Advice for Writing and Living in 2022 — It is okay to get started slowly; it is Monday, after all, and only the second of the year. It is okay if you could not sleep last night. Neither could I, nor could Pearl, whose paws clicked back and forth from the hall into our bedroom and back again…

Every year, a new chance to choose love. — This is what we are given. An invitation — to write, to meet, or maybe to listen — and the discernment to accept or reject. Hunches, gut reactions steering us toward yes or no, if we can get quiet enough to listen. I heard a doctor on a podcast describe…

The arrival of my first son made me a mother; the looming departure of my youngest heralds the empty nest. — My youngest son graduates high school this year. I guess that means I graduate from this phase of life, too. I have been driving myself — and probably my son — crazy with my insatiable hunger to reminisce. When I look at him, I cannot resist casting my mind to…

Every single one of us has a voice, and zero excuses for staying silent. — Who am I to talk about carnage and sorrow, or mental health and Senate rules? I am not a police officer or forensics expert. I am not a psychiatrist or a Senator. I am not a leader of a movement or a grieving parent. But I am an angry, broken-hearted…

Two voices vie for prominence: Try harder. Let go. — Listen, little budding ballerina: Try to improve one thing each week. Not instant perfection, just steady progress. That double pirouette you cannot land? That need not be the final word. Keep at it. You do not have to accept that stumbling limitation as the best you can ever do. Decide…

All of that and more in my interview with Zibby Owens on “Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books” podcast. — I revealed here about two weeks ago that my interview on Zibby Owens’ “Moms Don’t Have Time to Read” podcast would go live on my birthday. Then I got so distracted that I neglected to share it. Better late than never! Listen to the interview on Apple podcasts, Spotify or…

By celebrating ourselves we permit others to do the same…and an announcement! — When I was little, I started planning my April birthday party as soon as the old year turned into the new. I made a guest list (eight girls), planned the menu (pizza, cake), and arranged the entertainment (Red Light Green Light; Truth or Dare). …

Motivation for courageous living — Maybe today will be the day you polish the stones you gathered as mementos on your journeys, sure that you would always remember where you found them, who you were with, and what you believed they would speak to you when, home again between your walls, cracked in the corner…

Inspired by “AntiLamentation” by Dorianne Laux — Regret nothing. Not the broken springs and torn upholstery on the sofa whose seafoam color soothes you still. Not the unexamined impulse to take home these dogs who wake you with their scratching and licking; not their jumping off the bed you were supposed to train them not to jump…