my ikea hack

So I went to Ikea the other day.  And I bought this clock. I’d been looking online for something cheery for our kitchen, but I hadn’t found anything.  And I was getting impatient, because I kept glancing at the bare wall where a clock should have been. This one seemed fine.  And cheap!  And kinda […]

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interview with Success Diaries

What does “success” mean in Katherine Center´s world? Success is doing the right thing for who you are.  It’s living a life that matches and supports you. Do you feel you´ve made it as an author? As a woman? As a mom? What do you feel (if anything) you still need to do in life? […]

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interview with Angie Mizzell

I’ve recently become a raving fan of author Katherine Center. She writes amazing essays and fiction books; a simple sentence can make my heart stop beating for a moment. Recently, Center took time out of her own busy schedule talk to me about her work: Angie: You first caught my attention when you posted the essay, “Nothing Worthwhile Is Ever Easy,” on […]

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before & after

Our kitchen fell apart last fall.  At Thanksgiving, actually.  There was a leak under the floor that rotted out the whole thing from the underside up.  And as I watched the flooring guys pulling up our kitchen floor with their bare hands like it was a wet paper towel, something great hit me:  We’d hit […]

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“Sweet, smart, and inspiring.”

  Excerpt from The Lost Husband  My husband had been dead for three years before I started trying to contact him. By then, our house was long-sold, his suits were donated, and his wedding ring was in a safety deposit box.  All I kept with me was a shoebox full of meaningless stuff: a button […]

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The Lost Husband!!

“. . . A sweet tale of creating the family you need.”  —PEOPLE Magazine “There wasn’t a dull spot in this book–just a really great story about finding home and yourself . . .  It’s really one of the best women’s fiction books I’ve read.”  –Lisa “. . . a delightful, heartwarming read, and I […]

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popcorn art

Summer is really not my season.  Or I suppose I should say, Texas summer is not my season.  Or climate.  If we lived in Nova Scotia, I might well love summer best of all. But down here in Houston, it’s hot.  Summer is mostly about coping for me.  Going out in the steamy, hot, mosquito-ridden […]

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video: what are you grateful for?

I am lucky in a thousand ways this summer.  And one of them is that I get to help host a Secret Mission for the Dream Lab at Mondo Beyondo. Here’s what it is:  My friends at Mondo Beyondo want to inspire folks to create guerilla goodness in the world–acts of kindness or love that help […]

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how to make a comfort list

In Get Lucky, the main character makes a “comfort list” of things that are soothing.  Here it is: “Things that are comforting: Tea. Warm water on your skin. Thick socks. Humming. Laughter. Fireplaces. Having someone arrange your fruit in a smiley face. Having someone refuse to examine your imaginary tumors. Watching old movies with Mackie.” […]

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interview: a day in the life

(This is a post from 2010.  Glad to say I’m getting MUCH more rest nowadays!) •  •  • Kristina at the blog Owning Kristina just sent an email and asked me to describe a day in my writing life for her.  She wants to know what it’s like to spend your days doing what you love […]

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the barbecue capital of Texas

I kind of lean in a vegetarian direction.  But when you go to the Bar-B-Q capital of Texas, you just HAVE to be a carnivore. And last week, when my mom and I drove out to Lockhart, Texas, for a book event, we asked around for the best BBQ and got many different opinions.  Finally, […]

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the Lockhart Library

Last week, I drove out to Lockhart, Texas, with my mom for a book event.  The library in my new book, Get Lucky, is based on the historic library in Lockhart–the oldest library in Texas. It was so amazing to get to stand in the library that had sparked so many ideas in my head […]

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all my exes live in Marfa

Did I say “all”?  I actually meant “none.” But an old friend of one of my exes — who apparently bought his car — does. Here’s what I’m saying:  There is no way to describe how bizarre it is to drive into a tiny town that’s 3 hours into the desert from El Paso and […]

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video: make your own luck

I’ve just made a new trailer for Get Lucky that tries to feel a little bit like the book. I was super-lucky to get to use photos taken by my beautiful pal Andrea Jenkins of Hula Seventy, who is an amazing photographer, artist, blogger, and mama.  Beyond amazing, actually. I’ve been trying to make this video […]

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