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Does this count? Drawing attention to it feels like Good Morning Vietnam: Bruno Kirby’s weasely superior boasts to Robin Williams’s Adrian Cronauser that Reader’s Digest published one of his jokes, ergo he must be funny. But Smith Mag ain’t Reader’s Digest, and my six-word memoir’s only sort-of a joke. I guess . . . Continue reading
ser·en·dip·i·ty |ˌserənˈdipitē| noun the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way: a fortunate stroke of serendipity | a series of small serendipities. ORIGIN 1754: coined by Horace Walpole, suggested by The Three Princes of Serendip, the title of a fairy tale in which the heroes “were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.”
co·in·ci·dence |kōˈinsədəns, -ˌdens|noun1 a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection
In the submission-wait-rejection-submission-wait-rejection-submission-wait-rejection cycle, an acceptance is a rare triumph, or as a more accomplished friend once said, it’s a “tiny starpoint of success” to be celebrated. Seven months after I wrote a list in the tradition of 10th century Japanese writer and courtesan Sei Shanagon, for a nonfiction workshop, I submitted it.
The list was deeply personal to me, so I didn’t jet it out to every journal. I carefully selected two or three journals I trust to handle it with care. Two months later, I heard from the editor of Emprise Review. Two weeks later, it was published here.
Wacky: within a two-week period last summer, I find out the list is accepted for publication, it is published almost immediately, and it coincides with the work-related publication of this.
What started as a creative nonfiction workshop assignment to write a list á la Shonagon’s “Hateful Things” I read in The Art of the Personal Essay resulted in a cathartic ode to my dad’s final days. Coincidence? Serendpity? I don’t know, but it would appear that some energy is working to connect my father, God rest his soul, and my mother (Happy Birthday, Mom) in cyberspace.
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Time slows, the dawn comes late,
Squirrels prepare to hibernate,
Mother Nature’s flowery, leafy day clothes are shed. Continue reading
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A return to my kitchen remodel rescue is more homely than writerly, but my quartz tops are anything but. And since the majority of visitors find my blog through searches like “Caesarstone Blizzard,” “how to clean stains off Caesarstone,” and “Caesarstone and Barkeepers Friend” (not so much “writerly advice” or “brilliant writing tips”), I feel I owe it to the quartz-curious to update my views on the subject. Continue reading
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“Every time I hear someone use the term ‘strong female character,’ I want to punch them. The problem is, I hit like a girl.” So begins a smartly written, insightful rant by Carina Chocano, in New York Times Magazine (brought … Continue reading
