This past weekend, I went to my very first writer’s retreat, in Sea Girt, NJ, hosted by Women Reading Aloud. It was a wonderful, terrifying, restorative, educational, intimidating, passionate experience. I feel reticent to share details about the weekend, particularly the workshops themselves; I almost feel as though it would violate the community we writers […]
Friday Book Trio: Happiness, Titanic, Malala
In this series, I give a brief snapshot of three unrelated books that I recently read and enjoyed. If you decide to read them too, I’d love to hear what you thought! The Category: Memoir/Self-Improvement The Book: 10% Happier by Dan Harris In Three Words: Exploration. Meditation. Change. Biggest Takeaway: For some reason, I thought this book was a self-improvement […]
How Do You Say No To Your Idea?
One of the things I love best about myself is the idea-generator in my head. I’m taking a walk or doing chores, and something just comes to me: the thread of a children’s story; the idea for a self-improvement book; a way I can write in the theme of an upcoming writing contest. The other night I woke […]
The First Sentence Always Sucks
The first sentence sucks. Sometimes you find one that’s brilliant, and you write it down with excitement… but then you realize you have no idea what comes next. (Many a blog post has been abandoned for that reason.) More often, you have an idea for a piece and maybe a rough thesis statement, but you don’t […]
How “Better Than Before” Is Changing My Habits
I’ve been a fan of Gretchen Rubin’s for a long time now, so I was incredibly excited when she began promoting her latest book, Better Than Before, a personal manifesto about a topic I adore: habits. It’s the first book I’ve ever ordered prior to release, other than Harry Potter books. (There is no greater […]
I’m Not Ready To Write A Memoir Yet
About a month ago, I started working on some ideas for a short piece that I’d planned to write during my spring break from teaching. I wanted to submit an entry for a contest run by Writer’s Digest (check it out, fellow writers!). The word limit is on the low side; I struggle with keeping fiction short, […]