Writing
-
Why Writers Should Meditate
Dear writer: In a few moments, I’m going to ask you to close your eyes. Sometimes, the best way to be successful at doing something is to not do it for a while. Imagine you’re tackling a persnickety home maintenance task, for instance. You’re trying to fix a dishwasher that refuses to wash or figure out why… Continue reading
-
If Empathy Can Be Taught, It Should Be
The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.~Hannah Arendt Close your eyes. I imagine myself saying those words to my college writing students. After giving them an assignment and reminding them of the importance of planning and pre-writing in the composition… Continue reading
-
Retired Women: Snow Us In, But Don’t Count Us Out
January’s selection was Celeste Ng’s novel Little Fires Everywhere. As I read it, I anticipated what some of our book group members might say about the story. When women in a book group get to know each other through the texts they read, their reactions sometimes become predictable. Eloise, a former concert cellist, might identify with… Continue reading
-
Another ‘Bad Mother’ Memoir
As the daughter of a bad mother, I admit that I am drawn to memoirs in which a child dishes dirt on a parent. When I saw the title of Molly Jong-Fast’s recently published book How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir, I suspected that, like Jennette McCurdy in I’m Glad My Mother Died,… Continue reading
-
It Happened to Me; It Happens to Others
Shortly after my poetry chapbook, Falling: A Memoir in Verse, was published, I was asked by the university where I taught at the time to give a reading on our campus. I write about difficult subjects. My instincts prod me to face experiences from my past that cause me the most discomfort and to write… Continue reading
-
Sisters Out of Sync
In my earliest memories, I live with my parents in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. I’m four years old. My life began in the 1960s. Dr. Spock tended to my health, Dr. Seuss oversaw my early education, and my entertainment was provided by cartoons and reruns of I Love Lucy. Born to parents who were in their 40s,… Continue reading
Do you write about yourself and your experiences? Do you write about traumatic events in your life? Or, do you struggle to find time and motivation to write?
If so, this blog is for you.
Person on the Page 