Stories & Poems & Thoughts (Oh My)

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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How to meet your Ex-Lover at the Coffee Shop after a 15-year Lapse

  • Don’t cry. No one wants to see you cry again. You cried enough – a river, an ocean. Nowadays, the hostess seats you behind plants and screens in most ...
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I clot you not!

Today the coffee machine got the better of me. It’s a Keurig and I’ve been able to avoid the creation for a while – I’m a French press kind of ...
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Bullies in Office

For thirty years, I have been a therapist helping people heal from horrific experiences. Then things, people, events, happen to reactivate traumas. The current political environment has opened old wounds, ...
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