Magical Memoir Moments

Spahr Farm after the snow fell and wind died down, 1958

The Snowstorm that Wasn't: Legendary Busts and Blizzards

Yesterday the internets were alive with jokes about the Great Storm Bust of 2015. For those who lived in NYC, especially, a huge gap emerged between the hyped predictions (“historic storm coming — two to three feet!) and the actual snowfall of between 1.5 and 10 inches in the greater NYC area. The poor politicians…

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A Week in Sarasota: The Bittersweet Disruption of Cars

As you read these words, I am heading back north from Sarasota, Florida. I leave behind the palm trees, Gulf breezes, white sands, delicious fresh sea food, key lime pie, beach sunrises and sunsets, — and some wonderful surprises! Two of the surprises had to do with cars.   Just last week I described my…

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Plan More, Plan Less: Continuing the Search for Simplicity and Legacy By Reviewing 2014 and Sharing Goals for 2015

Last year at this time, I had a plan for 2014. I even wrote about it.  I heard back from many readers about my plan to CONNECT (my word for the year) and to continue the search for simplicity and legacy by creating goals centered on my mission: to prepare for the hour of my…

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A Good Day is a Gutsy Day: How You Can Win a Free Book or Download a Bargain

It’s a good day today. In no spectacular way. It’s good just by waking up, alive, in a “warm” house (I’m grateful for the afghan made by my mother-in-law and a prayer shawl give to me by Mennonite women this fall). Then there was coffee, and breakfast with Stuart, who made the steel-cut oats. Lots…

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Building "THIS": How an Online Course Has Inspired Me to Continue Blogging

A confession. After blogging for six years, I sometimes wonder if it is time to let go. Float away past the ether . . . Instead of blogging, I could take photography and painting classes that are part of the “road not taken” I want to travel. And speaking of travel, there’s that long bucket…

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Does BLUSH Have a Sequel?: The Box in the Basement

Readers have been asking if Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World has a sequel. My honest answer is that I don’t know. However, this box has been whispering to me. “Come look.” From out of the stack of albums pictured below, a little voice squeaks: “Play me, Shirley, Shirley bo burley.” So, I am…

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Three Amazing God Stories from My Self-Chosen Amtrak Writer’s Residency

When we travel, we multiply the chances that we encounter a “once in a lifetime” event that defies all odds, seemingly flying to us on wings from the universe. I like to think of these times as God moments. Or, as my sister Doris says, “God’s poetry.” On our BookTourAnniversaryPalooza, on Amtrak, July 1-28, 2014,…

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My Amtrak Writer’s Residency: Five Tips for Authors After 4,000 Superliner Miles

A few months ago, the online world buzzed with the news that Amtrak had decided to offer “residencies” —  a writer’s competition that offered free travel worth up to $900. Thousands applied, including me. The odds were stacked against winning, but the marketing campaign succeeded in reigniting my old dream of seeing the USA via…

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Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Grandma Hershey’s Way of Peace

When I think of peacemakers, I don’t think of soldiers or guns or even the Peace Corps. I think of this verse from the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Then I think of Grandma Hershey. Grandma Hershey was soft. When I was sick,…

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Mennonite Memoir, Lutheran Setting, Universal Spirit: Reconnecting After Twenty Years

My Mennonite memoir had a Lutheran birthplace: Valparaiso University. I was a Senior Fellow in the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts (LFP), headquartered at Valparaiso, in 1994-95. The name Valparaiso means Vale of Paradise. Mark Schwehn, who led both Christ College and the LFP when I was there, wrote the book that…

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