Writing
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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
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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
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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
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Perfectionism: A Coin Toss
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2000, Martha Stewart described herself as a “maniacal perfectionist.” You remember Martha Stewart, right? A woman whose career has spanned six decades. A woman who turned a Connecticut-based catering business into a billion-dollar corporation. Someone who has cultivated publicity-provoking friendships with a wide cast of famous characters: Donald Continue reading
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Finally, an Understandable Definition of “Voice” in Nonfiction
Have you ever noticed how writing experts tend to trip and fumble when they try to explain the concept of voice in nonfiction? They may say that voice is that undefinable something that makes your writing your own. It’s the magic on the page that allows readers to recognize you, the speaker of the text, Continue reading
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Caroline Kirkland: My Pioneer Sister?
Mudholes complicated travel on the frontier beyond Detroit. In 1836, in a wagon loaded with household goods and six children, Caroline Kirkland and her husband William lumbered toward the tract of land they had purchased on speculation. They planned to make a new home, and hopefully a handsome profit, in the West. They had already 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 