“But she promised she’d say good-bye,” Max said as he swigged a glass of lager while we sat in our usual back booth at “Let’s Get It On” bar. Just a side note about the bar – it was about the last place anybody would ever think to “get it on,” unless that meant to…
Author: lenleatherwood
I am a native Texan who has lived for the past 30 years in Southern California. I am a published author of both short memoir and fiction, a two-time Pushcart nominee, a nationally award-winning writing coach, an editor, as well as a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Texas. In addition, I am the mother of three grown daughters of whom I am extremely proud, a grandmother of four darling children and the wife of a man I still love after 44 years.
Flash Fiction: An Education
I loved the way she said “balloon.” She said it as if she were blowing bubbles… She was strawberry blonde and had the greenest eyes I had ever seen. There was something about the way she puckered up her lips when she asked for a balloon that night at the carnival that made her look…
5-Star Gingersnap Recipe
Today I modified America’s Test Kitchen’s recipe for ginger snap cookies to fit into my non-refined sugar criteria. That mean basically just substituting white sugar with maple sugar. The results were excellent. The cookies have a real snap and they are filled with freshly ground ginger for a nice little kick. I’m going out on…
A Turkey Burger Worth Eating
Looking for a great turkey burger (or regular beef burger) in LA? Here’s your stop: Astro Burger at 7475 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. The fries are also excellent, hand-cut and fried to perfection. Here is the turkey burger I had a few days back. Pardon those bite marks. I was so hungry, I forgot…
Ojai Last Night
We went to Ojai last night and I was unable to post because I had not downloaded the WordPress blog app. I have since done that so I am playing catch-up. Here is what the moon looked like from the darkness of the orange grove last night. We were there to water our trees so…
Writing Advice for Long Projects
A friend called me today and said, “I had been going great guns on a writing project, then I lost momentum and now I’m miserable.” My response, “Welcome to the real world of writing.” It is a fact (at least from my experience), once you have immersed yourself in the creative process and experienced that…
Sweet Potato Mac and Cheese Recipe
I made this recipe today and I would recommend it. You can’t taste the sweet potato; you can taste a creamy sauce, which seems very cheesy. I think that’s part of the appeal of this recipe: much less cheese and the nutrition of sweet potatoes, to boot. On a scale of 1 – 10 for…
Two Comfort Foods
I went to Trader Joe’s today to stock up on various foodstuffs. As I sat problem-solving what to write about tonight on my blog, it occurred to me to throw in a plug for two Trader Joe’s products that I think are especially good. Clearly, TJ’s has many other products that are great, but these two add…
A Chronicle of My Day
I am sitting with my student, Oona. We are doing a quick write. I am tired today. Ray and I sat up until almost 2 am watching the last episodes of Orange is the New Black. This was Season 2. It is a new experience for me watching episodic television in this free-form approach –…
Insight from Max Perkins and Hemingway
The famous editor Max Perkins wrote: I think, in truth, that the best writing of all is done long after the events it is concerned with, when they have been digested and reflected upon unconsciously, and the writer has completely realized them in himself. It is good journalistic writing that is done quickly while everything…
20 Minutes a Day 