Magical Memoir Moments

Every Day Is All There Is: Defining a Good Day

Have you ever found yourself thinking about a subject and then discovered that lots of other people are doing the same? For me that topic is: what is a good day? Joan Didion’s words “Every day is all there is” came into my life via my daughter Kate’s business partner, Emily Levenson. She’s the one…

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How to Balance Writing with Facebook, Blogging, and Twitter

While I draft memoir chapters about growing up Mennonite, I am also writing to you, the friends of this blog, and to others on my facebook page and twitter feed. Is it worth it to spend my time this way? Sometimes I wonder. A few weeks ago, I was asked by a friend of this…

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Natalie Goldberg: Memoir Workshop at the Sophia Institute

Last weekend I enjoyed sunshine, warm air, a beautiful room in the carriage house of the Phoebe Pember House affiliated with the Sophia Institute, a long walk in historic Charleston, a wonderful memoir workshop, and delightful conversation with Natalie Goldberg, the workshop leader, at the Slightly North of Broad Restaurant. Here she is, on the…

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Meditation and Memoir

My daughter Kate and I had a wonderful conversation on Monday about the difference between fantasies, feelings, and actions.  I resolved to get back into the practice of meditation as a result of that conversation.  I am fortunate to work in a place that provides opportunity for meditation at work, so I have begun using…

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