Memoir
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Magnetic Fuel
“Writing about writer’s block is better than not writing at all.” — Charles Bukowski (1920-1994), underground writer and poet Continue reading
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Eye Openings 11/19/20
Why had I purchased 200+ pieces of art for a small, 840-square-foot home with limited wall space? Continue reading
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First Lines
In April, I began an on-line writing course with Natalie Goldberg, whose intensive writing retreats have changed my life. I attended my first retreat with her in March 1996 and the second in 2006 and 2007. At the heart of… Continue reading
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On Turning 66
Today I turn 66 which is meaningful for two reasons: one, I am now eligible for full Social Security benefits. More significantly, I have now lived my life respecting my lesbianism for as long I as I lived my life fearing… Continue reading
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Ignite 5/31/19
“Flannery O’Connor said that anyone who has survived childhood has enough material to write for the rest of his or her life. Maybe your childhood was grim and horrible, but grim and horrible is okay if it is well done.… Continue reading
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My First Boyfriend
My first boyfriend died on May 15. Jack Boyer was 66 years old. He gave me what my mother labeled, “Sharie’s first ‘love’ note on October 21, 1959. Jack and I were in first grade. Jack died suddenly from an… Continue reading
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You Should Be Worried, Paul
I had forgotten all the details of the seven-plus times I had been physically and verbally assaulted by men during my 30+ year professional career until the President of the United States claimed how his star power permitted him to… Continue reading
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One-Note Draft
What is memoir? What isn’t memoir? Sometimes (and in my case, more often than not), the memoirist can’t tell until she steps back and reads the words she’s written. As most of you know, I’ve been working on a memoir… Continue reading
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Sisters Showing Up
“We are each other’s reference point at our turning points.” This quote from Elizabeth Fishel’s book, Sisters: Shared Histories, Lifelong Ties — a compilation of more than 150 interviews and questionnaires with more than 150 women — describes what my… Continue reading
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Showing Up — Part Two
My mother died the way she lived — stubbornly and privately. Two weeks earlier she had suffered a catastrophic stroke with no hope for recovery. She had signed an advance directive not to start or continue life-sustaining procedures and was… Continue reading
