Writing
I believed he could fly.
It’s appropriate that it’s the end of Brain Tumor Awareness Month, as I came to the end of my current memoir manuscript revisions yesterday, and sent them off to my freelance editor. It’s a good time to take a break from that project and round out my life with some gardening, building my social media…
Continue ReadingWhy are some people private?
I’ve known for many years I was an introvert, and I dabbled in trying to understand more deeply what this meant. But when my book editor asked her probing questions on behalf of future readers, I didn’t understand how much my need for solitude went hand-in-hand with my need for privacy.
Continue ReadingBrain Injury: The anomaly of my story.
I almost missed it—National Brain Injury Awareness month, recognized in March. Maybe it wasn’t on my radar because I don’t talk much about my son’s brain injury; I talk of the brain tumor–a pilocytic astrocytoma–that caused it. They are intertwined in my story, the tumor in and the injury to his brain. Not much of my…
Continue ReadingBlessings on my memoir.
I asked my parents to read part of my memoir manuscript–the story about how ill-prepared I was as a person and a mom for my son’s rumble with a brain tumor.
Continue ReadingAvoidance and Growth in Memoir Writing.
Avoidance is inherent in memoir-writing. We avoid our painful memories, avoid sitting down to type them on a page, avoid telling others of our endeavors. Sometimes, memoirists are our own worst enemies. When I started blogging in 2016, knowing very little about writing, I even avoided stating the core of my book: My adult son…
Continue ReadingPersonal growth in a story I didn't want to tell.
In September 2016, when I realized my short-term disability leave was going to be long-term, I knew it was a gift from the universe and I couldn’t blow it again. The gift was time—time to finish the memoir I began over 15 years ago. When I started writing, I told the story of my son’s…
Continue Reading“Riveting. A page-turner,” says my editor.
My editor emailed this comment to me over a week ago regarding the first section of my memoir manuscript. I should have been thrilled. I was thrilled. I AM thrilled.
Continue ReadingGrowth is in the hard things.
There’s a lesson in here somewhere. I always believe that. When I think about what I can learn from today’s dilemma, I realize it’s the same lesson I learned in having a child with a brain tumor.
Continue ReadingHow inaccurate memory is, even without brain damage.
At one of the final appointments before Matthew’s brain tumor diagnosis, Michael and I were both there, and we remember it differently.
Continue ReadingA special thankfulness this year.
I’m writing this on Thanksgiving morning, as I sit alone in the kitchen enjoying my coffee. It’s before Michael is awake and before Matt, our older son, comes over and we hop in the car to drive to Boston to spend Thanksgiving with Steve, our younger son.
I wasn’t going to write about Thanksgiving, but, well, maybe the spirit of the day has moved me. Or maybe it’s my special thankfulness today that has inspired me to conclude:
How can I not write?
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