Secrets
Shatter
It’s summer. My car, with which during the school year I drive the highway so often I could do it in my sleep, stays in the garage. I take long walks instead. Occasionally with my husband, less often with one of my children, even more rarely with the whole family. We’re at the stage in…
Read MoreTo Thine Own Self Be True
I never used to have gray hair. Or wrinkles. Or a loud voice. I do not blame these things on age. I blame them on the little being who came to live with us almost 10 years ago. The one who likes to jump off tall lifeguard stands (resulting in a knocked-out filling), run helter-skelter…
Read MorePick One Thing
Lately when riding, I am a hot mess. (That’s the technical term. The actual term used by my instructor is unprintable here.) There are so many things going on — my seat isn’t balanced, my legs slide forward, my knees are jammed up against the knee roll, my reins get floppy — hence, the hot…
Read MoreThanksgiving Gift
I spent 45 minutes in line today to get my turkey, and another few minutes at the garage getting air put in my tires, and I cannot tell you how grateful I was to be able to do both things. Sometimes in the rush of the holidays (shopping! baking! and my ‘favorite,’ cleaning!) it’s easy…
Read MoreMuscle Memory
I have terrible muscle memory. Ages ago, the first several times I tried aerobics, I always went left when everyone else went right. When I rode, my biggest fear was rarely the size of the jumps — it was doing them in the wrong order. (From personal experience, I can tell you there are few…
Read MoreDia Dhuit!
I’ve been cheating on you, my pretties. Whilst you thought I was here, slogging away at the computer, I was actually there, eating scones with clotted cream, drinking pots of tea, and walking about the Irish countryside. You know all that stuff about how poetic the Irish are? It’s true. One rainy day, I asked…
Read MoreStaring at the Sun
A writing board I am on is asking tough questions these days. Questions like ‘Why do you write?’ and ‘Will you stop writing if you don’t get published?’ (Usually the questions are more like ‘Does anybody want to meet for drinks on Friday?’ and ‘Who is hotter, James McAvoy or Daniel Craig?”) A few of…
Read MoreBanishing Writer's Block
Back when I started writing Evenfall, I had very little time for writer’s block. I had one, then two, small children, a barn full of horses to keep fed and cleaned, and a very busy freelance job. Writing fiction was a break, a moment stolen from other responsibilities. It was fun. Today, the horses are…
Read MoreThe Cost of Being an Expert
I’m taking fencing classes. It’s good exercise and it makes my brain work in different ways. I will never, ever be good at it. Part of it is I just don’t have the right physical gifts — my hand-eye coordination is lacking, for one, and I don’t have the speedy reflexes you need to avoid…
Read MoreGoing, Going, Gone…
Only a handful of days are left before school starts. I’m starting to freak out a little. So, to distract myself, here’s the great underwear caper story: Last summer, a group of people who shall remain nameless (I don’t think they read this blog, but just in case) decided to prank another person, who shall…
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