I've had a tough time getting back to my writing routine since completing my recent consulting job. While consulting I did manage to write a journal entry almost everyday, but that was the extent of my writing practice. Besides the grueling proposal work I lived out-of-town in a hotel and ate bland uninteresting food for about four months. I had hardly anytime to do anything else besides work. There were no muses in that hotel room, believe me. The first thing I did when I got home was sleep. I napped several times a day for two weeks, until I finally felt like myself again. Although I worked out in the early mornings as usual, not long after breakfast I needed my first nap. Finally I started to look for something to kick-start my writing, to bring back my muse. I had put my list of poetry prompts into my Dropbox folder so I'd have it handy while I was away, but I never once opened that file. I didn't even update it with the prompts that came by email every Wednesday. So that … [Read more...]
An homage to Norah
I couldn't let this week go by without a mention of the death of Norah Ephron. I'm sure you've all read the articles that have been circulating about her this week, so I won't even try to repeat. I just want to share a little about how she affected me - besides how much I loved her books and movies and her brilliance and that we were just about the same age. I was fortunate to hear her speak in person twice. And I have her autograph on her last book, I Remember Nothing. I feel fortunate for that too. Little did I know that the lists: 1) what she would miss and 2) what she wouldn't miss, that she put in that book were hints that all was not well with her. A Recipe to Remember It's just a simple recipe: Mix together two tablespoons of vinegar two tablespoons of Dijon mustard. Then slowly whisk in six tablespoons of olive oil. That's it. It's perfect and delicious. I've been making it for years since I read Norah's novel, Heartburn. She put many recipes in that … [Read more...]
