Stories & Poems & Thoughts (Oh My)

A Garden Scrum (Gardens/Hearts – Pt 3)
To recap – Rod, the rogue poison ivy transplanter, had just returned home to find my derriere covered in a rash. Straining for a looksie, I fell into the tub ...
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Guns and Gardens (Gardens hold our Hearts – Pt 2)
To recap— Rod, now deceased hubby-dear, had been transplanting what he thought was a “pretty vine” throughout my garden in a historic neighborhood with an ever-watchful garden society. Rod phoned ...
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Gardens hold our Hearts
The balcony of my new house looks out over a long side garden, shaggy with neglect but blooming with memories—memories of love and surprise and greenery. I am immediately swept ...
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Scratched by my Muse
My name is Wilhelmina. I didn't pick the name -- my new caretaker did. She said to her father, "Meet your new grandchild! I named her after your mom." Do ...
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Speed Dating for Literary Agents
Two weekends ago, through a fog of not-yet diagnosed bacterial pneumonia, I went to my first writers’ conference pitch session. Think about speed dating in hell with a lot more ...
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Author. Crank? Spanker???
I cannot stress enough the importance of editing your work. Let me give you an example. Excited and terrified in equal parts by the prospect of my first writer’s conference, ...
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What Mom Taught Me About Love
No one can say that us kids had an easy time of it when my parents were married. They were bitter enemies sniping at each other across trenches filled with ...
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Enough in 33 Words
He pulled me back from the edge with its dizzying allure. I held him while he shook with decades’ worth of tears. We are enough for each other. That is ...
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What We Learn
My mother taught me to put a baseball bat by the bed, every night. “Security,” she said. I developed a good swing and love the sound of wood connecting. “Safe.” ...
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Friends in Chicken, Forever
Around each new year, I think about something I want to continue into the next twelve months. 2018 was a year of pain and transition – some of it graceful ...
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