Holiday Letters Make Terrible Fiction

Our friends and family are far flung, so every year, I make a special effort to do a holiday newsletter and send pictures of our grandkids. This year, we’ve had wonderful things in our family to celebrate—a new grandbaby on the way, one of our sons being named head basketball coach at the high school…

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Real Men Eat Quiche– and Sometimes They Cry

The year our son Eddie was in third grade, I was on the dance faculty at the University of Oklahoma, while my husband held down the home front. Bruce Feirstein’s satirical Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche was a best seller at the time.  Ed thought the title was very funny, especially since he dashed home…

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Writers: We're a Supportive Group!

When one of my dear writing friends, Ellen Birkett Morris, got an agent the other day, I think I was almost as excited as she was. Despite being an award-winning short story writer with an outstanding reputation, it wasn’t easy to find an agent for her first novel. I can definitely relate! Yet, in the…

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End-of-Semester Blues

            It’s the last week of the semester, and my college students stare at me bleary-eyed. Loaded down with upcoming exams and final projects, sleep is definitely high on their wish list for the holiday break. “I just want it to be over,” one of my students told me. “I am so freakin’ tired!”            …

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