by Bethe Dufresne | Nov 12, 2024 | posts
As I filled out “Please vote!” postcards before this month’s election, the hardest part wasn’t correctly copying all the names, adhering to the approved message (“Do not alter or expand this script!” warned my instruction sheet), or drawing pictures on the cards,...
by Maura Casey | Oct 30, 2024 | posts
I was editing my book, “Saving Ellen: A Memoir of Hope and Recovery” and could see the finish line. The draft I had handed into Skyhorse Publishing at the end of April had weighed in at 86,000 words. I had written the book over two years starting at the beginning of...
by Lisa Brownell | Apr 10, 2024 | posts
I was not a rebellious child, but by third grade I’d discovered the thrill of occasionally breaking a rule — the stupider the regulation, the better it felt. My elementary school had a decree that students should never step on the grass. The school sat on an acre of...
by Susan Kietzman | Feb 20, 2024 | posts
I write at a desk next to windows that overlook the Mystic River. I can see the changing colors of water and sky, as well as the rock ledge that caps our backyard. It’s a nice setup. The only issue is that my desk also abuts our kitchen, the heart of the house, a...
by Carol McCarthy | Feb 6, 2024 | posts
Euphemisms — soft terms used to replace something that is unpleasant or offensive — pepper our conversations about everything from using the bathroom (“powder my nose”) to illness (the “Big C”) and death (“passed away”). Such disguises and deceptive language can be...
by Ginny Bitting | Jan 18, 2024 | posts
Last September, I flew to Omaha on a research trip for my next book, a novel, Valentine, Nebraska, the story of homesteaders based on my grandmother’s life. At Alamo car rental they said I could choose any Dodge Challenger I wanted. I picked the white one with Texas...
