Since I’m starting school today (in Chatham’s Master of Arts in Food Studies), I thought it an appropriate time to explain what I did this summer that kept me from blogging. I co-wrote this book:
You wouldn’t think a little 48-page book could monopolize my time so, and yet it did. But I’m happy with how it [...]
I’m reading Daniel Pink’s new book, DRIVE: The surprising truth about what motivates us, in which he explains how we’re driven less by extrinsic motivators (money, goals, rewards) and more by intrinsic ones (the joy of creating or solving). I get that. Boy do I get it.
Here are the various creative endeavors I have going [...]
Yesterday I got into a car accident. More accurately, I caused an accident. I rear-ended a nun as I was trying to dial my BlackBerry. I thank God (and I do mean that literally) that no one was hurt. Emergency vehicles arrived (five total). Hands trembled (mine). Tears flowed (mine). Professionals soothed (mostly me). Cars [...]
Last night I had the pleasure of seeing author Elizabeth Gilbert speak at the opening night of the Drew Heinz Lecture Series here in Pittsburgh. Oddly enough, I’d had a hard time finding a friend willing to attend with me. I thought every woman had enjoyed Eat Pray Love, her memoir of getting over a [...]
Just a few tidbits I found interesting over the last few days:
It’s the 50th anniversary of Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style and NPR ran a funny little commentary about it from Marc Acito.
NPR also ran a story on how publishers focus on blockbuster book deals. The only silver lining is how HarperStudio is [...]
As we head into the holiday cooking season, I wanted to pass along a really nifty idea. You know the recipe for your mother’s cheese ball that you have written down on a Post-It note? And that faded and stained recipe card for Aunt Milly’s sugar cookies? And those torn magazine pages stuffed between the [...]
Sure, the profuse periodical requires the sacrifice of too many trees. And I can never get the whole thing read before the next issue arrives. But the woman devotes regular column space to Martha Beck, a life coach who always gives me something to think about. And this month her column “Urgent! Urgent! (Or is [...]
Tracy Beckerman is a very funny writer with a syndicated column, Lost in Suburbia, and a newly published book, Rebel Without a Minivan . It’s a compilation of some of her best columns, and it’s excellent. I’m not just saying that because I edited the book. Or because I’m the first person she thanks in [...]
My friend and fellow writer Beth Polen has made it to the Semi-Finals of the Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award! I’ve had the honor of reading her young-adult novel Wish — she workshopped the manuscript in some Fat Plum Book Boot Camps that I helped run — and it’s a terrific book. Beth is an [...]
After I allowed myself to consider giving up on my novel, a funny thing happened. The universe conspired to get me back into it. A Fat Plum client left me a voice mail saying she was trying unsuccessfully to reach Judy (who was having email issues), so I called Judy, who I hadn’t talked to [...]