As a PK, preacher’s kid, I moved every few years. Last weekend, I became aware that, in writing memoir, I rarely address my past peripatetic life. And now I have a fresh reason to at least jot some memory prompts for later stories on the place where I lived from age nine to twelve: Lafayette, …
Category: writing
Another Tip for Writing Memoir
Infusing ordinary lives with detail makes story, Marilyn Abildskov* told us at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival in July. She presented several examples where authors framed their stories around the everyday details of life. One example, the “action detail” of washing dishes, propelled me to “free associate.” In Tobias Wolff’s short story, “Say Yes,” washing …
Nurses are Lifelong Learners
It’s August 1 today and my body is automatically going into back-to-school mode. For about half of my seventy years, either as a student myself or as a teacher of nursing students, I’d spend August assessing my wardrobe from next-to-skin to outerwear. Then I’d shop. My wardrobe had to be in place before school started …
“What’s Love Got to Do with It? A Field Guide to the…
Sentence in Poetry and Prose" was the catchy title faculty member Juliet Patterson chose for the week session I just completed at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. The festival, held on the University of Iowa's campus in Iowa City, is enjoying its twenty-sixth year. Starting in 2001, I've attended the festival seven times and taken …
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Another Retirement Crisis
You’d think I’d be having a heat-related crisis today—it’s the third day in Chicago of heat indexes over one hundred—but instead I’m having my second identity crisis of the year. The first was in May when, after fifty years, I could not give up my registered nurse license and, at the last minute, clicked myself …
Caregivers Write Your Stories (#6) / Living with Fibromyalgia Part III
This post is the last of the series on why caregivers should write their stories, caregivers of others and caregivers of yourselves. Three reasons addressed in this series are: to keep a record, to vent ("scream your words on the page rather than hurl them into the air"), and to educate and encourage others in …
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Caregivers Write Your Stories (#5) / Living with Fibromyalgia Part II
In Part II of my Living with Fibromyalgia topic*, I’ll be telling you about the new “career” I started after retiring early (age 58) from teaching nursing, a new career of “everything” fibro. Starting this adventure, I read everything my library held and everything I could find online. When I started to see duplications, I …
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Caregivers Write Your Stories (#4) / Living with Fibromyalgia Part I
What do you think of the old adage that misery loves company? I’ve found that to be true just so far. For example, I want to be able to share my challenges of fibromyalgia with others who have it, but I also don’t want to get dragged down by too many pity party stories. At …
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Review of Caring Lessons by Mary A. Osborne, Nurse and Author
I'm happy to present a recent Amazon review of Caring Lessons: A Nursing Professor's Journey of Faith and Self by Mary A. Osborne, nurse and author of Nonna's Book of Fiction, titled A Purpose Driven Life: It is an act of bravery to reveal one's life story in detail, to express one's struggles and fears …
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Caregivers Write Your Stories (#3)
As a caregiver, do you ever feel like screaming? I wanted to scream recently on a Grandma/Grandpa babysitting weekend. Wanting to scream is a natural response to frustrating experiences. So, another reason for writing your stories is to scream your words on the page, rather than hurling them into the air. Here’s a story I …
Write Along with Me 