What will 2022 bring? — Last year at this time, we were finishing up nearly-a-year of pandemic. So many things had been canceled, closed, postponed. We celebrated a quiet Christmas with just my mother-in-law, who was staying with us — she had basically moved in after there was a covid case in her senior community. …

I wonder who will write my obituary? — I just found out my mom’s second husband died eight years ago. It was a brief marriage — their whole relationship spanned less than two years — and an unhappy one almost from the start. Mom never liked talking about the man; she wished she could erase that entire experience…

Do they hold up? — My husband and I are on a reading-aloud kick in the evenings lately. We’ve done this periodically in the past; we both enjoy ‘performative reading’ (which is a good thing, as we’re both writers who periodically get invited to do so), as well as being read to. He often reads…

An incomplete list — · That job interview where I drove to a whole different city several hours away and we had a great meeting and then they never even bothered to let me know that I hadn’t gotten the job · That writing retreat where everyone, literally every single other attendee, won a…

The joy of seeing what you’ve done — I love tangible work. The first time in my life I truly understood the value of concrete, measurable work was when my second husband and I cleaned out the two huge apartments (plus one hotel room in Montreal) of a very wealthy, VERY eccentric woman. She had been a hoarder…

On reentering a space of creativity after a lengthy drought. — I am suddenly on a creative tear. I finished a novel last week — one that had been lingering at like 90-plus percent done for over a year — and am deep in massive rewrites on another novel. I wrote a blog post and an essay and then this essay…

Two beloved parents, gone too soon. — My mom and my stepdad Keith loved to travel. It was their thing. They were so frugal in every other part of their lives — Mom would spend two hours making her grocery list and gathering coupons before every Saturday’s shopping; they both hated buying new clothes, and they drank…

Is there a such a thing as TOO remote? — Four years ago, my husband and I moved to Orcas Island, Washington. Orcas is the largest of the San Juan Islands, and one of four that the Washington State Ferry system serves. (The other 168 named islands are on their own.) A few weeks ago, we were invited to one…

…maybe your problems aren’t about square footage. — I have a friend who posts snarky synopses of those tone-deaf lifestyle articles you find in otherwise respectable major newspapers, under the heading of “I read this so you don’t have to.” You know the ones: beautiful wealthy urban couple faces some sort of rich-people dilemma, like, their several nannies…