Category Archives: Advice
Proud Mary
Like everyone in the world, I love music. But I am not a connoisseur. I don’t collect music. I don’t have a fancy music-playing thing – are people still using ipods and mp3s? I don’t even know. The last time I bought music it was The Best of James Taylor. I listen to the radio …
Leaving It Behind
I’m in the editing process for my new novel. My narrator, like myself (what a coincidence), digresses quite a bit as she tells her story. One story reminds her of another story, which reminds her of another story. But all these little side trips advance the plot or reveal her character or someone else’s. But …
Moving On
Do you ever find yourself in this situation? … (Oh, please say you do… I do not want to feel like the weirdest person in the room) … You are getting a bit low on some product – it could be toothpaste or hair spray or even salad dressing, so the next time you are …
The Horribles
I haven’t written lately. I don’t even know what to say during these horrible days. But I’ll take a few minutes to ramble. Maybe it will help. Is it possible to be bored and terrified at the same time? The hardest thing this past month has been not seeing my mother. She’s 96 and I …
Power
This week I saw the film “Bombshell.” I worked at a cable network for fifteen years, so the subject matter intrigued me. Although I was at a different network from Fox News, I was curious if there would be parallels. How much would I recognize? Would I see situations that were similar to what I …
Two Lessons A Year
Another Year. Another Birthday. A year ago I was sitting here writing about all the stuff I wanted to learn in the twenty years I figured I had left in my life. If I was right, and I’m always right (in my mind, anyway), I now have nineteen years left. Did I learn enough this …
Complaint Department
Yesterday, still in bed, I resolved to have a full day without a complaint. I lasted until 11:00 AM. When the telemarketer called. I complain. You complain. My dog complains. Everyone complains. I bet the Dalai Lama complains that the place is too damn quiet. It’s only natural. I mean, there’s so much out there …
Ranking
I am a ranker. I love to put things in order. Not in my home… that is often order-free. In my mind. I rank objects by how much I like them. What is my favorite color? How about my next-favorite? We have a set of coffee mugs – 6 mugs, each a different color – …
Choosy
Having high expectations can be a very good thing. Mostly, because I have found that when you expect the best from people, they usually give it. This is my best example. Our foyer. The carpenter who laid this floor had never done anything like this before. We showed him a photograph from a lovely mansion-turned-bed-and-breakfast …
What If You Fail?
What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? This saying was popularized back in the 70s and is mainly attributed to Robert Schuller, a televanglist I didn’t much like. But I did like this axiom. And it came into prominence again in this decade as the result of a terrific …
