Those Who Wander Find Themselves: Three Peculiar Days in Alaska
10/26/14 Train from Anchorage to Talkeetna Despite the early morning departure, drunken revelers in full Halloween costume fill my train car. Not quite in the mood for their unapologetic reverie,…
Finding My Footing
I fail being alone. Camper in the woods – just my dogs and me. The fates occupy all members of my immediate family with business trips and family trips. My mother…
Do I Really Have to Move Today? Crafting Challenge in a World of Comfort
I am a runner, so are so many other writers. Perhaps we run for clarity, or concentrated problem solving, or even for the lovely void of thought that may open…
Six Lessons about Memoir Writing
This is a guest post by bestselling memoirist and friend Abigail Carter. Abigail attended a writing workshop in Sonoma hosted by Theo Nestor, author of Writing Is My Drink. What follows are the lessons…
Manufacturing Authority for Fun and Profit: Three Moments of Misplaced Belief
My daughter’s recent and traumatic first day of seventh grade has me again pondering how we accept authority. My perspectives on this topic have been shaped by three distinct epiphanies.…
Fear, Loathing and Writing a Memoir
Perhaps you love to write. Perhaps you dream about writing a memoir. Before you begin, the fear sets in. What will my mother think? Like two writerly super heroes, Anne Lamott and…
What Happens to the Love We Forget?
What happens to the experiences we forget? If we forget a day, or place, or a love, is it as though it never happened? Years ago, I stopped taking photographs.…
These Blues Will Get Me Through
The struggle is one eternal and relentless, the one of woman and man versus house and finance, versus each other, versus children and laundry and summer vacation, versus unfinished manuscript.…
Collateral Damage: Causalities of the Girl I Used to Be
The crimes of my youth surfaced with the arrival of my old friend in my city. I first met Josh the summer I worked at the Old Faithful resort in…
How Do You Become a Writer?
When do you know that you're a real writer? Is it the first moment you pick up the pen and scratch out a sentence, or is it back when you…
