Archives

How to Journal: Milestone Memoir

May11

milestone-5Milestone Memoir is my vision of marrying one picture (worth 1,000 words) with one personal essay (250 words) to create a meaningful narrative for future generations.

In literary circles, Memoir is considered to be one particular aspect of your life rather than a comprehensive overview. And as I indicated last week, each of us have numerous memoirs we could write.

For example, one idea I have is to recount my mother’s life from my perspective. A possible title could be: I Learned How to Live by Watching My Mother Die.

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Totoro Family Recipes: Snickerdoodle Muffins

Apr2

joy of cookingThere is an interesting journey to this particular family recipe.

The year we married, there was a local Saturday morning talk show which had a cooking segment. One episode Marie made muffins and I copied the recipe. It was a very basic recipe, but easy and versatile.

Several years later I was looking through the classic cookbook, Joy of Cooking and came across a basic muffin recipe: the same one as Marie’s!

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An Update…

Jan29
feeny in paris

Feeny keeps me company…

I don’t mean to make this blog all about the accident; there are, after all, other things happening in the world around me. But I did want to share a bit of the recovery process, and some lessons I am learning along the way.

As an English teacher – and lover of the written word – I must confess the most frustrating part is the lack of communication between health care entities. Perhaps the system is overworked – perhaps the pace is too fast – perhaps they  don’t wish to take the time to clarify directives. But whatever the reason… I seem to be left scratching my head most of the time.

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Are we having fun yet?

Jan19

Well, I had all intentions of maintaining a regular blog post schedule after the first of the year, but I think God had other plans.

For those of you who are my 'friends' on Facebook, I apologize for the redundancy, but I feel the need to share the events of the past week in this space, in the hopes of moving forward.

In my first post of 2016, I shared the process of identifying my word of the year: FUN

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Acknowledgements

Oct19

While writing is a solitary task, all writers are dependent upon others to help them achieve a goal. Whether it be an understanding family, a dedicated critique group, and/or an excellent editor, writers thank these important individuals in the Acknowledgement section. This post seeks to pay homage to the one whom I owe a debt of gratitude: Tilly Warnock.

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Why a new blog?

Oct16

I originally started blogging in 2009 as a book reviewer on My Cozy Book Nook. I loved the small community of bibliophiles and relished the informal conversations surrounding my favorite pastime.

cropped-tessa-1.jpgAt the time I was teaching anywhere from 6-8 different English classes at a small private school here in the Kansas City area. My entire life centered around grammar, literature, and writing. A book review blog seemed the natural fit.

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