Hummingbirds are considered a sign, that the spirit of a loved one who has passed, may be near. This story was originally published in The Memoirist on Medium. I first saw the delicate, hand-carved hummingbird tied to the bottom of a birdhouse, hanging in the sunroom. Handcrafted of tightly twisted twigs, the birdhouse was the …
I Asked Dad To Send Me A Sign Before He Died. He Sent Me a Hummingbird. Read More »
The challenge of loving someone who got sober but never went through recovery. This story was originally published in Black Bear on Medium. It happened again. Like it always does. With words. Cold, defensive, attacking. Once again it’s not about anything big or important. It never is. Simple conversations turn into explosive arguments that activate …
Medium is a website where writers share stories, ideas, or their perspective with the world. According the the CEO of Medium, the goal is to help writers find their audience. While I have a small, growing audience here on my blog, Medium gives me the opportunity to reach more people. In the same way I …
I sat down recently with Gopal Singh, host of the Career Convos & Coffee Podcast to talk about leaving my marketing career to become a writer. We talked about all of the career pivots I’ve made over the years, beginning with what prompted me to leave my marketing job way back in 1998 to start …
We often encounter deer on our morning walks and today was no different. What was different was their response. She stomped her foot as she stared at me from the hill above the road. Her eyes met mine and never waivered. I noticed a flicker of white out of the corner of my eye as …
This piece is the result of a memoir-writing exercise to shine a light behind a difficult character. I sat down to write about my memories of mom and ended up writing 3,000 words that were more about me than her! I pulled out the part that resonated the most, cleaned it up, and I’ve shared …
Memories of Mom: How a 25-year-old letter changed everything Read More »
I was inspired to write this piece after visiting Hospice patients with my certified therapy dog Faith. I don’t know if it qualifies as memoir, but it’s writing about my life and that’s why it’s here. She bounded in the front door with the exuberance of an excited toddler. It’s this particular trait that always …
After completing a writing lesson on the topic of Show and Tell, I realized it’s probably the one skill I most need to master in my quest to become a memoirist. My journalism education taught me to report the facts. As a nonfiction writer, I focused on writing clear and concise descriptive prose. Painting a …
Now that dad’s gone and mom is 84 years old and slowly losing her memory, I find myself trying to put together the puzzle pieces of my life. Of their lives. Of how our lives intersected. And, how it all made me into the person I am today. This quest is generating more questions than …
The email landed in my inbox on Saturday afternoon. That’s when they always arrive. Every week, a new chapter released, with video and text lessons, interviews, suggested reading, and of course writing exercises. The subject line read, Writing is Prohibited. I breathed a sigh of relief. After beginning the memoir writing course with an excited …
