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…

One reason is universal: to share our stories and remember. — Why do we write? For generations, authors have offered their personal musings in answer to the question, why do I write? Joan Didion, said, “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.” Cormac McCarthy, was…

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). …

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…

May Ukraine’s tragic Pieta be the last. — I was going to write about how in each of us is a creative spark. Hidden deep or worn on the skin glowing and luminous, depending on the day or hour. But in the midst of war it feels like an obscene luxury to write about art and inner life…

National Refugee Shabbat calls us to care for refugees around the globe, as well as the urgent tragedy in Ukraine. — I want to praise the melancholy gray skies, the unkempt vines, and a great-grandmother I never knew, about whom I have precious few stories. I want to praise her leaving a life she knew for a promise and a risk. For leading her children out of a place called Chernobyl…

Stand your ground for beauty — My son reads us the headlines aloud from the CNN ticker that updates every few minutes. “There’s a guy they’re calling the Ghost of Kyiv. He shot down six fighter jets.” I understand why this Ghost has captured my son’s (and the world’s) imagination. Like Snoopy’s need to fight the…