lindawis This little story is from Chapter Nine of my memoir, Off Kilter. Practicing the piano was a nerve-wracking challenge, thanks to my father. He sat in an easy chair nearby and made tsk noises with his teeth when I hit the wrong key. I kept on, though, in spite of the anxiety. Playing the piano … Read more
Do you know William Stafford’s poem, You Reading This, Be Ready? He wrote it a few days before his death, in the early morning hours, on the couch where he often wrote. In the poem, he asks the reader “what do you want to remember?” It’s a good question for me, a memoir writer, and … Read more
This month of June in our house is a breath-holding time, suspended in waiting. At the end of May, we attended our younger son’s graduation from college. He followed us home in his car, ready and eager to go on with his life. Over the next three weeks, he arranged interviews … Read more
I’ll be blogging, from time to time, about the books that got me through some of the rough stuff of life. Here’s the first one: Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature by Kathleen Dean MooreMy rating: 5 of 5 stars View all my reviews What books and authors do you hold on to when your … Read more
The contest has ended and the winner of my giveaway prize is: YJ Wang who will be receiving a signed copy of my memoir, Off Kilter, and a package of imported Polish candy. Congratulations to YJ! And a big thank you to everyone who took the time to stop by here and enter the contest. … Read more
Today, a story I’ve been working on for years was published online in bioStories. I remember the first time I shared it aloud in a writing workshop at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. At the time, I thought I was just writing a nice story about my aunts and why I loved them. … Read more
One of my favorite memoirists is Patricia Hampl, and one of her books is titled, The Florist’s Daughter, so I quite consciously modeled the title of my latest article after her book. Back in the 50s, when I was growing up in what was then a small city in upstate New York, my friends and … Read more
Exactly one week before Christmas, I slipped off a step inside my house and broke my left hand. Suddenly, I was on a forced winter vacation. I can’t write, can’t knit, can’t quilt, and can’t drive. What I can do is read, watch TV, take long walks, and think about all kinds of stuff. I’ve … Read more
I’ve been working on my novel for several years now; I have lost count of how many years exactly. At workshops given by experienced novelists, I always learn something that will make my story better. I love the process of adding subtext, developing characters, and using place mini-crises to move the plot forward. But some … Read more
Here’s another Six Sentence Sunday excerpt from my memoir, Off Kilter: “Recently, I’ve begun to think of scoliosis as a metaphor for my life. I’ve struggled to please teachers, employers, parents, boyfriends, husbands, twisting myself into someone I can’t be. I hurt when I do this, because it’s not natural. But when I stretch my … Read more