I met Gale Massey eons ago at a writing workshop, and we bonded over our shared passion for wicked humor and self-deprecating sarcasm. We just *got* each other. She’s a writer’s writer, the kind of wordsmith who gnashes her teeth over sentence flow. I love that. She was hugely supportive during my book launch, and in the midst of it, sent me a passage from her novel-in-progress. I was blown away. She and I had also bonded over a loveRead more
Posts filed in: What I’m Reading
READ THIS and meet Jodie Taylor
For the first time ever, I am re-reviewing a book because I think it’s that important. Today is the official release of It’s Not Like I Knew Her by my writer-sister-friend Pat Spears. FULL DISCLOSURE: This book is being published by Twisted Road Publications, which is also publishing The Place of Peace and Crickets, a memoir by Tricia Booker, also known as ME. So Pat Spears is sort of my Twisted Sister. It’s Not Like I Knew Her introduces usRead more
What I’m reading: Three grown daughters, a mother with dementia, and a big family knot to untangle.
At my age – 52, remember? – it becomes increasingly likely that I’ll develop cancer. Thirty-seven percent of us women do, over the course of our lifetimes. I don’t worry about it. Cancer isn’t on my radar. I’m much more concerned I’ll give some lowlife in Walmart the evil eye for yelling at his kid and he’ll shoot me dead because STAND YOUR GROUND, FLORIDA, FUCKIN’ A! Anyway, since I can’t conceive of ever having cancer, I optimistically think that if I do, I’ll respondRead more
What I’m reading: Growing up gay in 1960s-era Florida
Remember the tv series NYPD Blue, and the episode in which Dennis Franz shows his butt? I loved that show. Twenty-one years ago, when Hot Firefighter Husband (who was then just Editor Husband) wanted us to move to north Florida from Minnesota, this place was still so backwards obtuse birdbrained that the show had been banned here. It was almost a deal-breaker. Go back even further in your time machine, and imagine being gay while growing up deep in theRead more
THE NEWS, and What I’m Reading.
PART II Here’s the news, which may or may not seem monumental: I HAVE FINISHED THE SHITTY FIRST DRAFT OF MY MANUSCRIPT. Do you remember I was working on a manuscript? I was. I am. The terrible working title is Journey to Now, and it’s the story of how we became a family and how we’ve coped with the Pterodactyl’s attachment disorder. It also contains tales of drunken debauchery, sex, and dogs, although not altogether of course. I mean, sometimesRead more
What I’m reading: Eve’s Garden by Glenda Bailey-Mershon
Before reading the novel Eve’s Garden by Glenda Bailey-Mershon, everything I knew about the Roma people came from Cher’s 1970s-era hit Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves, and let me tell you right now that my friend Glenda will read this paragraph and reach immediately for a nitroglycerin tablet, smelling salts, or a shot of whiskey, whichever is closer. Because: a. the word Gypsy is not particularly cool; b. the Romani people are not tramps and thieves; and c. Cher wasn’t Roma,Read more
WHAT I’M READING: Dream Chaser by Pat Spears
As you may remember from my Anniversary Love Post, my husband wasn’t really my type.** My exes were the gritty boys, the ones with dirt on their boots and good intentions always waylaid by smoldering temptations. Throw in a couple of well-placed tattoos, a minor arrest record, and a motorcycle? Bam. Just take me right here in the barn, boy. **Please reread the Anniversary Love Post if you don’t remember that I adore Hot Firefighter Husband, even though he won’t get aRead more
What I’m reading: The River’s Memory by Sandra Gail Lambert
Growing up, my family spent most weekends at a country cabin in Goodbee, Louisiana, about an hour north of New Orleans. The summer days were mostly the same – hours spent flying in the air on the homemade wood plank swings that hung from enormous oak branches, racing my horse through the pecan orchard, and finally, after lots of begging, a 1/4 mile trek through the woods to the Little Tchefuncte River for a swim. I remember that river as one of theRead more
Being CRAZY, What I’m Reading, and a little bit of Buddy
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week, which makes me breathless with excitement because I LOVE to write about crazy. For starters, let me tell you that my own mental health is Stable. I have given my depression every single reason it needs to climb out of the corner of my brain where it lives and slither through my body like black mold. Seriously. We are living in a tiny rental condo, renovating a tiny house, and moving to a dilapidated beachRead more
WHAT I’M READING: A kick-ass memoir. Plus amusing anecdotes for comic value.
The Tyrant likes to leave me love letters around the house, like Hi mom I mist you and I love you soooooo muck. When she does that, my maternal instincts blossom and I think I know exactly what I’m doing in this here domestic situation. But when the Pterodactyl uses the crank from my antique butter churn to punch a hole through the sea creature mural we paid an artist to paint on his wall, I feel less like aRead more