Crafting My Book of Essays Let’s say you have been writing essays for years. Might be blogs; might be Substack essays; might be short nonfiction in magazines. Perhaps writing essays was your primary goal, or you may have intended these pieces as publicity to lure readers to your books. But eventually these shorter works begin calling to you. Your essays want to be more than ephemera; they need to be read as a body of
Marriage: The Business of Romance Many of us grew up with firm ideas about love and marriage: Charming Princes coming to our rescue, “playing house” with our friends. Yet our divorce rate is over 40%. While our expectations of marriage do not match reality, the money we spend on weddings keeps growing (Estimated wedding market in 2024: $65 Billion). Love and trust require initial clarity and lifetime maintenance. This essay is for those seeking a
Had to Get this Off My Chest. I can picture her white uniform, and the cap from her Chicago nursing school pinned to her dark, curly hair. The year is 1953. She is 27, a floor nurse at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla. She’s in motion all day, bringing medications, lifting and turning patients. She is also newly pregnant for the first time. On a break she stops at the ladies’ room and realizes she
My Lusty Encore Career Sexual pleasure is a human treasure. This revelation did not come to me as some blinding flash of the obvious. From getting my period at eleven to being post-menopausal at 55, struggling with vaginal dryness and lack of desire until I was in my sixties, breast cancer at 67 and again at 72, I have experienced the perspective of sex as a dichotomy. On the one hand, sex is considered a
Vampire as Crone Metaphor Five years ago I had terrific fun writing my first novel. Brilliant Charming Bastard is the story of three women scientists in their sixties who join forces for smart revenge when they discover they are dating the same lying dilettante (who is stealing their ideas). I loved pushing back on social stereotypes by writing those vivid older women characters. But then I thought: How can I take this to the max?
Dreams Never Expire Do you remember your childhood dreams? Not the ones you pursued because society expected you to work a good-paying job while marrying and raising a family. The ones that came before, back in the days when your backyard landscaping served as the depths of a jungle for your wildest explorations. What did you imagine doing in those early days? Did you want to walk on the moon, dance Swan Lake with a
