Author Archive: Nancy
Unedited
I have a writer friend. Like many of my writer friends, I don’t truly know her. She’s a professional acquaintance. I like her. But mostly because I like writers. I don’t even remember how we became friends – or, more accurately, internet acquaintances. But it was many years ago. Maybe our first books came out …
Oversharing
Today at the drugstore, the kid at the cash register was one of those Oversharers. You know the type. Most often, it is an older person. Maybe lives alone. Maybe lonely. The old lady at the supermarket who starts by asking you about the pickles you are buying, and ends up telling you about her …
Old Poetry
When I was a teenager, I wrote a lot of poetry. Some of it was good – I won a few awards. But most of it was typical adolescent mediocrity. Life is never more unfair or more glorious than when you are seventeen. Most of it didn’t survive. I remember only orphan lines. They come …
Not Having Children
(I wrote this essay twenty years ago. I published it here for the first time six years ago. This Mother’s Day, I share it again.) *** I married when I was forty. It was amazing at that age how many people asked me if we were going to have children. No, I’d say, We’re not …
Ghosted
I just spent all day writing a long piece on the end of a friendship. I decided not to post it. Because I realize that after 1500 words, what I wanted to say wasn’t there. Here is a short version. A year ago, a friend ghosted me. She broke dates, stopped calling, stopped returning my …
More Lessons From My Phone
Well, last week I bitched commented about how the interior design game I chose for my new phone wouldn’t let me win. I took a positive attitude, describing how it was teaching me worthwhile lessons about whether to please myself or please others. But in truth, I was pretty pissed disillusioned. I am here today …
Winning The Game
You know how we translate age for dogs and cats? Like “Old Jasper is 82 in dog years…” Well, if there is not an age-equivalency term for electronic equipment, there should be. Maybe we could call it nano-years. “This old phone?… It’s 107 in nano-years” – which in human chronological terms means: it’s three. So on to the …
Blame
An old friend from work is in a very messy situation. She’s a wreck. Her family is a wreck. And there is no way to get around it – she brought it on herself. I’m sure you know someone like Maggie. If there are two choices, she will pick the worse one every time. It’s …
‘Not Quite Old’ Is Now Quite Old
Another birthday. A big one. I’m 70. Dear God – could that even be true? Seventy. I’m not sure what 70 is supposed to feel like. But I didn’t expect it to feel like this. Like … Nice. I just received a card in the mail from a sweet cousin. It made me laugh out …
ABECEDARIAN
Recently a friend directed me to a story on Medium.com. (I publish there once in a while too.) My friend’s friend had posted a little writing exercise that I just adored. An ABECEDARIAN is a 26 sentence story, with each sentence beginning with each sequential letter of the alphabet. It’s a fun exercise that really …
