May has always been a hard month for me. This year is no different. I think it’s because it is a time of transitions, endings, and beginnings, with old routines and comfortable schedules ending, and new patterns emerging – some of them far from home. Anticipation of the “next step” can be felt as early…
leadership
Slice of Life Tuesday: A Poetry Reading and More
If you read my blog regularly, you know my husband and I are moving – a month from today! Yikes! We’ve come a long way cleaning out but still have more to go. Gone from the house are large pieces of furniture. My husband sold his Toro, Zero Turn Mower, yesterday. My china hutch sold…
Book Marketing as an Indie Author and Press
I self-published a book this month on May 6th. It is a small chapbook of my poetry entitled: Life’s Inspiration and Reflection in a Few Words. Last night, at a gallery where I am known as a jewelry artist, I read poetry from my own book. It was both a surreal and vulnerable experience. But,…
Poetry Friday: Student Newspapers & Poetry Pages
As part of our writers’ circle, we produced a third-grade newspaper for four years, from 2014-to 2017. The papers were all published from late April to late May, towards the end of the school year. All third-grade classrooms got copies that were two-sided and contained four-page spreads. And the classroom teachers allowed them to read…
Owned Treasures, Recently Found
Today is Slice of Life Tuesday! Thanks go to TwoWritingTeachers.org for creating this group and hosting it each week. I have participated in this supportive writing community since February of 2017. As we continue to clean out to ready ourselves for our move next month, I am finding enjoyment in reminiscing about things I’ve found…
Slice of Life: Disappearing Post on School Board Seats
Last night I wrote a somewhat lengthy post about school board seats. It was a cohesive blog about the issues school boards are having now. I reviewed my own extensive involvement with our school district, as I served in numerous volunteer capacities over the 21 years my boys were in school here. As an active…
Refuse to be a Box Checker in 21st Century Medicine
I’ve had several different careers over my lifetime and one of them was in healthcare. After I worked five years as a NICU nurse, I functioned as a nationally Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner for about six years. I practiced in the states of Maryland and New York. The advanced degree also allowed me to teach…
It’s Happening! On Being an Indie Publisher and Author.
I’ve had a long desire to be published. And by long, I mean that it’s been a life-long dream. I remember writing when I was a new nurse practitioner and diagnosed a teen with an ovarian tumor. I tried writing about that. I remember writing my master’s thesis for Child Health – on sibling preparation…
A Change of Mind and Heart: Education is not enough
When I was in graduate school for my natural resources degree (EE/EI), one of our first assignments was to read two papers written by seminal voices in the environmental field. One was by Richard Wilke and the other was by Jo Kwong. Before I started the assignment, I was pretty sure that I felt that…
Researching
This first post today will be short. It is Thursday and that means Poetry Friday postings start as early as this afternoon to accommodate those living overseas. Although I am not hosting Poetry Friday this week, tomorrow is my turn to host the 2022 KidLit Progressive Poem, I need to have something ready to go…