Well, we are actually. My husband Michael and I. We have been married 29 years this week. If I had been a betting person, which I guess I was once I said I do, I would have bet the odds were not in our favor.

My third marriage, his first. Our… Read full post »

I am fortunate. I get invited places. I find invitations in my mail box to speak at book club meetings, writer's conferences and book store events. I can only assume their first, second and even third choices have had to decline and now they are down to moi. But I gladly… Read full post »

It wasn't as if I had decided to cheat. To break my only reading memoirs rule. I hadn't. As politicians for decades have claimed, it just happened. I have happily been gobbling memoirs up for months now. But. I read a short review of a new novel in the paper the… Read full post »

A block and a half away from where I stay when in New York City, an engineering feat of extravagant proportions is taking place. The long awaited Second Avenue subway is becoming a reality. And I find, despite the August heat, I am drawn to the site.

There… Read full post »

California is a long state. Even if one is only traveling in the northern section, one may sit in the car an impressive amount of time and still never reach Oregon. But as much as I would love to crank about spending hours on the road to get from Santa Cruz… Read full post »

They got me. My guard was down and they pounced.

I had had one of "those" days. I am in New York City where I spend most of my summer every year. We are enjoying our fourth heat wave of the season. I do not complain about said… Read full post »

It wasn't as if I planned my mornings around the Today Show, but for years the NBC gab fest/news broadcast was the background to all of those things one does at the beginning of the day. I have witnessed most of the changes made with mild interest. I will state here… Read full post »

There was something about the title that appealed to me. Often that is all it takes when I am searching for a new read. And this time of year, many of us are doing just that. Looking for books to take along on trips to the beach or on summer camp-outs,… Read full post »

Last week an exceedingly clever young man became a billionaire. He invented a way for humans to interact, to socialize, while never leaving home and then took it public. No need to pick up a phone and call, or write a letter, or knock on a door, or even write an… Read full post »

It was almost two months ago that I noticed a sharpening of colors in my back yard. The dusky greens of the oak leaves in olive and pine and a shade of gray-green which would look soothing on a bedroom wall.

And the ivy, waterfalling over the back… Read full post »

The house is quiet. The only sound is Michael's rhythmic breathing as he sleeps next to me. I feel around the night stand, searching for my glasses. My book is where I placed it on the floor at the side of the bed. I slip out from beneath… Read full post »

Sitting on a panel to discuss memoir writing with three other authors and the moderator, a lovely gentleman who has a passion for books, should have been a fairly predictable event. Michael and I had flown from San Francisco to New Orleans by way of Atlanta and… Read full post »

When told she had late stage cancer, Kathryn McBride would not have imagined  that I, who had not seen her for ages, would begin thinking of her on a daily basis. And when just weeks later, surrounded by people who loved her as she slipped away, she could… Read full post »

One needs to prepare before heading to New Orleans for the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival. It is coming up soon. March 21-25th to be exact.

A person should read or reread some of Mr. Williams’ fine work. A person might rent and watch the film A… Read full post »

Mimi is speaking out. That would be 69-year-old Mimi Alford, author of Once Upon a Secret: My Hidden Affair with JFK published by Random House. She has been making the talk show rounds and answering both hard and easy questions. She is soft spoken and has her white hair cut in… Read full post »

Even though I never met her I think of her often. Each time I use my old, red-handled egg beater or days like yesterday, a living room filled with men watching football while I was in my kitchen smashing ripe avocados with my red-handled pastry cutter. I try to imagine the… Read full post »

Friends, on occasion, have inquired, what is it you do exactly? Family members have wondered the same thing finding the titles Editor in Chief and Editorial Board Chair to be rather vague. They have seen "The Devil Wears Prada" but know I don't own any fur coats to plop down on… Read full post »

There is a river, wide and swift flowing at times. It has no beginning, not that we can see. And it ends, well, it ends differently for each of us. The river is timeless. We are not. We are each in our own small boats, navigating white water,… Read full post »

It is funny, the times I itch to grab the phone and talk to my dad. He was one of the people I wanted to call last Wednesday. Eager to tell him about my daughter, Kira. Which is odd because they never really had any kind of relationship. The last time… Read full post »