Welcome to my site…
After earning my MFA in creative writing, I began a career in writing and publishing. I’ve been an editor and writer for reference book and education publishers, including Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Scholastic Press, and National Geographic Learning. I’ve written professional profiles and articles for MIT and Radcliffe, as well as graphic novelizations of Greek myths.
On this site I offer observations and links to things I’m reading, hearing, and seeing, as well as to what I’m cooking! as I work on a novel set in Cornwall and London in the 1930s. Current tagline: A house with a history. A woman with a future. Two nations on the brink.
I hope you’ll join me here from time to time, Please comment on my posts!
What I’m Reading
Kumin and Sexton: A Literary Friendship
It's unlikely that two writers ever shared a more intense literary relationship than Maxine Kumin and Anne Sexton. I discuss the evolution of their friendship and its tragic end in my essay for Literary Ladies Guide.
Strange young men in strange lands: the world of Peter Cameron
Having read only two of Peter Cameron’s novels—Andorra and The City of Your Final Destination—I found them both strangely addictive. (His latest novel, What Happens at Night (2020), is waiting on my shelf.) Both of the two I’ve read involve a youngish man going to an...
Reading Slow and Fast During the Pandemic
For a few weeks in 2020, I thought I was going to die. And then as time passed, I realized that while others around me were dying—at one point my small city had one of the highest death rates in Massachusetts, due to a number of long-term care facilities in the...
What I’m Seeing and Hearing
Sorry to Bother You–but you need to see this movie.
So I FINALLY got to see Sorry to Bother You. I tried a while ago and it was sold out the night I went, but I wish I'd made it so I could go again. This is a brilliant film and if you haven't seen it yet and still can, you should. It's a remarkable combination of...
Trump at Kennedy Center Honors?
The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music. The Merchant...
Literacy & Irony
Listening to episode 73 of Ben Franklin's World, which featured historian Mark Noll discussing the Bible in early America, and he mentioned that literacy rates in New England and Scotland were the highest in the English-speaking world in the 17th & 18th centuries,...
What I’m Cooking
May 29, 2021: Farro, Greens, and Cauliflower
I recently had dinner with my friend Nancy. Farro and salad. Was it so satisfying because of the food or the conversation? I'm not sure. Honestly I had forgotten about farro--my husband tells me I used to make it, but then I stopped from some reason. Was it because I...
Sometimes the best meal
is a simple broccoli and cheese frittata (or omelet) and a green salad with a homemade olive oil, sherry vinegar, honey, and garlic dressing.
@medfordfarmmkt @wholefoods in medford. Rosie is a great teacher! An inspiring class. Sprouting into Spring: Cooking and Gardening Class
Sprouting into Spring: Cooking and Gardening Class. I plan to try the Vietnamese spring rolls (amazingly simple!), growing lettuce and greens on my porch, sprouting beans and seeds in jars, and the bonus feature! preserved lemon!
What I’m Thinking
My son was mugged while we were on the phone. Here's what happened next.
https://writinginawomansvoice.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-call-apersonal-essay-by-lynneweiss.html The Call A Personal Essay by Lynne Weiss Shortly before my son began his first semester of college in New York City in 2011, we used our family cell phone plan to get our...
A Doll's House and Elizabeth Cady Stanton's "The Solitude of Self"
The very engaging production of A Doll's House at Boston's Huntington Theater got me thinking about Elizabeth Cady Stanton's essay "The Solitude of Self." Stanton was the primary organizer of the Seneca Falls convention on the rights of women in 1848, and more or less...
The Scottsboro Boys at SpeakEasy
New Year's Eve included The Scottsboro Boys by SpeakEasy Stage at Boston Center for the Arts. Scottsboro was written by John Kander and Fred Ebb, the same team who created Cabaret and Chicago. This was a terrific production, funny at times, but in the end, sad and...