2020-08-25 16:58
Nearly once a week a "discussion" erupts on my local NextDoor site in regards to homelessness (or, more accurately homeless people) in Seattle. My neighborhood is a mix of upper-income… Read More
Blog Directory > Life Blogs > Observations Blogs > The Writing Life observations Blog >
The Writing Life Blog
the-writing-life.blogspot.com
Writing, parenting, living life to the best of my ability...
2020-08-18 16:41
My uncle said something last night that struck me and it fits in with so much of what I've been chewing on mentally. He said, "we aren't a society, we are an economy. We aren't citizens, we'… Read More
2020-08-16 19:54
I deleted Facebook from my phone two weeks ago and my nervous system is thanking me for it. I also decided to only go check the site once a day from my computer, in the morning, to make my w… Read More
2020-08-03 19:16
Chop woodCarry waterI heard that message in a meditation today and I'm doing my best. My nervous system is a wreck, a jangly mess of tangled wires and antennae picking up signals from everyo… Read More
2020-07-29 18:41
I am really struggling today.And, it’s not about me.But also, it is. There is a way in which I have to fit in to the community, be in relationship with others, and help push solutions… Read More
2020-07-14 15:11
Albarubescens / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)Confession: I spent the first half of my life without any discernible personal bound… Read More
2020-06-15 20:40
I am learning so much right now. My head is full of voices I've not paid attention to before, pieces of wisdom from articles and books and conversations I'm having. I am often overwhelmed wi… Read More
2020-05-29 18:41
In fact, we've needed to talk for a long time now, and we've been avoiding it. I'm looking at white women when I say that and I hope you're hearing me. I hope you don't flinch, or if you do… Read More
2020-05-14 23:39
Ragesoss / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)If you have ever lived in Western Washington or Western Oregon, you know about Himalayan Blackberry - a plant that grows w… Read More
2020-04-10 14:55
Cassandra.mllr / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)I don't generally dream, or at least if I do, I don't remember dreaming, for the most part. Occasionally, if I fall… Read More
2020-04-03 15:23
You know that phenomenon when you notice a pattern somewhere and you can't believe you hadn't seen it before, and suddenly you start seeing it everywhere? It's even more eye-opening when the… Read More
2020-03-29 17:54
A few blocks from my home is a care facility called Bailey-Boushay House. It started as an AIDS end-of-life unit and when I first moved to Seattle in 1994, I signed up to volunteer with one… Read More
2020-03-22 19:26
We are all learning a lot about our own fear responses and the fear responses of others, whether we know it or not. If you know what to look for, you can see how people around you have learn… Read More
2020-03-21 15:52
By John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA - KennyRogers, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75141455Kenny Rogers died last nigh… Read More
2020-03-12 19:06
Image Description: a spiral tattoo with the words "You are here" pointing to a specific spot on the spiralI don't know about anyone else, but in my life, when the Universe decides I need to… Read More
2020-02-27 18:19
Image Description: blue candle holder with lit candle sitting on a metal table topI have been thinking a lot about rage lately. About how we hold it and offload it, about who ends up being t… Read More
2020-02-16 19:26
"I want her, too, but she will never get the nomination.”“She’s not electable.”“I don’t think this country is ready for a woman president.”I could g… Read More
2020-01-28 17:10
I have orchids in my kitchen window - five medium-sized plants that I've been gifted over the years that I coax in to blooming about once a year. I'm always surprised and rather pleased when… Read More
2020-01-01 17:42
I'm not generally much of a retrospective kind-of person, and I've been watching other folks do their year-end and end-of-decade roundups (favorite books, favorite movies, what to look forwa… Read More
2019-10-29 19:31
We know about biorhythms - the idea that human beings have certain cycles they go through that affect wellness and health. Circadian rhythms dictate when our bodies release hormones to help… Read More
2019-09-22 17:38
Yesterday, I went to a book launch that was very different from any other launch I've been to - for a book I've already read that brought me to tears more than once, as a writer, as a mother… Read More
2019-08-29 16:38
Hey -The Fixx are playing in Seattle on Aug 28th - if you don’t have plans for that night, you should really take L to see them. They’re in Portland… Read More
2019-07-30 16:37
My last post pointed you to my friend Jen and her work that helped me set a new tone for my life. I have several pages of notes from a day I spent with her last year in a tiny little cabin o… Read More
2019-06-16 19:08
Over the last 18 months, I've wrestled (well, thumb-wrestled) with something that keeps cropping up for me. It's nothing major - thus, the thumb-wrestling - but nevertheless, it keeps showin… Read More
2019-06-06 00:07
We know the power of story to motivate and connect people, to convince and add color. But I am increasingly aware of how storytelling has become co-opted over time, bent and twisted to be us… Read More
2019-04-11 17:08
I am writing my way in to my body. This is difficult, but not counterintuitive. In the last ten years or so, I've discovered that what I used to think was counterintuitive was simply fear. I… Read More
2019-02-26 16:20
Today would have been my 25th wedding anniversary.I'm trying to figure out how I feel about that. Honestly, it's not that I woke up with any particularly different feeling today. And I did m… Read More
2019-01-19 01:39
My dad loved cars. He loved old cars, classic cars, any car he ever owned. He loved washing and waxing them, tinkering in the engine, driving. Everything about them.He taught me how to chang… Read More
2018-12-29 00:25
I want to say it started the day E got home from college, but the truth is, it began somewhere back in October. I'm a stocking-stuffer fiend, to say the least. I start collecting things earl… Read More
2018-10-29 19:45
I spent the first eight years of my life as a Catholic. Went to church, learned the hymns and the responses and the stories. Longed to have my first real Communion, marveled at the beautiful… Read More
2018-10-21 19:38
One year ago today, I was surrounded by a group of amazing women who helped move Eve and Lola and I in to our new home. They packed boxes, cleaned cupboards, organized movers, found screwdri… Read More
2018-10-18 00:19
Last weekend I went to visit my mom for the first time since she moved to a memory care facility. It's been a long time coming and while I felt good about this particular place, it was also… Read More
2018-10-06 22:13
I have felt nauseous for two days, a feeling that's pretty unusual for me since I stopped eating gluten over ten years ago. It's pretty rare that I have any stomach issues, to be honest, and… Read More
2018-09-27 18:35
It is not like a rock in your shoe - rolling free in the arch where you can't feel it until it somehow lodges beneath your heel and annoys you. It's not like that. That is a memory from when… Read More
2018-09-11 00:07
By si.robi - https://www.flickr.com/photos/sirobi/14239128799/in/photostream/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33623062There are so many things to be struck by… Read More
2018-08-31 15:42
Image: Low row of bricks alongside a sidewalkOn the sidewalk in North Chicago, just outside a large, upscale grocery store, Lola and I walked past a woman about my age building this brick wa… Read More
2018-08-02 16:22
I am often astonished at how much less I write here than I used to, and for a while, I attributed it to the speed of life. There have been so many changes - substantive changes - in my life… Read More
2018-06-28 14:24
The Earth seen from Apollo 17. Wikimedia CommonsTuesday night, I joined a room full of people of all different faiths to talk about how we can help the immigrants in our community - both the… Read More
2018-06-23 15:02
I had a dream last night that I volunteered my car and my services to transport kids who'd been separated from their parents back to reunite with them. I have a car that seats seven and I wa… Read More
2018-06-17 16:47
By Dave Huth from Allegany County, NY, USA - Pill bug, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64866062My gut can be the source of some pretty deep knowing. It's often the… Read More
2018-06-03 20:15
By Father of JGKlein, used with permission - Father of JGKlein, used with permission, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10787084If you are among the men who clai… Read More
2018-05-22 18:21
I am a storyteller and I have been my whole life. I carry them inside me, work on them, figure out the best way to share them. But sometimes the stories get heavy. Before I ever put an… Read More
2018-05-10 03:29
and for the parents. If you were raised in the 1970s and early 1980s, you might be familiar with the "tough love" approach. It was my dad's go-to method of parenting. Figure out how to… Read More
2018-04-26 02:57
I never know where inspiration will come from, but in general, it is spurred by conversations with people I don't know as well as I thought I did. And for that, I am tremendously grateful.I… Read More
2018-04-06 16:58
Two things: I don't like the way anger feels in my body but I am discovering how to help it leave, and for me, nature is an integral part of that process.When anger comes it is seductive and… Read More
2018-03-12 15:15
Sometimes, I have a view in to PTSD that I haven't ever seen before. Generally, at this point in my life, it's a pretty distanced view, and for that I am grateful.As I was getting ready to t… Read More
2018-03-04 01:07
The thing about mindfulness for me is that it lets me have more access to my emotions. It's not only that I give myself the opportunity to breathe when I feel something strongly and tune in… Read More
2018-03-01 18:37
I am reading the most fascinating book right now and it is spurring all sorts of wonderings in my mind. The book is "The Values of Belonging" by Carol L. Flinders and every paragraph is an o… Read More
2018-02-28 22:11
photo from www.newromantimes.comWe had snow in Seattle last Wednesday. It rarely happens, and when it does, it's a novelty and generally doesn't last for long - just the way I like it. Thurs… Read More
2018-02-04 01:23
The last year or so has been a challenging one. I am getting a divorce after 23 years and there is a lot to learn, and even more to un-learn; about the world, about myself, about relationshi… Read More
2018-01-12 21:42
I am so tired of "systems." So tired of bureaucracy, protocols, and guidelines. Tired of "procedure" superseding common decency.When the leader of a country can speak openly about other huma… Read More
2018-01-08 19:41
My latest for parents and teachers who work with teens is here. Once you know how to spot anxiety, the next trick is to figure out what's triggering it Read More
2017-11-07 16:52
Part One is here. This one's for Birdie. Oh, Birdie. I don't know you, but I know you. We've never met, but I hear you. Birdie left a comment on the previous post that I'll ex… Read More
2017-11-06 17:39
By Creator:Giulio Bonasone - http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/392735This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons by as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I… Read More
2017-09-07 17:11
Everywhere I've ever lived there has been at least one neighbor who is way out of the norm. They have all been unique in their own way, and now that I think about it, they've all been male… Read More
2017-08-30 17:31
It feels surreal.I realize that I say that so often now. That I experience things that I have a hard time accepting for one reason or another.The fact that my mom doesn't know who I am; that… Read More
2017-08-08 16:41
The house I am staying in is on a spit of land with a westward view of a bay and another spit of land. All day long, I could sit on the deck and watch the birds – gulls, heron, ea… Read More
2017-07-19 17:36
Are you a person who sees the glass as half full or half empty? I like this exercise in perspective, because it's an easy way to remind ourselves that we always have a choice. But I've recen… Read More
2017-07-07 16:29
Photo from The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/07/democracy-vouchers-seattle-politics-low-income-homeless#img-2It's been a while since I posted anything even remotely po… Read More
2017-06-26 21:22
It occurs to me that our bodies and minds weren't made to hold on to emotion. Nor were they made to reject it.More and more, I think that the best method of experiencing emotions is th… Read More
2017-05-26 17:17
I am a lover of words, a lover of conversation, someone who is incredibly interested in learning new things. And I often do my learning via story, as many of us do. I am also a story teller… Read More
2017-05-22 17:29
By Kurt Baty - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0I know that, and yet, there is still something so appealing about believing that the world is black and white, that things are either good or bad, and so… Read More
2017-05-15 01:11
The older I get, the more complicated Mother's Day seems to be. As a kid, it was all excitement and anticipation - making crafty gifts in class with glue and construction paper and flowers a… Read More
2017-04-30 15:07
I spent the last two days at a Mindfulness Research Conference and my brain is full. I dreamt about mindfulness last night. Don't ask me to describe it because it doesn't make much sens… Read More
2017-04-24 17:42
Expectations may be one of the biggest roots of all suffering. And yet...Is it possible to be human and not have expectations? Can we really move through life without having some subconsciou… Read More
2017-04-07 15:21
My friend and coach, Kris, posted something on her Facebook page yesterday that gave me pause. I watched it again this morning before taking the dogs for a walk and let it filter throug… Read More
2017-03-15 16:37
I fixed the salt cellar this morning. It wasn’t terribly complicated, but it took a little bit of ingenuity and some focus and a real desire to have it fixed. I made it last year at on… Read More
2017-03-01 17:27
To say that things have been tension-filled in my life lately would be a gross understatement. I won't go in to details - partially because I don't really want to see it all sitting together… Read More
2017-02-12 20:14
One of our house rules* is that we all agree not to do something for someone else that will make us angry. It seems obvious, but it's amazing how many times I've done things as I'm knee-deep… Read More
2017-01-13 17:37
My girls are getting older and now that Lola is in high school, I've really been hit with the knowledge that they are strong, capable young women who are reaching for independence. It's a de… Read More
2017-01-04 21:28
I am teaming up with a good friend to offer a weekend writing/yoga retreat just north of Seattle, March 24-26. She is a certified Reiki Master and yoga instructor and we will be alternating… Read More
2016-12-08 18:01
As a person who has struggled with anxiety and depression throughout her life, perhaps choosing a career as a writer wasn’t the best way to go. Writers, especially freelance writers, e… Read More
2016-12-02 22:35
I had thought that, since I lost one parent already, there would be a sense of familiarity, of deja vu, of "been there, done that" when I lost the next one. Not in a dismissive way, just an… Read More
2016-11-28 20:28
Yesterday, Jennifer Pastiloff's site, The Manifest-Station, featured an excerpt of my memoir-in-progress on their site. I am thrilled to have this process begin. You can find it here. Read More
2016-11-12 23:21
In the past several days, I have seen more requests for people to "unfriend" and "unlike" pages on social media than ever before.I have spoken with people who acknowledge that their loved on… Read More
2016-11-09 17:01
I sit here full to the brim. My heart is heavy, my stomach quivering, mouth dry and thoughts racing. I remind myself to breathe deeply a few times a minute and struggle to define what is hap… Read More
2016-11-08 16:46
I can't believe that it's been over a month since I wrote here. Life is so full and so still, all at the same time. My daughters are continuing their inexorable shift to adulthood, the summe… Read More
2016-09-30 15:54
There are days when I find it really hard to just be a person making my way through the world, this world of instant opinions and shouting and clickbait and judgment. But, not coincidentally… Read More
2016-09-16 15:29
I was listening to a story on NPR the other day about wildfires in the Pacific Northwest and one person who was being interviewed was part of what they call a “mop-up” crew. Thes… Read More
2016-08-23 00:03
It has been a challenging few weeks around here and I feel like I'm learning a lot about grief and emotional overwhelm. The first thing I've noticed is that they both feel very different to… Read More
2016-08-13 16:59
When the girls were little, I signed them up for a program at the local park where they could learn to ride ponies. They sat in a barn and learned about safety, donned bike helmets and boots… Read More
2016-08-05 22:04
I will admit to being altogether unsure of how to begin. My faithful companion of over a decade is failing and, while he may live for another several weeks, things are getting rough.We were… Read More
2016-07-14 18:24
Sometimes I have revelations that are laughable. Things that I feel like I ought to have known or accepted years ago, but have only just recently sunk into my bones and opened my heart and m… Read More
2016-07-09 16:48
Slowly but surely, inexorably, every step this country takes pushes us farther into a corner. It didn't start with 9/11, but it certainly accelerated our descent into fear, and we are now re… Read More
2016-07-04 14:00
I read somewhere a reminder that everything is simultaneously living and dying. And, of course I knew that, but we do our best to think otherwise, don't we? We either work to ignore it or re… Read More
2016-05-30 17:51
Because how do you write about the things that aren't yours to tell? How do you begin to separate what is yours and what isn't?It is a tricky proposition, this. And not only because of the r… Read More
2016-05-26 15:55
Saturday, Sunday, Monday I had hours for writing. The luxury of time meant that I woke early, poured coffee, sat at a rented desk and pounded the keyboard until I had 60 pages. Walks along t… Read More
2016-05-16 20:32
It seems that every new milestone my kids hit offers me an opportunity to examine why I do the things I do. I often fall into the trap of thinking that everyone does things the way I d… Read More
2016-05-11 18:10
Warning: Rant coming in 3, 2, 1There have been times in my life when I have been so f%*king DONE with our country's convoluted system of healthcare that I wasn't sure whether to cry, throw m… Read More
2016-05-02 17:16
Part 1 is herePart 2 is hereI would like to go on record as saying that I don't think vaccines are a bad thing, in and of themselves. I do think that they have served an important function i… Read More
2016-04-21 18:13
In case you missed, it, Part 1 of my writing on vaccines in the US can be found here.I suppose that, like most other very controversial subjects, it shouldn't surprise me that the vaccine de… Read More
2016-04-14 15:53
For more than a year, I've been holding my tongue on the subject of vaccines for a whole range of reasons. The conversation seems to wax and wane, but now that it is front-and-center once ag… Read More
2016-04-06 16:40
This is a response to Elizabeth's comment on the previous post about sex as a commodity, and I will preface it by saying I wish I had a definitive answer. She asked how I would edu… Read More
2016-04-04 19:33
Jon Krakauer's Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College TownThe New England Prep School rape casePeggy Orenstein's latest book, Girls & SexSex trafficking rates skyrocketi… Read More
2016-03-29 17:06
I am not much of a routine-loving person. I hate the idea of going to the gym and working out on the same piece of equipment every day or every other day. When I was working a job that requi… Read More
2016-03-14 17:49
*I remember hearing, back in September or October, a report on NPR about microchimerism of mothers, and it is one of those things that has stuck in my craw for months. Basically, there is ev… Read More
2016-03-10 18:46
I'm having a hard time remembering to focus on the positive. I spend way too much time following this ridiculous presidential race and it is taking a toll on my attitude. I am like a moth to… Read More
2016-02-26 20:25
Last Thursday, I gave myself permission to take a hot bath. In the middle of the day. With piles of laundry yet to be washed, a dog that desperately wanted a walk, and a dinner plan yet to b… Read More
2016-02-26 18:38
An active mind and time alone are not a good combination for me. Ironic, considering how much of my time I spend alone, writing from home during the day (or not) and alone in the eveni… Read More
2016-02-26 18:35
I love yoga. Not only for the sweating, quiet determination, sore muscles and peace I gain from it, but because it is where I hear that strong, inner voice most clearly. Without fail, as soo… Read More
Subscribe to The Writing Life
Get updates delivered right to your inbox!