My husband’s birthday is tomorrow. I spent the evening making two lasagnas: ground turkey and spinach, plus chocolate cookies and a pie crust for a coconut meringue pie. We are having a little party with two of our three kids, their friends, and a few of our friends tomorrow evening. My husband is a good…
Tag: writing time
Memoir Prompt: Memories of My Dad
Yesterday was my father’s birthday. Here is a piece I wrote about him a while back, but still rings true for me. A window into my world with him: “Have I told you today how much I love you?” This was a question my father asked me every day I was growing up. “I love…
My Submission Plan
Today I submitted three of my pieces to literary magazines. I also followed the advice in the article I posted and actually took the time to read several magazines, especially the ones to which I submitted. My plan is to devote one day a week to submissions, something I haven’t done lately. It is time,…
Underestimating LA Rush Hour or Why Not to Go 50 Miles for an Award
Today I went with one of my students and her mother to the awards ceremony for the California Division of the Scholastic Artists and Writers contest, the oldest and more prestigious contest for youth in the United States. The time of the event was 4:30 in a city 50 miles east of LA. Rush hour….
Attention Older Readers: I Need Your Advice
Okay, so it’s happened: I looked up and realized my kids have grown up. Yes, okay, so Sarah IS 29, Liz 26 and Rachael 20, but you don’t understand, I’ve been a Mother with a capital M for the past almost 30 years. And Ray has been a Father with the same focused interest. Alas,…
Flash Essay Prompt: Leonard Cohen, Brother George, and Recovery
As Leonard Cohen writes in his song, Anthem: Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There’s a crack – a crack – in everything That’s how the light gets in. I just read a fellow blogger’s heartfelt account of the bumps on her road to recovery from alcohol abuse. She spoke…
Prompt: Describe a Favorite Piece of Furniture – My Favorite Rocker
The bent wood rocker is brown with age, and the thin arms are lighter than the rest of the wood where human arms have rested upon them. The back has five wooden rungs that are attached to two long round pieces of wood that stretch three inches above the highest rung and all the way…
Nothing Like an Award or Two to Brighten Up My Day!
Much thanks to my fellow bloggers for two awards for my blog, 20 Minutes a Day. Thank you susanwritesprecise for the Lamplighter Award! This is for a blog you find that brightens the world. This award can be passed along as many times as you like and the recipient either accepts or declines and that’s…
Prompt: The Word “Encounter”
Encounter is a word that conjures up mystery. Encounter is not just a meeting, but something more fleeting. An encounter suggests movement, as if both parties are on their way to somewhere else and they briefly come in contact. One can imagine an encounter in a stairwell, where two people pass and glance at one…
Prompt: Reading and the Recession
Beloved. I need to read Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Rachael has asked me to help her with one of her college essays on the book, plus one of my high school students will be writing about it in his AP English class and asked for my help. I’m happy to read it; I’m delighted to read…
20 Minutes a Day 