connect is to belong

There’s a tinge of change in the air. Maybe it’s the air’s cooling in the evening or the lack of sunlight awakening chirpy birds in pre-dawn. Perhaps the change is marked by kids returning to school. Though a season’s transition is knocking on the calendar’s door, I remain driven to the outdoors. Late summer into early fall delivers a changing [...]

How we discover connections, let me count the ways!

Whether we realize it or not, we’re making connections every hour of the day. No, I’m not talking about connecting to new friends on Facebook, hashtagging our posts, or following others on Instagram. The connections I’m referring to are organic, emotional and are a part of our walk through the every day. My recent read of Alice Water’s memoir, Coming [...]

post publication – the unexpected

And what a post publication week it has been! On pub day, Culturalist included Under the Birch Tree in its “Top 10 Inspiring Stories of Self-Discovery to Read When You’re Feeling Lost.” And Buzzfeed listed my memoir as “Five Captivating Memoirs You Need to Read This Summer.”  My book made a list? I certainly didn't expect my book to make [...]

i called you a memoir, part II

  “I considered creating you after I read Summers with Juliet by Bill Roorbach and realized how a memoir such as this could be so inspiring and magical while understated in innocence and adventure and complement to nature. I had something uplifting to express as I could communicate my own experiences, drawing connections to places and people and home, despite [...]

scenes from my father

Today we celebrate Father’s Day by connecting with fathers and grandpas in ways that make us feel comforted, secure and with the familiar, like being at home. For me, as a little girl, my desire to seek a connection with my father was as strong as my wish to feel at home with him. Back then, a connection, inherent between [...]

to publish or not to publish

To publish or not to publish, that was the question. I’m into my first week of pub month of my memoir and I’ve been asked if it was my goal to publish. I hesitated in answering because I honestly didn’t know. My intent had always been to just write and working on my manuscript was no exception. At the very [...]

“Get connected”- not in the way you think

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 [...]

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