Category Archives: Feminist Fun

The Trainer

In an attempt to deal with me, and my own head, I’ve signed up with a small, private gym that only offers personal training. It’s very expensive and no one has ever hurt me this much in 55 minutes before. I’ve been going three times a week–which means I very nearly sold my younger son to pay for the twenty session package–and although I’ve dropped a couple pounds I don’t know if I’m any more mentally sound. I don’t know if I will ever be more mentally sound. I hope to God this is just hormones, some crazy rollercoaster that’s mercilessly jerking me up, down, all around, but what if it’s not? What if this is really just me? The … Continue reading The Trainer

Challenges & Cliffs

Lately there have been bumps in my day, bumps that could very easily become a source of aggravation. But instead of being annoyed or aggravated, I’m choosing to make these bumps opportunities. Perhaps the thing I’d imagined or hoped for didn’t pan out, but maybe that’s good. Maybe I now have the chance to learn something else, something new. The truth is, we don’t often see the world as it could be, rather, we see the world as we’ve become accustomed to seeing it. And growing up (I so prefer that term to ‘aging’) often narrows our world view, as well as our perception. We might get more clarity, but we also get more rigid. We dig in our heels … Continue reading Challenges & Cliffs

Thoughts We Think

In the old days I never heard compliments, only criticisms. For most of my life I concentrated on that which I did wrong and that which I’d failed. If one reader didn’t like a book, I lingered over the nasty email or online review while skimming the glowing ones. Somehow the nasty, the mean, the harsh and the punitive meant more. Somehow anything good or loving wasn’t as valuable. Why? Was I really so bad? Was I really so awful? Did everyone else somehow know the truth about me??? Now I ask myself, what was I smoking? Crack? I was never bad. In fact, most of my life I’ve been a desperate over achiever, people pleaser and I needed approval, … Continue reading Thoughts We Think

Saint Valentine

I’ve been making a Valentine’s Day splash ever since my sophomore year at UCLA, the first year I had my own apartment, a two bedroom one bath apartment behind fraternity row that I shared with three other girls, including my great friend Karen Cope. It was wonderful being out of the dorms and having a place of our own. We’d cook, we’d try to entertain and then late at night around midnight after too much studying, we’d just get silly. Really silly. So silly that we’d turn our bay window into a stage for what became the ‘Karen and Jane’ show, a not exactly nightly revue of giddiness and really bad stand up comic–as well as horrific song and dance–routines. … Continue reading Saint Valentine

A Few of My Favorite Things

I’ve been thinking about Valentine Day gifts and it’s not because I want to be Ms. Consumer, but between email ads from the companies I like, spam that I don’t like, and the internet with its ‘gifts gifts gifts’ thing going on, gifts are on my mind. I never had a real boyfriend in high school or college. I had some dates here and there but never anyone serious enough to exchange cards or gifts with. So when I finally got married in my twenties, Valentine’s Day was pretty damn significant. I was going to make up for all those lost Valentine Days before. It’s taken awhile to understand what constitutes a great gift though. I’ve never gotten a vacuum … Continue reading A Few of My Favorite Things

Funky Stuff

Did anyone else see the Tribute to Aretha Franklin this past week? The tribute was to help raise funds for the UNCF, United Negro College Fund, and the show was fantastic, an unbelievable three hours of music, history and education and I was upstairs writing with the tv on downstairs full blast so I could pound away on my book while grooving to Aretha’s hits. I like a lot of R&B, but I dig gospel, Motown and that funky stuff that came out of Detroit. I really loved Jennifer Hudson (of Dreamgirls fame) singing Aretha’s classics during the tribute. Jennifer Hudson is my girl. She’s my favorite actress/singer/star. If you haven’t seen Dreamgirls, do it, for no other reason than … Continue reading Funky Stuff

The Kranks

I know where they got the name the Kranks. The Kranks are people who are COLD and TIRED and NOT HAVING FUN. Was I shouting? Oh, yes. I was shouting. I’m KRANKY. And that’s even with the power back on. Because it only just came back on and I’m THANKFUL but having been made to wait a LONG time for my power when some of my neighbors and friends had power SATURDAY makes me even KRANKIER. On a calmer note, I am leaving early in morning for ten days (two weeks?) in Hawaii. The boys will be with me first week and then I’m supposed to be working on new book for Harlequin as I finished my revisions for Odd … Continue reading The Kranks

Periodical Assessment

This is going to be a super short blog and I’m writing it because I’m chained to my desk until I finish Odd Mom Out but I can’t stand thinking about my book for another second so here I am, pretending to not write when I’m still writing. If I could, I’d lie down on the ground and not get up until someone else comes and finishes my book but I’d starve before then, and besides, the chain is too short. I can’t lie down, I can only sit, hunched at my keyboard cursing at myself for taking so long to finish this book. So let’s get on with it then. I’ve changed. And my magazine subscriptions have changed, and … Continue reading Periodical Assessment

Crap Artists

First of all, you’ll want to read this most excellent scathing essay (follow link below) http://www.weeklydig.com/arts/articles/chick_lit_is_ and then report back here for my simplistic response. And in the event you don’t want to read a very negative piece on chick lit, and how it’s destroying what is left of America, well, bear with me while I talk about what I do, and why I celebrate the art form I embrace, however lowly, and crappy the anonymous former women’s fiction editor paints it. My arguments for writing white women crap is this: 1) A number of the classics we teach in school were serialized stories to sell newspapers, and were written to entertain the masses. No literary ambitions involved. 2) Great … Continue reading Crap Artists

Bye Bye Miss American Pie

I’m heading to Los Angeles tomorrow with kids where we’ll meet Surfer Ty who is also flying in from Hawaii. In the evening we’ll board a Qantas flight to Australia, landing in Sydney on Thursday before hopping to Cairns on Saturday for 5 nights. All told, we’ll be gone two weeks with four of those days spent at the Romance Writers of Australia’s annual conference, taking place this year on the Gold Coast. It’s been another long day at the computer, today especially rought since the damn thing has decided to freeze up every ten minutes or so. I don’t know why it does this. I just want it to work so I can wrap up my last minute emails … Continue reading Bye Bye Miss American Pie