One of my sisters is currently camping by herself in the Mojave Desert for a month, as part of her doctoral dissertation. Another is evacuating to avoid Hurricane Irma. And I’m about to leave on a book tour… So my parents and I grabbed a quiet moment and did something close to (my) home: we… Read more »
my parents
Scenes from the Writer’s New Life
It’s hard to focus on a hard revision when my new home remains chaotic and I could be organizing, cleaning, and hanging up pictures, rather than fixing this book. The news, which is heartbreaking everywhere, every single day, also makes it difficult. But I am focusing and fixing the book, because it feels even more… Read more »
My Mother Made Me a Hat
So, the movers are coming tomorrow, and though I’m surrounded by exquisite disarray, I feel this is the moment to blog pictures (taken by Kevin) of a very special (perhaps even magical) hat. Because now is the time to celebrate beautiful things. :o) My regular readers know that I knit. Well, my mother knits on… Read more »
The Last Few Days in Pictures
I finished a major revision I’ve been working on since before Halloween. Whew! I took a trip to see my parents for Mother’s Day.Here’s a blurry picture of me and my Dad in Wanamaker’s Department Store in Philly, on a very rainy day.They have a famous organ in the store. My Dad talked aboutgoing to… Read more »
Rainy Randutiae for a Sunday
As I’d hoped, a number of friends emailed me with suggestions of superhero role models for girls. So many, in fact, that I’m going to have to set aside some time to organize it all before I post it – but it will be forthcoming. Unfortunately, most of the suggestions were for teen readers and… Read more »
God Bless Our Mistakes
One of the things I appreciate most about my parents is that they’ve let me make my own decisions, even if it means they’ve had to stand back and watch me make mistakes. Being allowed to mess up is fundamentally freeing. Knowing that failure is always an option — being suspicious about the assumed definitions… Read more »
A Teeny Randutiae Post for Friday
This week, I feel bloggy! So here’s an extra post. Thank you, Will Ludwigsen, for your beautiful post, Aid and Comfort. Readers, check it out — this is a great little post with some spot-on thoughts about the kind of love and support a writer needs. It’s also one of the nicest acknowledgement posts I’ve… Read more »
In Which the Author Regales Her Readers with Tales of a Maritime Journey (And One Small Rant)
Just for the record, if I were standing on a mountain counting my money and some guy came along, first produced a pistol, then produced a rapier, and said, “Stand and deliver, for you are a bold deceiver! Musha ring dum-a do dum-a da, whack fol the daddy-o, whack fol the daddy-o, there’s whiskey in… Read more »
“We can bequest our children but two things:
The first is roots, the other wings.” Don’t know who said that, but I’ve liked it since the first time I read it. My conversation with School Library Journal‘s Rick Margolis is online. Thank you, Rick! You’re awesome. Speaking of things Italian and Catholic — as I did with Rick, in case that segue seems… Read more »
Home
After living in a big old house in the northeastern Pennsylvania countryside for 32 years (also known as my whole life), my parents are moving to Audubon, New Jersey to be closer to family and civilization and to take on a more manageable property. This is a really good thing for them. Nonetheless, all this… Read more »
