It seems almost impossible to be thankful when everything is falling apart around us. . . . Yet conventional wisdom tells us, “It’s not happy people who are grateful. It’s grateful people who are happy.” Interestingly, recent scientific research backs this up.
These days, I write about only one subject: my sister’s cancer. It’s the only subject that feels urgent, the one that dominates my days. Even when my sister and I don’t talk […]
A rant in no particular order. 1. I need to lose weight for health reasons (blood pressure, cholesterol, stress on the joints, etc.). I’m not so enlightened that I’d be sorry to […]
It’s December 26th—Boxing Day in the U.K.—and my English husband is at work. Here in America, it seems, one day off for Christmas is enough. In England, Boxing Day means shopping, visiting […]
First, Backstory In the first minutes of a writer’s conference in NYC last September, I met an editor who changed my relationship with my own head. Editors have rearranged my head space […]
Are artistic people prone to suicide and depression? Does being a writer cause despair? Is there anything we can do about it? Listen as two award-winning writers and writing professors discuss the […]
God walks out of the room when you’re thinking about money. –Quincy Jones I think a lot about mattering. Do I matter, how can I help other people know that they matter, […]
First I thought of the title of this post, because when I’m depressed, I find myself binge-watching shows on streaming tv. Then I listed the shows I wanted to talk about, and […]
To be happy, I need to hold on to the thought that I am ordinary. It sounds wrong, I know, when everything tells us to be extraordinary, when everything we aspire to […]
Right now, as I’m typing these words, I feel like I don’t have “it.” “It” is that elusive quality we need in order to write. We know it when we feel it, […]
