Come Along With Me

here we go, dorms and craft workshops (yes, that's Peter Rabbit and Elizabeth Wein presenting) So many things went wrong the first day (cancelled flight, lost key, lost I.D., terrible heat wave, mini-fridge died, door handle fell off), but never mind. I finally made it to Minneapolis, took my first uber (eek! I can do hard things and also it was super easy), and wheeled my new little rolling suitcase right into my first class. Late. But I was there.

Hello brainiacs, Happy July! How’s your brain? After some recent tests, my brother-in-law has begun what he jokingly/not jokingly calls Operation Don’t Die. It’s funny and also real. It’s the stuff we’re all dealing with - shed unhealthy weight, lower the blood pressure and heart rate, be able to carry in the groceries, run without pain.

Hello my friends <3 Happy end-of-June! Tomorrow is July, summer is in full swing, and we on the east coast are bracing for a heat wave. I had good intentions to write more this month, but my brain went into overwhelm mode and perhaps I didn’t plan well and I suppose I also chose other things. They were good things. Like a wedding. Our son, the one and only Nellie Mak, married his dream girl, Hannah. It was a perfect day.

painting is a good “distraction” Have you ever struggled with a difficult decision and decided to “sleep on it,” and in the morning, the answer is there?! Have you ever had “writer’s block,” and the next plot point shows up while you’re pulling weeds in the garden? Have you ever been stumped by a vexing question or a “what happens next?” and inspiration strikes at 3 a.m., waking you from sleep? This phenomenon is common - Was the answer inside of us the entire time?

Last week, I was delighted by my writing friend Caroline’s reflection of her month of May (I became invested in her fierce battle with a rabbit!) It was a good reminder to look back occasionally, and reflect on it all. Here is a May recap. In May… …the lavender lilacs and bright orange poppy blossoms burst open. The blossoms last only a week, if we’re lucky, and we won’t see them again for another year. But they do come back, because they are perennial plants.

and daring greatly at any age. Yesterday was Memorial Day and we watched Why We Dream, a documentary about WWII1. Listening and watching first hand accounts from our veterans was really incredible and sobering. I highly recommend it; the ultimate example of daring greatly.

A writing prompt, a fountain pen, and my latest read Here are three things worth sharing this week: Writing Prompts: When my kids were in middle school, they had a fabulous Language Arts teacher named Ms. Edmunds. Every day they would be greeted with a writing prompt on the board. The whole class wrote in silence for five minutes. Low stakes, no grades. At the end of the school year, each student had a personal notebook full of creative writing.

Paige called me a slay baddie queen the other day. I guess I’m not allowed to use the phrase myself (embarrassing!), but…it’s too good, right? It was used in the context of me telling her I was nervous to teach a class1 and this was her rallying cry: be brave. do stuff that scares you. Kelly Corrigan wrote about starting to paint during the Covid pandemic in Stand Against Stagnation. It brought back memories of that time when my husband bought cheese-making kits.

Here are nine fine books worth sharing: SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE by Alan Bradley(a reread and one of my favorite books.

I made a little zine about what to sing at your next book ban rally.