For good or bad, those “first times” we do many things are etched into our memory bank. I have such a memory. The first time I was paid for my writing. It was in the mid-1960’s, the beginning my college career. I knew I wanted to “major in journalism.” To date, I had written for… Read more
You see them in every thrift shop, junk store and consignment store you visit. Boxes, baskets, trays filled with photos, and not just any photos but personal ones from years gone by. They fascinate me. With something of a compulsion, I stop and rummage through the current offerings. What am I expecting when I do… Read more
“Jennifer reads too many library books” wasn’t the only comment my elementary school teachers regularly wrote on my report cards. The other was “Jennifer talks too much.” I absorbed these comments as failures. But, through the intervening years when these comments resurfaced, I gradually decided what they wrote was not what they meant. One can… Read more
It was the day before Thanksgiving. She introduced herself, and with a startled look said, “You don’t look XX-years-old.” Then she locked her huge brown eyes onto my small hazel ones. “It’s a baby tumor.” The oncology surgeon let that sink in and repeated it several times. With that, I was ushered into the world… Read more
With the movie based on her award-winning book in theaters finally, a book about her spiritual legacyjust published and the 100th anniversary of her birth approaching in November, Madeleine L’Engle is in the news, as they say. Even though she died in 2007, she remains as current as the day’s news for me. She continues having a proI… Read more
My local Kroger delivered yet another blog post for me. Readers probably think all I do is shop at Kroger. I don’t. I try to go once a week, on Wednesdays, which used to be senior discount days. Shopping at my neighborhood Kroger is a treat; no matter what day I go. Interesting people are… Read more
Her voice grabs me as soon as I roll the grocery cart into the store, her life stories wafting up and down the aisles mixing and mingling with the aroma of fresh baked pies, cookies and cakes. No matter where she is in this vast store, I recognize her voice. I work to avoid her…. Read more
Through the years, my career has allowed me to work with numerous authors and illustrators. I’ve conducted publicity tours for them, interviewed them, written articles about them. I’ve talked one-on-one with them and have listened as they talked with audiences and individual fans. Invariably someone asks: “Where do you get your ideas?” The question… Read more