“For gosh sakes, treat them better than they deserve! Who would ever escape misery, otherwise?” -Hamlet (liberally paraphrased by Elise Stephens) I have begun the most demanding creative project of my life. Growing a little human being inside of me is a harrowing, mystical, and unparalleled experience. I am a mother. I will raise another life to the light. I am flat on my back,…
On the back of my laptop is an orange oblong sticker that reads, Beauty will save the world. It’s no coincidence that my favorite fairy tale of all time is Beauty and the Beast. A young girl enters a dark stone castle in order to save her father, and through the power of her friendship, shreds the spell that enshrouded the selfish heart of a prince…
Something small grows into something powerful. In the new powerful film version of Les Miserables, two small things grow to enormous proportions—Jean Valjean’s crime and the mercy that Valjean receives through the priest. Valjean stole bread to feed a starving nephew and served nineteen years in prison as a result. Yet, upon his release, when he’s caught stealing silver from the priest’s house, the priest calls…
I watched him rock back onto his heels, a bright smile on his face as he clung to his partner's hands and kept the beat, dancing was never so beautiful to watch. When a normally quiet engineer (or journalist or software designer) suddenly glows under the influence of music and friends, I believe dance is pulling us into its magic glow. The other day I attended…
As I watched him rock back onto his heels, a bright smile on his face as he clung to his partner's hands and kept the beat, dancing was never so beautiful to watch. When a normally quiet engineer (or journalist or software designer) suddenly glows under the influence of music and friends, I believe dance is pulling us into its magic glow. The other day I…
Welcome to the Friday Five – my weekly tradition of listing four thoughts or lessons from my week, and one fun picture. This has been a low energy week for me (sometimes hibernation sound like such a good idea!), and it’s been a good time to practice reminding myself that I’m still a worthy, lovable person, even when I feel too tired to do anything that…
Today it's my pleasure to introduce you today to Dr. Shay Fabbro. Shay and I met through our publisher and I've grown to love her sense of humor and fun. Shay writes imaginative and heartfelt stuff, and this real-life story is amazing. Sometimes the things we remember about the people we love are the bad things they helped us escape. I love this warm twist on…
I was gasping through the Seattle Marathon when I saw a friendship that drew tears from my eyes. *Clears throat* To be perfectly honest, I didn’t run the full course. My husband and I joined my cousin, the real marathon-runner, at Mile 20 to encourage her. I saw a fifty-year-old man running barefoot, women chatting to keep their minds off the pain, a father and little…
What do you get when you make two woman with very different stories collide in the middle of an awful night? This is when writing gets really fun! Marni and I met after I'd just launched Moonlight and Oranges,when she was on the verge of launching her first novel Memoirs Aren't Fairytales, a harrowing story of a young woman's struggle with heroin addiction. We hit it…
Here is my Thanksgiving edition of the Friday Five: where each week I share four things I’ve learned and one fun photo. This post falls within the month of November, so I think it's still timely, plus, I ask, when is being thankful out of season? 1. Thankful hearts awaken kindness in others. Have you noticed that it’s pretty much impossible to be mean or harsh…