So, we’re moving again. This time across the country to Gettysburg, PA – as in Penn-syl-vania. For the last nine years, we have lived on the West Coast. I’ve written a whole book (scheduled to hit the shelves next Spring about our years in LA, the way in which Dwayne and I grew into ourselves [...]
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Irritation of Parenting
April 25, 2012 – 9:53 pm
Well, nothing will give you clarity on your child’s behavior like leaving the country without her for a couple of weeks. I came back to Noelle playing at a friend’s house. Dwayne picked me up from the airport and we drove straight to Lucy’s house to get Noelle. When Noelle saw me, she ran from [...]
Baby Days in Auckland
April 11, 2012 – 9:15 pm
I’m in Auckland, New Zealand this week, helping my sister with her brand-new little baby, Rowen Atawhai. I have to say, I know I’m biased, but I think my little nephew is about as cute as they come! He is so pettite and small and he makes Nathan, who has taken the trip with me, [...]
Noelle’s Cutenesses
April 4, 2012 – 3:46 pm
In the Car Noelle was on a talking rampage, like she loves to do, just talk-talk-talking. Finally, I interrupted her to say, “Noelle, I need some quiet time. I need to go inside my head for a bit.” She wouldn’t stop talking so I said, “Noelle, it’s time to be quiet! Go inside your head [...]
The Story of the Book Deal – Part 5
April 2, 2012 – 10:55 pm
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Okay, let’s do a quick recap of the actual logistics of how I wrote my book – just for all my writing-nerd-buddies out there. Jan – Feb 2009: I generated 50,000 words of a rough, rough draft. Fall 2009 – Spring 2010: I wrote a first draft [...]
Story of the Book Deal – Part 4
March 27, 2012 – 12:12 am
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 This is where my story gets tricky. This is where we hit the “Big Gloom.” But first, let me introduce you to Kristin Ritzau, the traveling companion who literally carried me through the last major laps of this endurance race called, “writing and publishing a book”. There is no [...]
The Story of the Book Deal – Part 3
March 19, 2012 – 4:53 am
Part 1 Part 2 I don’t remember what happened to my writing life the first year after Noelle was born. I remember that I went back to work when she was four months old and taught two classes a week, which was a wonderful little stint away from home each week. I spent the afternoon [...]
The Story of the Book Deal: Part 2
March 12, 2012 – 5:21 pm
At the time I was working on my first evolution of the book proposal, I was several months pregnant, and Dwayne and I were attending a church called, Mosaic, down in LA. The illustrious Eric Bryant was a lead pastor at Mosaic at that time and had just sold his first book, Not Like Me, [...]
The Story of the Book Deal: Part 1
March 5, 2012 – 5:53 am
Well, this is kind of phenomenal: I found out last Wednesday that my book, Shipwrecked in Los Angeles, the book on which I have been working since I was pregnant with Noelle, has been picked up by Wesleyan Publishing House. It has taken me until today for the news to sink in. In so many [...]
Inner Strength
February 28, 2012 – 6:19 pm
Friday Night I went to the “Vagina Memoirs” here on campus, a derivative of the “Vagina Monologues”. It was a powerful program put on by the Women’s Resource Center. Nearly twenty women shared openly about some of their darkest struggles and brightest victories. I found their stories tinglingly good, inspirational, and also devastating. I walked [...]