My son participated in a mountain biking practice at Mohican State Park earlier this week, and I waited in the park while he rode, relishing 90 minutes of relatively poor cellphone reception. My plan was to make my way down to the lake that sits at the bottom of the hill from Mohican Lodge, findContinue reading “Peace Like a River”
Category Archives: creative nonfiction
The Things We’ve Lost and Where They’re Found
The pancake batter bowl is missing. I have twice opened and shut every kitchen cabinet drawer it could have been stuffed into by one of three children annoyed by the daily chore of unloading the dishwasher groooooan. Maybe it was the jesterly husband with all his high-minded opinions about where and how certain dishes oughtContinue reading “The Things We’ve Lost and Where They’re Found”
The Book of Knowledge and Wonder
When Steven Harvey was in his thirties, his grandmother gave him letters his own mother had written between 1945 and 1960. It wasn’t until Steve turned 61 that he began to read the letters of his mother, who had committed suicide April 6, 1961, when Steve was eleven. Most of Steve’s memories of his motherContinue reading “The Book of Knowledge and Wonder”
My Writing Process
My good friend, Kate Hopper, has invited me to participate in this fun little blog tour about writing process. Kate is a brilliant writer and teacher who has published two books you might be interested in: Ready for Air: A Journey through Premature Motherhood and Use Your Words: A Writing Guide for Mothers. She has taughtContinue reading “My Writing Process”
Westbound and Down, Rollin’ Up and Truckin’
“we gonna do what they say can’t be done. We’ve got a long way to go, and a short time to get there, oh westbound just watch ol’ Bandit run!” Yeeeee hawwwww! https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/uHZJej98_T0&source=uds Tomorrow morning at the wee hour of 4 a.m. I’ll be zooming out of here to the airport for another year ofContinue reading “Westbound and Down, Rollin’ Up and Truckin’”
The Florist’s Daughter by Patricia Hampl
The Florist’s Daughter by Patricia Hampl is a deep exploration of two extremely influential individuals on the author’s life: her mother and her father, though much more emphasis seems to me to be on the mother. There’s an intended irony, I think, in the author’s title, the florist’s daughter. Hampl has always considered herself “hisContinue reading “The Florist’s Daughter by Patricia Hampl”
Full Body Burden – Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
I recently finished Kristen Iversen’s book, Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats, an important and terrifying account of the dangers that lurk in the secrets of our personal and national lives. It is especially important and worrisome as the Denver area experiences such dramatic flooding, stirring up buried plutonium deposits. Kristen Iversen accomplishesContinue reading “Full Body Burden – Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats”
Vulnerability in Writing
I’ve been writing a LOT lately, and I’m excited about the material that is coming out, the direction I see for possible books (plural, because I don’t want to write just one, after all), and the small victories each piece presents. I’ve been telling myself, You can’t write about faith and poof! essays on faith (andContinue reading “Vulnerability in Writing”
Next Big Thing
I’ve been tagged by my dear friend Marilyn Bousquin in the Next Big Thing, a blog chain letter of sorts to talk about what’s happening in your writerly life and then to tag five other women writers to hear their stories. I met Marilyn a few years ago through the Ashland University MFA Program. She runsContinue reading “Next Big Thing”
Family Research and Writing
For the last few months, I’ve been working on researching what life was like in Geauga County during the mid-1800s for an essay I’m trying to write. For some reason, I’m having a hard time with this. There are definitely resources out there, detailed ones, about life in the 1850s, but when I try toContinue reading “Family Research and Writing”
Sarah Marie Wells 