I am sitting with my student, George, who is in 7th grade at Hawthorne Middle School in Beverly Hills. We are doing a timed writing. He still has his cast on his arm, though the green is fading on the gauze and the edges are dirty. I imagine he is really ready to get that…
Category: Family
Repost: Rosemary-Lemon Chicken Cooked in a Clay Pot
I am reposting this recipe of chicken prepared in a clay pot because I just gave daughter Rachael a Romertopf clay pot. I think she might appreciate some guidance on how to use it. These pots are great at producing foolproof meat that is very moist. You simply soak the pot first for fifteen minutes then…
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…
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 