My husband and I were watching the TV show The Pitt when the main character made a passing reference to Sisyphus. A few days later, I came across a literary publication called Sisyphus. Two mentions in one week were enough to get me thinking about boulders. You probably know the myth: Sisyphus, punished by the gods for …
We’ve all heard the news: A white, young mother—an unarmed U.S. citizen—was shot and killed in Minneapolis by an ICE officer. As the details pile up, each more disturbing than the last, we’re left thinking: This can’t be real. This is like living in some dystopian novel. But reality is refusing to follow story rules. As …
Confession: When I was a single mom, I used SNAP benefits to feed my kids. I also relied on Medicaid for our healthcare. I’ve carried shame about this for years. The voice in my head was relentless: I should be able to do this alone. That feeling of failure wasn’t a result of my judgment alone. …
Last week in Chicago, my hometown, Black Hawk helicopters circled overhead as federal agents conducted raids in apartment buildings, breaking down doors in the middle of the night and detaining residents—including U.S. citizens—for hours. Neighbors began patrolling school drop-offs and pick-ups, protecting children and mothers from ICE agents. In Logan Square, where my son lives, …
My alarm was set for five a.m. but I was wide awake before it went off. I hadn’t slept much because I was too “excited”—excitement being what I’ve decided to call anxiety—about my live interview on Canadian morning television. My publicist had booked me on what she called “the Today show of Canada” to talk …
I’ve been working on a new novel, and I have to pause here, already, because just typing those few words is challenging.
I barely like to admit it, because once I say those words a barrage of qualifiers come crashing in. Can I say I’ve been working hard on a new novel? No. Never hard enough.
Yesterday I went to an event and heard Marcus Lemonis speak. Marcus is the entrepreneur and investor who stars in the TV show The Profit.
Marcus never even took the stage in front of the 4,000 people gathered at the Sears Center, except during one short segment when he interacted with six women he’d called up. Instead, we heard his voice before we saw him.
Today I want to make a case for conflict. Nobody likes it, of course, except maybe drama queens, adrenaline junkies, or lawyers.
I personally try to avoid conflict as much as possible. Heck, the subtitle of my memoir is ‘How I Found Peace in Betrayal and Divorce.’ Sometimes, during not so peaceful times, I look at that and feel like an imposter. Or I might repeat the words I found peace, I found peace as if I can make it so.
So now that I’m in my 50s, I’m proclaiming it the official “I don’t give a damn” decade.
I made this proclamation after dropping my teenage daughter off for three weeks of summer camp. Though she was handling this milestone in a calm, mature way, I found myself remembering the kinds of thoughts I had at her age when I went to camp…(read more)
Since the publication of my memoir last fall, I’ve been reunited with my first love—fiction—and it feels so…..good. Mostly.
It also feels daunting and overwhelming and fills me with uncertainty and doubt.
But I believe ideas have their own timeline, and that, when we pay attention, we see tiny sprouts of magic when the time comes to begin the novel, or return to the memoir, or noodle over a poem.
👉 Enjoy dedicated writing space just steps from Lake Michigan
👉 Benefit from one-on-one developmental editing sessions