Happy Hours

One of the more unfortunate clichés brought on by the chick lit wave was that of the Girls’ Night Out–a raucous group of females pounding down the cosmos or lemon drops until one, or several of them, ended up either hooking up with Mr. Right Now or, more likely, throwing up into a bush, on their expensive shoes, or onto Mr. Right. Or some combination thereof. I can’t say I miss those days...
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Deck the Halls

Alas, mimi is not one of those women who has the holiday decorating gene. You know, the ones who have color-coded boxes of everything for every season: shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day, Easter egg trees and adorable bunnies and chicks, flag bunting for the Fourth, and a veritable witches’ brew of jack o’lanterns, bats, and spiderwebs for Halloween. Nope, mimi considers it a good year if she can...
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Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s lovely here in the NC mountains despite the clouds and occasional rain. A fresh breeze is blowing off my parents’ deck, and the Blue Valley below is its usual mercurial self, revealing shades of Prussian blue and smoky grey as the sun flirts with the cloud cover. Inside, the hum of voices and laughter blends with the smells of roasting turkey and favorite dishes wafting from the kitchen....
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The Dinner List

I’ve been laughing with Steve Martin since I was in junior high school. That would be during the arrow-through-the-head years. Turns out there’s a lot more to the funny man than “King Tut.” He’s a writer with a wry look at the world (if you haven’t read Shopgirl, please do), a playwright, an art collector, and a Grammy-winning banjo player. Steve Martin lines about everything from Googlephonics...
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Fence Sitting

This year, baby sister has been brave enough to take the NaNoWriMo plunge, and I am happily cheering her on. From the sidelines, it seems. Although I have ideas in abundance, I have revising to do. I have no business trying to write my own headlong draft when I have other responsibilities. No reason to start playing around with the YA story ideas. No…dammit, I have plenty of reasons, but...
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