Dear Nicholas, I’m wondering if having a ferocious cough this week is why I’m having trouble getting myself to do any of the things that need doing. Does coughing kill motivation and energy and focus? Or is my lethargy a case of post-holiday mental exhaustion? The last time I had a cough this aggravating it […] Read More

  Dear Nicholas, For many of us vain folks who check our reflections in store windows, technology has a new way to “find one’s self.” And the self it finds can  be a very flattering image indeed.  AI delivers flattery. An encouraging word The vain self-absorbed writer (or anyone who has been widely written about) […] Read More

Dear Therapist Nicholas, I first wrote this six years ago when I was merely 68. It began: I seem to have reached The Age of Others Keeling Over. People keep getting old, falling ill, some actually dying. This sort of thing has happened before, but back then it was an aberration, cases of dying too […] Read More

Dear Nicholas,  Seems to be a pivotal time here. Probably so for a lot of people. Here’s what’s going on with me: *Husband Bob retiring after more than 50 years as a psychologist in private practice. Yesterday was his last day with Chapel Hill patients. He has so loved doing this work. Quite a dramatic […] Read More

Dear Nicholas, About 25 years ago, feeling discouraged about my work, I gave a Barbie doll (knock-off) a make-over with my face and hair. I surrounded her with tiny Play-doh versions of books I meant to publish as well as the one I already had. Inspirational Barbie! Visionary Barbie! She had come equipped with a […] Read More

Dear Nicholas, The monster machinery of technology is looming over me. Working alone at home, I feel like a small solitary figure lost among towering mechanical entities: the networks that are now the friendly faces of such mom-and-pop shops as Amazon, Verizon, Apple, Truist, and most any airline. I’m alone with technology and have very […] Read More

The question writers are most often asked is: “Where do you get your ideas?” I’ve realized only in recent weeks that there was a moment fifty years ago that contained the germ of every novel I would write. I didn’t recognize it at the time. I discarded it as a random and rather silly thought. […] Read More

Dear Nicholas, I’m staying busy typing here in one of the cancer radiation waiting rooms in Duke’s Raleigh hospital, while Bob finishes  with his second treatment for his second round of prostate cancer. We are assured by all his doctors that he will be fine. Still…   The view from here … well, it’s not […] Read More

Dear Nicholas, I’ve recently entered an exotic youthful world, a culture that is a wonder to me: TikTok. Have you been there? What did you think–or feel? I’m now a TikToker and youthfully groovy again, but like never before. Tiptoeing Onto The Scene I ventured out onto this social media platform because I have a […] Read More

Well, Nicholas, I just learned that I forgot to go to a long-planned lunch-on-a-porch today with four dear friends. I forgot to show up. I am disappointed and berating myself. And of course wondering if I’ve gotten a step flakier than I want to be. This group has been brunching and lunching since the early […] Read More