Growing up, life settled into rituals and routines.We would get up, wash our faces, and brush our teeth.Cereal for breakfast, except for Saturdays, whenDaddy made eggs, bacon, biscuits, and gravy.Sunday dinner was roast beef or ham with green beans and potatoes.Weekday meals were steak, pork chops, chicken, or meatloaf.Friday meant fish sticks or tuna casserole.Saturday…
For Nico, on His Tenth Birthday
Today, my grandson Nico turns ten years old. As his grandma, I want to say a few things about this young man, who is so special to me. I don’t quite know how to express all the love I feel and am already certain that my attempt will not measure up to what’s in my…
A Bond That Came from Keeping Vigil
I had a nice, long talk with my little brother Sam today. Sam is five years my junior, the same age as my husband, Ray, and lives in Nashville with his wife, Jaime. He and I are both busy, and sometimes it takes a while before we figure out a time to connect on the…
Cowboy Exhibit at the Reagan Library Today vs My Experience in Texas as a Kid
Today, Ray and I went with our friends Ronnie, Art, and Joseph to the Reagan Library to see the Cowboys: History and Hollywood exhibit. There, we saw photos of real cowboys, a bona fide chuck wagon, examples of guns, rifles, hats, chaps, and jeans of the cowboy era, a map showing the cattle drives, rodeo…
Good Lord, Deliver Us
First, let me say that when we have such terrible events occurring in our country right now, it’s hard to write about anything else. I want to rant and rave about the injustice of everything that is happening, and it is good and right for me to do so. We all need to stand up…
Nothing Like a Good Binge
Sleep. I need eight hours of sleep a night. That’s usually fine—but when Ray and I stumble upon a compelling series, it’s much easier to forgo sleep than to exercise a little discipline and go to bed at 10:30 or 11 instead of 12:30 or 1. I tend to do better with a 10:30–6:30 (or…
Yes, I Still Miss George
For my brother George, on his birthday. I wish George were here. He would be appalled by our current political situation and would be a safe person for me to talk to about all the frustration, worry, and disbelief that have characterized both times Trump has been in power. He would agree with my assessment…
Sharp Edges, Softened
This blog post was inspired by a college essay question one of my students was required to answer: Give a brief self-interview that will help us get to know you better. Reading the prompt, I realized it invited deep reflection, so I decided to answer the prompt myself. 1) You have clearly done quite a…
The World Inside My Head
When do I feel most free? Ah, I know. When I write fiction. Nothing matches the sense of freedom I feel when I settle into a comfortable chair with either my laptop or a notebook and pen and write a random sentence or fragment of dialogue with no idea where it will take me. From…
Outrunning Your Inner Critic, Twenty Minutes at a Time
Today is the first day of Story Circle Network’s 20 Minutes a Day Writing Challenge. This is a program that my daughter, Liz Beaty, SCN’s program director, and I, SCN’s educational coordinator, developed a few years ago, and we are proud to bring it back by popular demand. The concept is simple: Writing for 20…
20 Minutes a Day 