Finding Bliss on the Balcony and Sharing that Experience in the New Bella Grace Issue
My best writing happens when I manage to package my own experience, habits or insights into an article that might bring inspiration to others. Sometimes, my own life is too obvious for me to see what might be worth packaging. It's just want I do, why write about it? Thankfully, this spring I did manage to step back and see [...]
Podcast Interview – The Difference between Autobiography and Memoir, and all Kinds of Other Points Pertinent to Writing Family Stories
My dad's first outing in the pram, pushed by his Aunt Resi (a major character in Jumping Over Shadows). Walking along are the proud parents, i.e. my grandparents, Karl and Hanne. Reichenberg, Czechoslovakia, 1933 I am happy to share that the lovely ladies of the Genealogy Happy Hour hosted me for their podcast episode this month. It was [...]
How Do you Deal with the Plethora of Names When Writing Stories from Family History?
At my Great Aunt Resi's for New Year's Eve, early 1940s, Czechoslovakia (This picture is from my memoir Jumping Over Shadows.) When you write a story from family history, the cast of characters can be quite large. This can be confusing to the reader. So the issue of how to handle all those names within the text can [...]
The Magic of Needlepoint Projects – Easy-to-do, Therapeutic and Beautiful, They Might Also Connect You to Your Past
A month ago I was suffering from a broken heart (being a mother is hard...), and I found myself opening this cross stitch kit I'd ordered back in May from easy123art. I threaded the needle, started counting, and rediscovered a craft I hadn't done since high school. I was amazed how therapeutic this embroidery project proved to be! It [...]
Remembering 9/11 by Remembering Some of Those Who Lost Their Lives
Today is 9/11. Somehow it strikes me as odd to remember that day in the middle of a new calamity. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly is a different calamity altogether. I'm not even sure it's appropriate to compare the two but that's where my mind is going. Remembering 9/11 also makes me so conscious of the passage of time. 9/11 was [...]
During the Pandemic, Traveling by Book is the Best Kind of Travel, Provided You Read a Magnificent One like The Lost Pianos of Siberia
It is precious and rare to fall in love with a book. It is even more precious to get lost in a book and be swept away to another world. This just happened to me with Sophy Roberts' wondrous The Lost Pianos of Siberia. I finished its 350 pages in three days. Then, hungry for more, I read its hefty [...]