New Year’s has me ruminating on the highs and lows of the last three to four years. Two years of being high from weight loss, hoping for an agent/publisher, and a fabulous trip to Ireland has given way to just plain wanting to stop coughing. After diet-disrupting stomach […]
The hunt for an agent takes diligence, discipline, and stamina…and then some. I’m on the prowl and pitching “Pretending to be Me” during a Twitter event called #PitMad tomorrow. If you see my tweets, please don’t “like” them. I’ll be having agita, awaiting likes from literary agents who will show their interest […]
Why self-medicate? Why not report sexual harassment? Easy. She’s not equipped otherwise. Nicknamed “Chubs” as a kid, she’s just living up to her brand, the obedient worker smiling away her pain. Unaccustomed to refusing the men in her life and ill-prepared for intimacy, the narrator of Pretending to […]
Yes, me too. That hashtag was metaphorically plastered across my body and mind before it existed. The number of public #MeToo testimonials doesn’t surprise me in the least. I’m confident there are still many #MeToo assaults kept secret from loved ones; I never told anyone until recently. Back in the […]
I don’t diet. I don’t buy into marketed diets. Oh, I have. I just don’t anymore. If they work for you, have at it. But if my mindset about the word “diet” and its forms helps someone, great. I don’t like to discuss dieting, the verb form. It pushes too […]
In this time of online trolls, heightened opinions, and lack of tolerance and compromise, many people hide behind screens. Sometimes, it’s to say awful things to strangers. Sometimes, it’s for protection. Maybe both. But long before social media dominated our connection to others (if you can still call it connection,) I hid behind something else. My mask. My […]
Have you ever caught a person trying but failing to hide an eye roll? Or worse, when they mask most of their judgment but, deep down, they still want you to see a hint of their mocking eyes? It feels crappy, doesn’t it? That’s how I feel after sharing personal information about my twin-flame addiction / […]
(Inspired by the December theme song “Baby Its Cold Outside,” written 12/04/2017.) If you forced me to rank what lured me into loving Christmas, the top three would tie, but here goes: In Third Place? The happy smiles, better moods, and all around good cheer. A close Second Place […]
There’s a scruffy, multi-stage bar just outside of Chicago where I go to hear quality music. With low ticket prices and easier parking (usually) than in the city, the cool venue offers wide ranges of rock, blues, folk, and more almost every night of the week. But one day per month, five or […]
(Inspired by the October theme song “Monster Mash,” written 9/29/2017.) A kindly neighbor has taken pity on me. He whistles before he approaches me in my garden. It’s safer that way. I’m less likely to psycho stab him with my pruning shears, or any other sharp gardening implement […]
Click Storytelling to see a collection of personal tales written to be told on stage.
Read how I stumbled into cathartic, on-stage storytelling here.
Daring Greatly, Brené Brown, PhD, LMSW
Big Little Lies, Liane Moriarty
The Alice Network, Kate Quinn
Jaqui Mulvenna: Behind My Mask 