I turned 67 this week. In the big scheme of things, turning 67 isn’t a particularly important milestone. But for me, it is. I am now older than Bruce will ever be. He died a little more than a month before his 67th birthday and it gives me a very odd feeling. He always usedContinue reading “What Hurts the Most”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Thanks to Gen Z
So I published a book and that means I’m learning a lot about the book publishing industry. It wasn’t something I focused much on when I was writing and rewriting and rewriting again. Then I got caught up in the world of sending out query letters to publishers and agents, hoping against hope that someoneContinue reading “Thanks to Gen Z”
My First Published Book
My first book is being published this week. Phew. Two and a half years of writing, rewriting, editing, proofreading, rewriting and revising again and again, hoping to get every word, every feeling just right. Of course it’s not perfect. The last read through I found so many things I wish I could change but atContinue reading “My First Published Book”
My first book
Well, it’s been a ride. I started writing this story in 2020 but it’s a story that I’ve really been writing my whole life. I wrote it two years after my mother died, seventeen years after my father died, started it when Bruce was first diagnosed with throat cancer and finished it almost two yearsContinue reading “My first book”
The Day After Mother’s Day
So, yesterday was Mother’s Day. It’s not an easy day for me, never has been. My mother and I definitely had, to say it kindly, a fraught relationship. For years, I’ve been so envious, jealous even, of friends who have great relationships with theirs. To the point where on those mother-related holidays, I didn’t wantContinue reading “The Day After Mother’s Day”
Downsizing
That’s the next step on the agenda isn’t it? Going through forty-six years of accumulated possessions, mementos, pictures, stuff. More than forty-six years when you think about my childhood things, my family’s things. I was going to say family heirlooms but they have no value to anyone outside the family, like my grandmother’s diaries datingContinue reading “Downsizing”
Dining Alone
So, forging ahead in this new life, I am embracing dining alone. First, I am not, nor ever have been, a fan of cooking. Bruce did the heavy lifting in that department. And it’s not so much that I can’t cook, though some have suggested that. It’s more that I never know what IContinue reading “Dining Alone”
On the Road Again
So I did it. I drove five hundred miles over six days from Milwaukee Wisconsin, through much of southern Michigan and then, eventually, to Detroit. In Milwaukee I spent four days at a writer’s retreat, met some wonderful new people (fellow writers), got great feedback on my short story, used lots of quiet timeContinue reading “On the Road Again”
Old Spice and Memories
The scent is faded now. That unmistakable odor of Old Spice deodorant. The stick is half gone, last used almost nine months ago by my husband. It remains one of the most visceral memories I have of him. When we first met as teenagers, and after we got over the nervousness of revealing uncomfortable orContinue reading “Old Spice and Memories”
Distant Camera
I have somehow taken, inherited, or otherwise acquired a massive number of photos. They come from homes we’ve had to pack up and empty over the years – my mother’s, my grandparents’, my mother-in-law’s. As I sit in my home office, I am surrounded by piles, and piles and yes, more piles of photosContinue reading “Distant Camera”
J. Gardner Hurd 