In order to get my next novel written, I’m using Sarra Cannon’s new 2024 Preptober Planner. Instead of gearing up for Nanowrimo, Sarra’s developed something called the Rough Draft Challenge, and she’s invited her followers and fellow writers to join her in a slightly different event than Nanowrimo.

HB90 is a quarterly planning system that author Sarra Cannon developed after getting too burned out by being a full-time writer, mom, wife, and entrepreneur.

Last weekend my sister Julie and I attended something called the Pinners Conference. We attended back-to-back classes that ran the gamut, from a doodling workshop to a sewing instructional during which we made a cute, zipperless pouch.

There’s something about It Ends with Us that was giving me pause as I read it, and this feeling was only confirmed as I watched the movie adaptation. What’s compounded this concern is the crazy brouhaha that has followed the movie since its premiere.

As the daughter of a dressmaker, I grew up surrounded by creativity and the many projects my mom was always in the middle of. Fabric and sewing notions were constantly all over the house.

Almost two years ago we took our son to be evaluated for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and the psychiatrist spent about 10 minutes with him before confirming everyone’s hunches. Our son is bright and sensitive and creative and fiery. What’s that line from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass? “I contain multitudes”? That’s my son.

Yes, I was an actual magazine editor and it was decidedly unlike Runway magazine in The Devil Wears Prada, Poise in 13 Going on 30, or Composure in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

Last week I had some interesting text chats with a few girlfriends about a series of articles in The New York Times about some eye-popping sexual mores that I am completely and prudently shocked by.

I have been an editor for over 20 years. In almost all of that time I’ve also written–extensively. But it wasn’t until I finished my first, as yet unpublished novel last year that I finally felt OK calling myself a writer.

As our 50th birthday year approached, we started talking about how to celebrate. Plans came together kind of here and there, and kicked off with a trip to Las Vegas to see Ali Wong.

Ever since COVID lockdowns my friends and I have been working out together on Zoom three to four times a week. We’ve been doing this for four years now!

Last weekend we returned home to Los Angeles from a week of camping in Central California.