And Genius Scratches Its Ass

About a week ago I let myself get distracted from writing with a “quick look” at Facebook. Half an hour later I was watching Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk on creativity and the creative genius. It is very much worth a watch, so if you want to take a moment to do that before you finish

Killing the Sylph

When I was fourteen years old, my ballet teacher pulled me aside after class one day and told me that I needed to lose some weight. I was about the same height I am now, five foot three, and I weighed around one hundred and ten pounds. While I was not ballerina thin, I certainly

Widgets

I’m not embarrassed to admit that the interweb still frightens and confuses me. I’m a little technologically challenged, so there is A LOT out there that I simply do not understand. Among so many other things, apparently the internet is a great place for the independent author who knows how to navigate her way around

Maddie’s Purple Party

My niece Madison organized an eating disorders awareness event for her senior project. She invited me to speak (for reasons listed below), and because I knew that I would have a long day of travel before speaking, I wrote everything down. After I finished speaking a few people asked if I could send them my

Luminous Creatures Press

About a year ago my friend Emily and I started a writing group of two. We meet every other week at a cafe in Fairfax, CA and talk about the writing we’ve sent each other. We also eat lunch–generally the same thing every week, so whenever we change our order someone raises an eyebrow. They’re

Home

We woke up in our own bed this morning because we came home a day early.  We’re all glad that we did.  Ralphie already seems to have forgotten we left, except that he’s been carefully, almost methodically re-marking the neighborhood, letting his dog friends know he is back, I suppose.  (There’s a very lame joke

Return to Battle Mountain

Driving is damn tiring work.  You wouldn’t think so since it involves so much sitting.  But I’m exhausted. We’re in the middle of nowhere again: Battle Mountain, Nevada.  It is really freaking hot–as hot as it was cold in Truckee.  In fact, I can’t wait to get to Truckee tomorrow for the cold (then I

Line Painting Day

I didn’t mean to take two days off from writing but Monday night we had no Internet and Tuesday I was just too tired.  I’ll explain why in a moment. We’re back in Salt Lake City, half way home to San Rafael.  This afternoon we covered much of Utah, which is how we know that

Denver with Family

We’ve been in the Denver area since Thursday and have discovered something curious about the mile high city and its environs. The Denverites seem to make as much use of individual street names as possible.  In other words, Denver is host to a Franklin Street, Franklin Ave, Franklin Blvd, and Franklin Circle.  Whenever we program

Glenwood Springs and Beyond

I could live in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, death place of Doc Holliday and home of the best Greek omelette I have ever eaten.  After four days of staying almost in the middle of nowhere (except for Salt Lake City, but we were so far outside the city we might as well have been in the