Musings (Click to Visit Substack for More)

Ah, the picture above—was it taken mid-eye-roll at my junior high school graduation? I never met a book by Ruth Reichl I haven’t loved, and my adoration continued with  Not

Being invisible is pretty hard for a kid. Crummy childhoods take many forms; usually, it’s an amalgam of yuck. Smacks and screams thankfully have a time limit, but neglect is

Hint: It’s Books Stories of survival fill me with shivery delight. I rarely meet a story of man/woman vs. elements that won’t keep me up until all hours. Heartpounding adventure

First, they put Vaseline on the camera lens. Next up was rose-colored lighting, shooting through pantyhose and soft focus. And then, just in time for my first author photo in

I started Jesse, A Mother’s Story twice. The stark beauty of this memoir hit me the moment I began. Marianne Leone’s narrative, written with an unrelenting immediacy, yanked me into her

I love books; I love them more than bagels, jewelry, or cashmere sweaters, and that’s a lot. Reading kept me from teen pregnancy, heroin, and robbing convenience stores with a

Stories abound of Jewish people who grow up warm and secure in their faith. Those for whom the eight days of Hanukah didn’t compete with Christmas: Jewish nurses, firefighters, and

Perhaps the lure of the bad boy is similar to the temptation of climbing Mt. Everest. It feels so good to conquer it and reach the top—despite all the pain

The writer’s code (written into our secret writer club rules) reminds us that day jobs (and only day jobs) stand between us and a published novel. I believed. Thanks for

If you love every picture of yourself, or you’re one of those naturally photogenic people, you won’t need this post. And I don’t want to stand next to you in