Nine years ago, my son had just started first grade in a small private school in Minneapolis, when one of the classroom moms approached me in the hallway. “I want to start a Boy Scout troop for the class,” she announced. “Are you in?”

She was so excited about the… Read full post »

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting at my desk, thinking about how I would almost certainly have to work all day Friday to meet my deadlines, even though the whole rest of the country had the day off.  As I allowed myself to sink into a self-indulgent funk about  my burdensome work… Read full post »

In the days leading up to the election I had a brief but contentious argument with a close friend over why I would never vote for a Republican candidate.

I asked her how she could choose a party that was so anti-women. How she could support a group that is… Read full post »

In less than a week my kids will start a new school year. My oldest will be a freshman in high school, and my youngest will start sixth grade at two terrific Chicago Public Schools (CPS). 

Yet it’s likely this next phase of their lives, and the lives of all CPS… Read full post »

As many of you may have read recently (while gasping in shock), Arizona’s woman-hating Republican governor, Jan Brewer, signed into law a new “20 week ban” on abortions.

Why should you be shocked you ask, when so many other states have similar laws? Because, this law is the only on… Read full post »

When I was a child, if I needed a doctor I always went to the same guy. Dr. Horton was my pediatrician from the day I was born. He was an old man, tall and stern, and bald as an egg. He wore a white lab coat and steel rimmed glasses… Read full post »

This morning after driving my son to school I turned on a news radio program in the middle of a story.

“…The letter stated that ‘LGBT rights are not human rights’, and they have ‘nothing to do with fundamental human rights,’” the newscaster read. &ld… Read full post »

Next month, my daughter Ella will turn 11-years-old. She’s a beautiful girl, with blond hair and green eyes. She’s an amazing artist, a brilliant writer, and she can do the splits without even warming up.

And if I hadn’t had an amniocentesis, she would have died the day she was… Read full post »

When I was 22-years-old, my friend Caroline was killed. It was five o’clock in the afternoon on a sunny street in San Diego. She was driving home from work and a drunk tow-truck driver blew a red light and slammed into the driver’s side door of her car. She died instantly.… Read full post »

Since I was a child, I wanted to be a writer. As a little girl… Read full post »

In 2004, PBS Kids launched Postcards from Buster, a show about an animated rabbit who visits real-life families across America. It was an innocuous little show, but my kids were six and four at the time, and we spent many hours during the long cold Minnesota winters watching anything PBS… Read full post »

I am not a good dancer.

This is not my “mortifying disclosure” however it would have been a helpful revelation to make to Joe Walsh’s  back up dancers when they asked me if I wanted to come on stage during the show. But they were cute, and I was young… Read full post »

Let me begin by admitting right up front that I did not sign up for the Avon Two Day Walk for Breast Cancer because I am driven to change the world, or to avenge the death of a loved one. While I am aware of the devastation that breast… Read full post »

Despite every voice in my head begging me not to, I watched the first episode of Skins at MTV’s website yesterday. And I admit it, I was appalled, but not because it was rife with 16-year-olds having sex and taking drugs.

I question any person with access to cable… Read full post »

I was 26-years-old and it was the first time I had ever traveled for business. A mere two months into my first real job as a trade magazine writer, I was flying to Dallas to cover an annual conference of mechanical engineers. I had a shiny new American Express corporate card… Read full post »

As every writer knows, the act of writing is a lonely process. You can talk about your book, wax poetic about your goal of writing 1000 words a day, even brag about your progress as you move the literary  narrative steadily forward or tackle a key point in the plot. But… Read full post »

This week I received two requests for chapters from queries I sent to agents. A day later I attended a funeral for a child. Her name was Louise. She was 10-years-old and she attended school with my kids. 

Two weeks ago I wrote a blog on how sad I was about getting… Read full post »

This is my first Teaser Tuesday posting, ala the Twitter group, so I hope you enjoy. This is from the first chapter of my unpublished but finished novel, The Three of Us. 

The setup: A couple is driving to the hospital with their son who has just been hit by a… Read full post »

 Because American families come in all shapes, and sizes, and shades.

On the beach in Benton Harbor, Michigan.  Read full post »

A little girl died today.

I did not know her, but I felt like I did. She went to school with my kids, and my sister was her teacher.

She had cancer. She fought it for a year, but today she lost that fight. Last week… Read full post »

This week I made a triumphant discovery.

I am not alone.

Apparently the world is full of rejected writers, some of whom have completed this journey successfully, found an agent, and went on to publishing fame; some who  never found an agent, but are still… Read full post »

Sunday was a good day. Despite overcast skies, I spent a glorious afternoon watching my son play in his soccer championship on the fields along the lovely Chicago lakefront. After a impressive second place finish in his division, we headed home to dine on a tender – and not at all… Read full post »

When I started writing this book I had an ace in the hole. My friend and colleague Wendy Webb, author of the brilliant new novel, The Tale of Halcyon Crane promised me that once it was finished she would read it; and if she liked it – how could she not… Read full post »

Last night at my son’s playoff  baseball game – go As! – I had a long conversation with a woman who is the grandmother of one of my son’s teammates. For the most part, it was your garden variety Little League parent chatter. We discussed the joys of living in Chicago,… Read full post »

I have written a novel!

(pause for applause).

That’s right, after a lifetime of dreaming about becoming a novelist, and two decades of a fairly lucrative career as a freelance journalist, I finally took the leap and wrote, what I am confidant will be the Great American… Read full post »