• Personal

    Turning a Page

    It has been nearly a year since my last post on this page. It has been even longer since I was writing and updating this page regularly. Life has pulled me in many different directions and I haven’t prioritized making time to write. I need to fix that. Writing is part of what makes me feel like me. When I don’t make the time to write, I feel like I am just chugging along to get through each day. I keep saying that I am going to get back to writing. I have kept this blog and have revisited the page every few months with the intention of writing a…

  • Personal

    Back to School 2021!

    Time has been flying lately and I can hardly believe that we have already started another school year (as of a few weeks ago)! This year is a big transition year for both kids. Fiona is in kindergarten and Connor is in 7th grade. Hopefully this will be a great transition year for me as well – with Fiona finally in school for full days, I hope to have time to actually sit down and write. Fiona started kindergarten this year. She is still going to the same wonderful Montessori school that she went to for the past two years. Montessori classrooms have multi-age grouping, so ages 3-6 are in…

  • Personal

    Getting back to writing – FINALLY!

    I have always loved writing. It feels like a core part of me. Writing helps me relax and to organize my thoughts. When I am writing for a little bit, I am at peace. It has always held a therapeutic quality for me. When I don’t write for a while, I notice that I am more anxious and on edge. Still, I have hardly written anything over the course of the past year. It has been a tough year for everyone. I had to make a lot of adjustments very quickly as COVID hit, and I lost my writing routines in the process. A year and a half ago, I…

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  • Personal

    1/24/21

    I wish that I could manage to write more than three sentences without being interrupted by the unending demands of my four year old. Lately it feels like my brain is constantly in writing mode and there is so much that I want to get out onto the page, but as soon as Fiona sees me trying to write something, she has to demand my full attention. It is incredibly frustrating. In theory, I could wait until she goes to bed, but that means ignoring all those writing moments where I just have to write. Not to mention, bedtime is an incredible fraught routine with her and I usually don’t…

  • Fiction

    The Dinner Party Guests (fiction)

    It all started with a dinner party. Five young couples coming together for an evening of dinner, drinks, and maybe a seance. The host was Arthur Pearson, son of a prominent banker in the city, destined to fill his father’s shoes. Throwing such dinner parties was something of a sport for Arthur, who loved throwing his family money and influence around to get others to do what he wished. No one would refuse a dinner invite from a Pearson. Arthur was fascinated by the results of bringing different people together who would normally never find themselves in the same room. He also was fascinated by the trends of the Spiritualism…

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  • Personal

    1/22/21

    Today was a long, busy day filled with cleaning, homeschooling, kids making constant demands, and entertaining friends. On days like today, I don’t have a lot of time to just sit down and write (which is why I am forcing myself to sit up and write this now at nearly 11 pm). However, I did have a chance to write some ideas for a story down in a notebook. I wasn’t really looking for a story to write – but this story keeps calling to me, begging to be written. I am eager to write it and see where it takes me. I am energized and excited by the prospect…

  • Fiction

    Rumblings (fiction write)

    We like to think that we have the whole world mapped and figured out. Battling governments having laid claim to every inch of free land that they can find. Point to any place on a map and people are likely to be able to offer some rudimentary knowledge or generalization about the area or people. We like to think that we know our neighbors, any surprises that exist must be far away from us. Humans like to believe that they know everything there is to know. There will always be those people who are eager to claim authority and expertise, to spout off as if they have all the answers.…

  • Personal

    Creative energy lacking

    Today was rough, not for any overarching reason, it is just part of life and parenting. Some days go great and others just don’t. Lately, there are a lot of rough days, the kind of days where I just want to collapse in bed as soon as I finally get the kids to sleep. The last thing I want to do is sit at a computer writing something that I don’t even have the creative energy for (which is what I am doing right now). When I say that it was a rough day, I don’t really mean terrible or even bad – more exhausting. I am fortunate enough to…

  • Personal

    Streak Broken

    It is 2:30 am and I just realized that I didn’t get a blog post out yesterday. So naturally, I jumped out of bed and grabbed my computer. I may have broken the streak officially, and I will need to start fresh, but at least I can keep with the spirit of the goal and get up and write something before the new day really starts. Normally, I would have gone back to bed. The blogging streak has been broken, I can start fresh in the morning and save my energy now. However, I know myself and I know that as soon as I just let it go and allow…

  • Personal

    Making time to write

    It can be difficult to find the time to writer, especially with kids. Before I could even finish typing that sentence, I had the four year old yelling for me from her room. My kids are both incredibly sweet, but they have a habit of clinging to me. When my four year old was younger I called her my “velcro baby” and the velcro behavior still continues aside from the couple of hours she goes to preschool each day. Yesterday, I sat down to write and almost immediately had both my four year old and my dog climb into my lap. Something similar happens each time I start to write.…