Ernie’s Flowers.
Ernie wears old navy blue polyester pants and wide suspenders. But no shirt. He walked back to his house, across the street from mine, with a shiny black garbage back filled with what he handled like a treasure.
Promises, Promises.
At last, the hot and sour twisting feeling in my stomach subsided. I crossed the threshold into the flagship Louis Vuitton store. Maybe it was in that sliver of time that the pattern finally, finally broke. But I can’t be sure because there was no gleaming ah-ha moment to speak of. There was no slow ...
There are More Ways Than One.
Sure, one particular way may work very well. Sure, one particular way may be proven. Sure, one particular way may seem easiest, fastest, cheapest or best. All of this may seem true,
How a Desk Broke My Marriage
Writers have imaginations. And we use them. And sometimes they use us. Like today when I ‘saw’ what would happen to my marriage and my life if I don’t get a desk soon. Yes—a desk can single handedly destroy a marriage. Here’s exactly how. First, I don’t have a desk. And the fact that it ...
We Need to Talk.
I answered the phone and after the obligatory chit-chat about how we were today (which was supposedly ‘fine’) his voice dropped. He spoke in a measured kind of way. He was carefully choosing each word, because when they came, they came out slowly and deliberately. “There’s . . . . something we need to talk ...
Easter Happy
I like Easter. And it’s not just because of the chocolate. I like the colours and the spring sunshine and the coming-togetherness. And mostly I like it because it marks a happy, happy milestone for me. Easter Sunday, 2005, my sexy boyfriend had gone
The Nameless Book Project Is No Longer So
The Project without a name is no longer so. The project is so. But now it has a name. It’s just that we all suck so much that we haven’t told anyone. Okay, that wasn’t fair, I shouldn’t say that Charity and Mrs. Maxine suck (you can clearly see that for yourselves). The fact is ...
Clawing My Way Out of the Abyss
I don’t know the date, although I’m 99% sure we’ve just completed Sunday today yesterday. I think spring is here but I feel disconnected, so I can’t exactly check-in with my bones to tell you. The Abyss Staring at a computer screen building a client’s catalogue for jewellery is hellish, even if the images are ...
I Can’t Write Now.
Oh no! I suck! Alert, alert, sound the alarm! Merde! I’ve suspected it often, but today the evidence is glaringly obvious.
The Theme is Home.
I slammed my white porcelain coffee tumbler on the table and threw my iPhone across the hardwood floor. I ran to the bathroom, crying. Except, I didn’t. As the tears came streaming down my cheeks I put my coffee cup down gently, even though I wanted to smash it. I carefully placed my iPhone on ...
French Life Friday: Bonsoir
My sheets are wet. So, even though I want to go curl up in bed, the warm and fuzzy feeling would evade me. With my mind running amok lately, forgetting to put the sheets in the dryer was just one more thing on the list that escaped me.
Pooped & Happy.
It’s supposed to be French Life Friday…. But it’s not. Even though I can’t muster too many words, I do want to wave a wee flag that says, “Hello, I’m here, I’m carrying on, all will be well.” I’ve been traveling the full spectrum of human emotion the past 10 days. There have been elated ...
French Life Friday: My French Haircut
I cut my hair this morning. By myself. In the bathroom, over the sink. It was an experiment and it didn’t work out that well. I had to. The last time I had a real haircut was March. Last year.
Seth Godin Joins Our Book Project.
Seth Godin has joined our book project. Welcome, Seth! On Saturday he emailed me a graph of what I can expect on this book publishing journey. Wasn’t that thoughtful and helpful of him? It is a particularly moving gesture because we haven’t even told him we’re doing this project. Yet. Which can only mean: Seth ...
French Life Friday: the Perfect Paris Apartment
Sometimes we have to escape to dreamland…. particularly when we are procrastinating on making a choice. While avoiding a decision today, I slipped
Breaking the Cycle of Stuckness: Choice.
It happened again. I signed up to get important, insider information from an ‘expert’. Mrs. Maxine, Charity and I have begun this new book project—which doesn’t have a name yet—and we thought, “Oh, yes, this looks like a good place to start.” But, I already knew 95% of the stuff he talked about. This is ...
French Life Friday: Woops.
Friday came. And I had some French thoughts tucked away, and I promised I’d get to them after our meeting about the project that doesn’t have a name but is about figuring out how to publish a book in a year. Then my sister-in-law came by (which was lovely). Then I got hungry. Then I ...
The Nameless Project Has Begun.
So, we started this thing. Except, it doesn’t have a name. ‘We’ means me, my sister and my mother.
French Life Friday: les Lettres & Manuscrits
Paper, I can trust. But an e-book? I’m not so sure. I hold in my hand a paper book, and we develop a relationship. We spend time together. Sometimes we even go in the bath together. Sometimes I drop a corner in the water. Never has a paper book complained or stopped ‘working’. It has ...
French Life Friday: Journey by Rail from London to Aix-en-Provence
Airports are an insult to travel. Waiting in infinitely long and tedious queues just so you can disrobe in front of strangers and be chastised about your laptop being out of battery power leaves a sour taste in the mouth, which often lasts longer than the quick two-hour hop to your destination. One could argue ...