Dear Nicholas, A curious new kind of personality labeling has evolved out of the world of books and book reviewing. I only just learned about it as I’ve been getting the word out about my own new novel. The trait is your preference in tropes in stories you read.  What is a trope anyway? And […] Read More

Dear Nicholas, It’s the nervous part I want to talk about. My new novel comes out on May 1. As always, I’m afraid hardly anyone will read it, that I’ll stand at a podium for a reading/book signing with a very small audience, made up largely of my husband. So I’m in a mad flurry […] Read More

Dear Nicholas, Some weeks ago, I mentioned that I was taking up Transcendental Meditation and, to make the investment worthwhile, committing to meditating twice a day for a year. Well, I’ve been steadily doing this and the TM is working   I’d been told to expect changes like greater patience (I don’t want more patience, […] Read More

Dear Nicholas, Mid-day today, driving to the grocery store, I hit the wall of an underpass. The sound of metal against concrete and Bob yelling my name woke me. I yanked the car back into the lane and kept going. I’d fallen asleep at the wheel. We were not hurt: the car scraped the middle […] Read More

Dear Nicholas, Feeling wrung out and useless after a two-day (successful) struggle shaking loose yet another scammer, I Googled the words “scam fatigue.” Turns out I’m not the only one who feels done in by this stuff.  The Washington Post says, “Relentless waves of sophisticated phone and online scams are affecting people’s mental health.” The […] Read More

Dear Nicholas, I first ran across the energy-charged word “zowie” in an intriguing new biography of author Kurt Vonnegut. Written by his old friend Dan Wakefield, Kurt Vonnegut: The Making of a Writer has lots of fascinating personal material.  Early in his career Vonnegut had been turned down in his application to teach at Cape […] Read More

Seriously? A town of anxious writers! Could that be? An article on England’s unhappiest towns reports that Norwich, described as “a hub of literary activity,” home to many writers and actors, was not only third most unhappy but also the Number One Most Anxious community in the UK. It certainly looks pleasant enough. (BTW, sorry […] Read More

Dear Nicholas, Why do I always have to tie up every ridiculously small loose end in life in order to comfortably leave town for a day or few? I know I’m not the only one who does this. Is it an innate piece of human nature to complicate getting ready to travel? Minding the Chickens […] Read More

I fell for an online scam that emptied our checking accounts. Duped, scammed, robbed! How did I let this happen? Read More

                  Dear Nicholas,  Sometimes lately, thinking I’m at work at my laptop, I’m instead watching videos of “Cutest Chubby Babies on the Planet” on Youtube.  Or reading scandal news on the Daily Mail, checking often for updates. Or watching clips of surfers, of dancers. So, help me stop wasting […] Read More