(re-run) If you are a writer, then what you write belongs to you as your intellectual property. Be careful of critique groups and the people with whom you share your work. You must have an iron-clad agreement that your work is your work, and no one else is allowed to use it. This is a… Continue reading Theft of your Intellectual Property
Category: memoir
Saying Good-bye to My Grocery Store
My grocery store of 39 years is closing on July 17th. There is hardly anything left to buy. After my July 3rd party, I stopped in to get the ingredients for my famous cheesy green beans: five cans of green beans, a block of Swiss cheese, a tub of sour cream, and a can of… Continue reading Saying Good-bye to My Grocery Store
Judging from the Trends
(re-run) I was asked to judge a picture book contest. I’m a picture book author of 29 books and also a mom of past picture-book fans. Picture books are books with both words and art, usually 28 to 64 pages, and usually for young children. The gift book people have figured out how to put… Continue reading Judging from the Trends
The Big Pooper, Two Bucks, and Sky Poopers
I just got back from three nights in my beach town since I am getting a new roof and I had to check up on the job and pay some money, too. My one-hundred-year-old house has a fancy pattern of swirls in the stucco, which is causing an issue with the aluminum cap on the… Continue reading The Big Pooper, Two Bucks, and Sky Poopers
Pushing Back
(re-run) Another Friday night, another summer concert, this time a Beach Boys cover band close to home. I loaded up my little red wagon and drove to Livorna Park in Alamo. The band wouldn’t start until 6:30, but I left home at 5:00 so that I could park close by and get a spot in… Continue reading Pushing Back
Two Seniors’ Shared Senior Moment
(re-run) He was right in front of us, a club member who had dated another club member for sixteen years until the break-up. We both knew who she was. But what was her name? “Liz,” he says. “No, that’s not it.” We talked about my ex-boyfriend club member, the Gong show, him being shirtless onstage,… Continue reading Two Seniors’ Shared Senior Moment
Uncle Frank and the Jar of Coins
(re-run) I grew up with three uncles: one in Colorado, another on the other side of the state, and one near my home town in Des Moines, Iowa. Uncle Frank was older than the other uncles, but since his daughter, Nina, was my age, I hardly noticed. He was married to my grandma’s younger sister. … Continue reading Uncle Frank and the Jar of Coins
Massage Talk, Otter Card, and Scavenger Find
(re-run) Every other Tuesday I treat myself to a full-hour massage at my chiropractor’s office. Curtis is awesome. He can make this senior citizen feel almost 50 again. Curtis asks lots of questions while he is working on my sore body parts. For the past several months I haven’t been able to talk, have barely… Continue reading Massage Talk, Otter Card, and Scavenger Find
Belly-up Beetle
(re-run) Curtis drove the Volkswagen, 1969 vintage Beetle. Smoking George, his wing man, brought the weed. They’d met their dates at a party. Stacy and Camille went to San Leandro High. Curtis and George went to Castro Valley. Curtis liked Camille. George got Stacy. They all partied at a friend of a friend’s house in… Continue reading Belly-up Beetle
The Day my Dog Herded Me to the ER
(re-run) Way back when, I had two children and a rare free day. The kindergartener was going on an all-day field trip. The two-year-old was going to daycare for the day. I had hours ahead of me to do all the yard work and gardening that I could squeeze in. I put on some old… Continue reading The Day my Dog Herded Me to the ER
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 