Sharon Rosen craves food as much as the next person. And with the holiday eating season upon us, it’s impossible for her not to think about turkey and ham and mashed potatoes and pie and all those fancy hors d'oeuvres that have become synonymous with the season’s cele… Read full post »

(My 10-year-old daughter and her friend wrote this up last night during their sleepover. I just found it and I can't help but share.)

CONTRACT 

We, Page and Hannah, vow to be considerate of others and do these things:

If we feel that one of our friends are being… Read full post »

There was something wrong with the machine.

For the past five minutes, I’d been staring into a large, box-shaped medical device, waiting to have my peripheral vision checked. The eye doctor’s assistant, a thin, blonde woman with a chin-length bob and caked-on mak… Read full post »

If you are wondering what can happen when teens find their voice and claim their power, watch this story clip with student authors from Scriber Lake High School, an alternative high school in Edmonds, Washington. Then read their new book: We Are Absolutely Not Okay: Fourteen Stories by Teenagers… Read full post »

I've been a Cranky Cuss fan ever since I disovered his sattire here on OS a few months ago.  But bias aside, If the gridlock in Washington and current presidential race makes you want to cry, Send in the Clown Car is for you. I've been laughing since I… Read full post »

Since publishing my memoir, Hippie Boy: A Girl’s Story as an eBook and paperback in October 2011, I’ve been exploring every avenue possible to drive exposure for my book.  I’ve still got a long way to go, but my efforts are definitely paying off and I wanted to share wh/… Read full post »

As an indie author who supports indie bookstores and freedom of choice, I was a little hesitant to let anyone know I was trying out Amazon’s new KDP Select program.

Admittedly, the idea of getting a share--however small--of a $500,000… Read full post »

A few years ago, I was in a writing class with a woman who battled chronic depression. She was tired of pumping her body full of anti-depressants and decided there had to be a better way to combat those dark days.  So she started a gratitude journal… Read full post »

Imagine a life spent traveling the world. Or savoring a latte in an Italian villa while you work on that novel you’ve fantasized about. Or even trading in that dull desk job for a take-your-breath-away career.

Betsy Talbot, co-founder of Married with Luggage, an inspiring… Read full post »

Ask anyone who knows me (or even kind of knows me).  I’d dreamed of writing and publishing my memoir, Hippie Boy: A Girl’s Story for years. 

I knew it was a good story.  And it’s all I ever talked about to almost anyone who would/… Read full post »

After years of writing, months of editing & rewrites, and weeks of hammering out an amazing cover with my ultra-talented designer friend Juli Saeger Russell, HIPPIE BOY: A Girls’ Story has finally launched as an ebook on Amazon! 

Here’s a short overview:

What wo… Read full post »

Dad and I were vagabonds.

It’s a lifestyle he’d been living for years, and one I had begged to join since I could remembre.

Now that I was thirteen and on the run from a cruel Mormon stepfather, he and I had finally joined forces and had become two… Read full post »

We were poor when I was growing up. So poor that we depended on free lunches at school, WIC food vouchers from the government, and occasional trips to the Church welfare office to eat. 

But our daily struggle to survive didn’t keep my mom from stockpiling food in… Read full post »

Betsy and Warren Talbot quit their corporate jobs, sold their sprawling house in the suburbs, moved across country, sold everything else they owned and are now six months into a three-year trip around the world.  Along the way, they've discovered their secret to happiness.   This post,… Read full post »

I remember the first time it occurred to me that if there was a God, he or she had adopted a strict hands-off policy when it came to life on earth.

I was on a plane flying back to the States after spending six weeks… Read full post »

When fellow OS Blogger and Author Emily Rapp invited me to write an essay for her blog, I wasn't sure how to even begin.

Two months ago, Emily’s beautiful 11-month-old son, Ronan, was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease, a rare, incurable, horrific terminal illness.   As a mother of two youn… Read full post »

Going blind SUCKS.   So does walking into an eye doctor’s office for the first time in your life with trendy red cat-eye frames already picked out, only to be told that you’ve got a serious problem that no glasses – regardless of how good they look on you – ar… Read full post »