Today I talk with Linda Gartz, author of ‘Redlined: A Memoir of Race, Change, and Fractured Community in 1960s Chicago.’ She’s got some great tips for wrangling a mountain of family memorabilia into a STRUCTURED narrative. AND setting it against a compelling cultural background.
It was wonderful having the incomparable Maureen Muldoon as my first residency guest of 2024! Maureen is the author of ‘The Spiritual Vixens Guide to an Unapologetic Life’ and the memoir ‘Giant Love Song.’ She was kind enough to “throw together” this video review of her stay. Check it out! And apply for your spot …
This week’s chat features Jim Wilson, author of “Tuned In.” Find out why this book was one of my favorite editing projects of 2023!
Today I want to write about falling down.
I fell down ten days ago, struck with a sudden and severe case of vertigo that brought me to the floor, then kept me in bed, unable to lift my head.
When I was able to open my eyes, I scrolled through Facebook and watched a few videos. One was of a woman talking about giving herself permission to fall apart. Another was a Ted Talk about allowing girls to fail.
Thursday mornings are reserved for my weekly prayer call with my prayer partner, Danny. This week, the weather forecast promised an amazingly perfect summer day, so I suggested to Danny that, rather than talk on the phone, we meet for a bike ride along the lake.
We didn’t need to exchange our usual prayers because, all around us, Mother Nature was in full exaltation: the air was cool, the sky was crisp and blue, the water sparkled. We felt as though we were receiving a prayer rather than giving one.
“My son ran into the bedroom and said, ‘Mom, mom, there’s a man in an orange cape sitting at the table’…I went out into a dining room, and there was a Buddhist monk in full robes, orange robes, sitting at my dining room table. And I was very confused; it was a bit surreal….” Hear more of my conversation with Candice Wu on the Embody Podcast.
I need your help. I am the parent of a teenage girl and lately it’s been hard work teaching her to ignore the voices of the world—voices that say act like this, look like this, think like this; be better, brighter, thinner, smarter!
How do I teach her to listen to the whisper from within when outside voices are so loud and persuasive?
Maintaining independence as a creative soul isn’t easy. There are often doubts to conquer, and a constant barrage of comparisons, distractions, and missteps can have the bravest hearts running for cover. The good news is that we’re never alone. We get to follow the light of writers, artists, and visionaries who have come before us.
Here, ten of them share ways to celebrate the creative process and keep it flowing freely:
As if Monday mornings aren’t challenging enough, this particular Monday required me to appear at the Cook County Courthouse at 9:00 am. It was another steamy day, already 87 degrees, and a crash on the Kennedy slowed traffic to a snail’s pace. The SpotHero parking I paid for in advance turned out to be on Lower Wacker Drive instead of Upper Wacker Drive, which caused me to drive a little like Steve McQueen in Bullitt.
👉 Enjoy dedicated writing space just steps from Lake Michigan
👉 Benefit from one-on-one developmental editing sessions