Under Our Masks: Honesty in Memoir Writing

Did you ever wish you’d spent more time talking to your parents or grandparents about their earlier life? I sure do. My mother, for example, was one of those women who stepped into a man’s shoes during WWII to fill needed jobs, including as an air traffic controller. If only she’d written a memoir. Gretchen […]

The Sibley’s Under the Wood Stove

Why David Allen Sibley‘s wonderful 2000 The Sibley Guide to Birds is under the wood stove is not a long story.  It was in the trunk of my car, and the trunk leaked.  Perhaps the interesting part about this situation is that both my husband and I rushed to dry out the Sibley, but we […]

To Be or Not To Be in a Critique Group

With a nod to Shakespeare, the question is whether to be in a critique, or writers, group or not. Personally, I find them helpful. I’m in one with three other women who are writing novels and one woman who writes non-fiction. I am profoundly grateful to these talented writers and insatiable readers for their advice […]