Do you feel compelled to finish a book, even if you’re not enjoying it? I used to, but no longer. I got angry with books I didn’t like because I felt that once I started reading, I was committed to reading until the bitter end. Talk about pressure–pressure on myself, and pressure on the poor …Read More

  There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about. –Helen Frankenthaler In describing this piece, Gen said that the figures are a man and a woman, but do not represent any particular country or race. Our …Read More

    Lots of critter stories this week, and the dress search continues… Cancer-sniffing dogs are so amazing: a study with a 100% accuracy rate. Literature by the Numbers: No surprise that James Patterson is an overachiever when it comes to clichés, and James Joyce loved exclamation points. Fun with lit statistics. If you attach …Read More

Time for a bit of a ramble: Sometimes I think I got a double dose of the Mom Gene. Or maybe it’s that touch of co-dependency that I’ve been working so hard to divest–but I feel compelled to get up and see my 17 year-old off to school each morning. As an ADHD mom with …Read More

Around here, we had winter back in November, spring last week, a brief reappearance of winter over the weekend, and summer on Monday. I’m not sure where that leaves us here at the end of March. But I do know that chili season is quickly slipping away. At least until next November, anyway. It’s not …Read More

  (This is a re-post but it’s all weirdly relevant right now, I’m sorry to say. I’m also at the Kill Zone blog today talking journals.)   A few days ago, I attended a social function during which one of my husband’s academic colleagues politely asked me what I was working on. “I’m 1800 words …Read More

  I can’t grow an orchid to save my life. A good friend sent me one a couple of years ago, and I kept it alive for six months. At least it gave every sign of being alive. In the seventh month, it started looking a bit petrified. Plus the cat thought it was a …Read More

Tonight (Monday) I’ll be at St. Louis’s Contemporary Art Museum, doing a reading/appearance with poet Matthew Olzmann (whom I haven’t yet met) as part of the River Styx Reading series. I haven’t been to the Contemporary Art Museum yet, so I’m very much looking forward to it. Museums of all sorts attract me, so I suspect I’ll be …Read More

    Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. –Helen Keller   Sometimes it’s hard to have confidence. Optimism and even a tentative faith in ourselves goes a long way to the getting of it. Have a blessed week!   March 18th  Words Journal: 0  words Long …Read More

        We’re all over the place this week. So much serendipity…   Sleep. It’s a Very Good Thing. We love the show, Broadchurch, and I can’t wait for the next season to get over here. But apparently there is a huge tea kerfuffle brewing. I read Neil Gaiman’s American Gods years ago, …Read More