I am sitting in a quiet house after a very long day of students. It is dark outside and the air is cool. It is 7:54 pm and I am contemplating heading right upstairs, taking a warm bath and going straight to bed. This is how my day went today. I am not complaining since…
Month: October 2014
Now and Forever
Madeline was tired. She had been boxing up all sorts of antiques all afternoon since the owners, Maude and Jason Fredericks, were going out of business. These boxes would be heading to an auction where they would all go for what Maude described as “pennies on the dollar.” Madeline was especially upset about three different…
2nd Night in Ojai
I am sitting in a parked car with my computer. It is pitch dark all around me. The only light is the computer screen. I can hear Ray, Chanel and Jeff laughing around the campfire. I have been responding to my online class’s comments on 20 Minutes of Writing a Day for 1 Month. Today…
Sleeping in Ojai
This entry will need to be short. We are camping in Ojai and I am writing on my phone. It is a cool night with several blankets and a comforter on the bed. The only sound is the splash of the outdoor shower where Ray is right now. (We have hot water). The dogs are…
Musings
I am sitting with Elena. This is our first official session in our writing “group,” meaning the two of us. That’s just fine. I enjoy our time together. We both might feel resentful if another person joined us. We might look at them and think, “No, that’s not how we spend our time here. It’s…
College Essays, Online Classes and A New Car for Liz
I am grateful to have the work, but I am tired. I have been working straight since noon (it’s 8:30) with students on college essays, law school essays, and letters for special scholars programs. My back is aching from being bent over the computer and my mind is less that clear. I’m glad there isn’t…
Work-in-Progress: Not a Masterpiece…
I have been working on my novel in progress. This book is a big stretch for me. It’s about a 17-year-old rural Texas girl, Hannah Price, who is gifted at playing the violin and has been preparing for months to go with her music teacher for an audition at Juilliard. However, just a week before…
The Best Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe EVER
I have made one of the most delicious chicken noodle soups that I’ve ever tasted and I want to share the recipe with you. The key is making the stock from a whole chicken, of course, and then using that meat for the soup. But the other nice addition is the use of Chinese noodles…
Flash Fiction, The Gift
I wrote this a few years back, but found it today and wanted to share it. This is somewhat reminiscent of my own beloved music teacher though an intervention of this type never occurred. I expect she might have appreciated it if it had. Len There were 17 cats in Dr. Fredericks’s basement and it…
Flash Fiction: All That Really Mattered
I was dressed in a completely inappropriate shade of pink: hot, hot pink with white piping around my lapels and pockets and the hem of my mini-shirt; absolutely not the right color for a funeral, particularly my mother’s. My Aunt June’s eyes widened when I walked into the church and my Uncle Seymour leered, which…
20 Minutes a Day 