Looking for a unique idea for a graduation gift? Well, I’ve got one for you! The inspiration for my first novel, LETTERS FOR SCARLET, came from an assignment I used to do with my senior English classes. Each year on the last day of school, I asked my students to write...
A Gift for Graduates
The Cold Sweat
Spoiler alert: I prefer control over chaos. If you know me in real life, this won’t come as a surprise. Neither will the fact that merely typing the word surprise makes me break into a cold sweat. No, spontaneity is not my jam. My jam is predictability. Or—probably...
A Paperback by Any Other Name
PEOPLE! I HAVE BIG NEWS! In fact I might be dancing in my living room! Why? I’m glad you asked. LILY BY ANY OTHER NAME is in print, and I’m beyond happy about it! This is my writing group being happy with me. Want to be happy, too? Of course...
More Flagrante, Less Delicto
Like many of you fine people, I appreciate a good dose of irony. In literature. In life. In Alanis Morissette lyrics. (Hey. Let’s not get nit-picky.) Still, there’s something a little bit ironic I can’t support when it comes to parenting. And that irony is this: The very act...
What Happens in Writing Group Stays in Writing Group Except When it Doesn’t
*Below is my response to a ten-minute writing exercise from our February meeting. The prompt: Describe “That Moment.” My friend Charlene shared hers first. She inspired me to share mine, too. — We were at brunch, just the three of us, a special treat, for sure. I probably had an...
A Hill to Live On
My home sits near the top of a hill. A big hill. Half a mile up, and pretty steep. We moved here in 2001 after I stumbled upon the house on Mother’s Day. Our kids were not quite two and four, and I’d been getting them ready for brunch...
Notes from the Library Monitor
If you follow me on any social media platform, you know I got a job working for the city of Thousand Oaks in its two library branches. (If you don’t follow me, YOU SHOULD FOLLOW ME! Up on the right, click those icons below Keep up to date… Now you...
Begin Again
On November 3, 2015, I shared this post announcing that I was beginning to run again after months of not running. I did this partly for accountability, but also because I wanted everyone else to join me in pursuing a deferred dream. Let’s do this, I said. TOGETHER, I said....
The Old Christmas Poem I Didn’t Publish (Until Now)
Yet Another Gardner Christmas Poem (whether you want it or not…) ‘Twas one week before Christmas in 2010; I’m sorry our cards will be late once again. With so much to do and an absence of time, I’ve just settled down now to write this year’s rhyme. To update...
Stop Quitting: An Oxymoron
My sister-in-law Linda started a business transforming reclaimed wood into home decor. Reklaimed Designs is hard work, but Linda loves it. Last week I told her, “I could never do what you do. I’m not artsy at all.” This morning I remembered something. I took years of oil painting...