Magical Memoir Moments
Saying Good-bye to My Memoir: The Final Proofreading
This will be short, folks! I have a very important job to do today. This is the deadline for returning my manuscript to the Herald Press editor so that he can implement the print schedule. So many stages in the production of a book! And it’s scary to find corrections even at the end when…
Meadow Tea: A Memoir Story You Can Really Drink In
One of my favorite summer time chores was gathering mint for Mother. My brother and I would take a bucket and two sharp knives and walk into the meadow, following the creek, past the weeping willow trees, to the bank where the mint grew in profusion. When we heard the Tetley Tea commercial on the…
Summer Sunday Sabbath: A Different Lancaster County Memoir
I loved the screen Sabbath I took two weeks ago. I made an exception for Father’s Day, but now I am back for another try. If you are joining me, let me know, either as your New Beginning or below in the comments section. My new beginning today will be biking somewhere I haven’t been…
A Perfect Summer Afternoon: Friendship, Beauty, Food, Books, and Other Fun
“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” ― Henry James I met Tina in the fall of 1966. We were college roommates in Northlawn residence hall at Eastern Mennonite College. Now we both live less than a mile from the place we met. That…
How to Change Your Life in a Big Way: Lessons from a Marathoner
Brook Kreder is the kind of person you want on your team. When we met at a conference for women entrepreneurs, more than two years ago, she asked about my book, which then had the working title of “Rosy Cheeks: Growing Up Mennonite.” I was the writer. She was the one with the MBA and…
Charming Letters to Authors: Ready, Set, Go!
The author Carolyn See spoke at the first Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference I attended and said something I’ve never forgotten: Write a charming note to someone in the literary world five days a week, to someone who makes your hands sweat. Do it for the rest of your life. I thought that was a great…
Shirley Hershey's Twitter Account: What Kind Shall it Be?
My younger self, Shirley Ann Hershey, the main character of Blush, now has her own Twitter account. This account does not replace my @Shirleyhs account, active since 2009. The idea, to give the persona of my memoir her own voice, was the brain child of Evan McCarthy, who works at Herald Press, but is on…
How Silly to Envy John Green: A Confession of an Elderly Newbie
First, I need to register a complaint. I refer to myself as an “elderly newbie,” since it has taken me 65 years to write my first book. I’m used to bowing graciously to the vastly superior writing and technical knowledge of my juniors. But, this guy John Green takes me down a notch more. He’s…
Searching for the Fit Self: A Physical and Spiritual Check In
Time for a check up on my bigger goals. Let’s re-examine the goals on June 4: Personally, I want to feel rested, trim, fit, and ready for a marathon fall. I also want to experience gelassenheit. Whoa, you say. What’s that? Gelassenheit means yieldedness or submission to God and to community. It was a favorite…
A Story for Father's Day: What I Learned About Love from Daddy
My father was a farmer. He was just 23 years old when I was born. Three years later, my brother Henry entered our world. We were sharecroppers living on an 80-acre dairy farm near Manheim, Pennsylvania. My memories of this farm are almost entirely happy ones. Almost. Below is an excerpt from Chapter 15, “Dueling…