I’ve talked about how “Creativity, Connection, and Confidence” are three reasons why I (still) blog. A new post/prompt for BlogHer’s Selfiebration comes at that from a slightly different angle: “How would your life look now if you hadn’t started blogging?” One thing that makes it hard to answer “what might have been” questions is that there’s a chicken-and-egg aspect to them: would you miss the things you think you’d miss if you’d never known them in the first place? There are so many […]
The most recent prompt for BlogHer’s 10th-anniversary “Selfiebration” asks “Where were you 10 years ago?” My response also ties into my Wordless Wednesday group’s theme for this week’s link-up, “Melancholy.” I did not like where I was ten years ago. I didn’t like who I was ten years ago. Reflecting on those times as I wrote this brought some of that misery back so clearly that I had to stop, and I wasn’t sure I’d come back and finish it. The fact […]
Jenna Hatfield’s post for BlogHer’s 10th-anniversary #Selfiebration, “Don’t tell me they’re not real,” couldn’t have popped up in my feed reader at a more perfect time. It’s been a few days now since someone described a blogger get-together during BEA week as “the Twitter avatars come to life,” and the relationships in my life that were born online have been on my mind. As a socially-awkward sort with somewhat oddball interests and no talent for small talk—I’m fine once we know each other, […]
It’s Day One of the fifth annual observance of Armchair BEA! This virtual companion to Book Expo America is getting the jump on the real thing this year, but that gives us all a little more time to hang out and get to know each other. Here are my answers to five of this year’s Introduction questions. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did […]
I am now two days away from the milestone I wrote about in this post from October 2012, so it was the obvious choice for this week’s Throwback Thursday. For the record, I’m somewhat less fearful of it now than I was then…and no matter how I feel about it, it looks like it’s about to happen anyway. Fear of Fifty; Or, Before I Forget Exactly 18 months from (September 29, the day I gave this […]
My mother-in-law is visiting from Oceanside this weekend to help us celebrate my birthday a week early (Spencer is with his mom next weekend, so we planned around that). That celebration turned out to be a surprise Saturday-night birthday dinner with my sister’s family and my dad at our favorite special-occasion restaurant, followed by a return to our house for one of my sister’s famous cakes. It was all orchestrated by my husband, and I neither expected nor suspected […]
During my first year or so of blogging, I was a semi-regular participant in a meme called “Ten on Tuesday.” It may even still be around, but when the prompts started getting repetitive, I stopped playing along; I’ve found that eventually happens with most memes, which is why I rarely do them now. (This Throwback Thursday thing’s a little different, though–it’s repetitive by design.) But I digress. I originally posted this list on September 18, […]
Since it’s a new year, I’m trying out a new format for my Sunday updates here in the Salon. I reserve the right to tweak or toss it without prior notice. What I’m Reading In Print I’m still working on my official “First Book of the Year,” The Book Thief–and I learned just yesterday that my sister is also in the middle of reading it. She usually posts her book reviews on Goodreads, but perhaps I’ll try to […]
Dateline: Sunday, late morning/noontime, on the living-room sofa/at the kitchen desk. The windows are open, the breeze is blowing, and picture-perfect Tournament of Roses Parade weather is coming in. I’m puppy-sitting while everyone else is at the movies, because I decided to get some writing done instead of seeing The Hobbit a second time–two books need to be reviewed. The puppy is cooperating by taking a nap. Thank you, Bellatrix (or as I sometimes call […]
It’s the first Christmas in the new house–the house we bought this past summer, next door to the old house. The old tree is up in the new living room. It’s not stuck in a corner here, but claims a place of honor right next to the staircase, in the middle of the house, and gets to wear more of its ornaments this year. The cheerfully wrapped packages wait under it for Christmas morning to […]
The original Hollywood Wax Museum has occupied a prime spot on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame, just east of Highland Avenue, for nearly fifty years, and is still owned and operated by the family who started it back in 1965. But this place is no dusty, stuffy relic of old-time show biz–visitors are encouraged to become part of the show here. Everything you’ll encounter is camera-ready, and you’re more than welcome to get in […]
One decision I made as my first marriage was ending was that when it was all over and our son was off to university, I was moving to Southern California. That decision led to a personal understanding: if I planned to live on the West Coast, on my own, I was going to have to conquer my fear of driving on limited-access highways. I hadn’t done it for nearly a decade. It wasn’t necessary in […]
