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Updated on December 30, 2020April 17, 20191 CommentInspiration Storytelling Writing Tips

Why ‘Keeping it Real’ is Hurting Your Writing

I heard the word “springboard” the other day and it made me flashback to the summer I was nine years old and went off the high dive for the first time at the community pool.

Except that I didn’t. What really happened was pure humiliation: I climbed the long ladder for what felt like ages, shuffled to the edge of the diving board, looked down, and froze. Uh-uh. There was no way I was jumping. With shaking knees, I backed up and started down the ladder, which was a slow process because I had to wait for all the kids behind me to back up too. And then I went home.

Updated on December 30, 2020April 4, 2019Leave a CommentStorytelling The Buddha at My Table Writing Life

3 Ways to Enjoy the Givingness of Life

I was standing at my kitchen sink this morning, washing dishes and looking at an affirmation card I have stuck on my refrigerator that says the givingness of life never leaves me. It got me thinking.

First, I wondered, is “givingness” even a word? I looked it up and yes, it is, except in the Scrabble dictionary. I’m not sure what the Hasbro company has against givingness, but the more I focus on it, the happier I feel.

Updated on April 20, 2021March 4, 2019Leave a CommentCreativity Inspiration Storytelling Writing Tips

Why It’s A Mistake To Not Tell Your Story

Today I feel like writing about mistakes. Heck, I’m even open to making some. Not that I haven’t already made my fair share. From the workplace to the home front, as a parent, wife, or friend, my mistakes sometimes include big life moments and, other times, small sweaty details.

Updated on December 30, 2020January 24, 2019Leave a CommentCreativity Storytelling

The Pleasure of Your Company is Requested (If You Want to Write)

Have you seen the video on Facebook about how people react when company comes? A comedian does a bit about how having company used to be such a treat. Mom would make a coffee cake, bring out the good china, and the family would eagerly gather in the living room awaiting the doorbell.

He contrasts this to today when the ring of a doorbell makes us flip off the lights, dive for the floor, or hide behind the curtains, peering out suspiciously to see who dares to drop by unexpectedly. The idea of interaction makes us cringe.

Updated on December 30, 2020January 2, 2019Leave a CommentNews and Events Storytelling

Give Yourself the Gift You Need Most

I got a text this week that had four magical words in it. They were the same four words that had inspired me in the past to write a blog, so I searched my files and found that it was almost exactly a year ago, at Christmas, that a simple phrase from a friend became an unexpected gift. What were those words? Read on to find out:

Updated on December 30, 2020December 26, 2018Leave a CommentMemoir News and Events Storytelling Writing Life

Your Voice Needs to be Heard

Happy Holidays! I receive regular emails from a wonderful resource called The Daily Flame. They arrive like love letters full of guidance and inspiration from my “inner pilot light.” The one I got this week was so sublimely perfect and expresses my sentiments so well that I decided to share it here.

Consider this a sort of Santa swap, where I’m re-gifting these words to you.

Updated on December 30, 2020December 10, 2018Leave a CommentStorytelling The Buddha at My Table

Not Naughty, But Nice: How to Co-Exist With Your Kids’ Stepmother

My ex-husband and his new wife were a picture-perfect couple. So much so that they were photographed for the cover of Crain’s Chicago Business magazine. They were featured in an article about how stepparents are either relegated to support status or simply invisible.

But his new wife wasn’t invisible. She was posed with him and our three children on the front steps of my house—sorry, now their house—as if she had lived there for more than two months, as if she had been mothering my children for years. She was being interviewed because she started a support group for other women like her.

Updated on December 30, 2020November 21, 2018Leave a CommentCreativity Inspiration Storytelling

The Rhapsody of Being Yourself

I was driving in the car with my 16-year-old son when I realized I had nothing to write about this week.

“I have no ideas for my blog,” I told him. “I’m drawing a complete blank.”

“Why don’t you write about the movie you went to?” he said, referring to Bohemian Rhapsody. “You liked that.”

Updated on April 20, 2021September 19, 2018Leave a CommentInspiration News and Events Storytelling Writing Life Writing Tips

Do What You Can When You Can

If you’ve ever been laid low by illness or injury, you know how frustrating it is to lie there thinking of all the things you should be doing. You plan how you’ll “catch up.” You make a lot of promises to yourself. Once I feel better, I’ll exercise. I’ll cook more. I’ll go to the beach and sit in the sand. And I’ll balance that with being super productive. I’ll write every day. I’ll do the dishes!

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