I’ve written a few essays lately, which feels great after many months of writing no essays. One appears in the Mamas Write anthology, of which I am very proud and which is available now on Amazon, and another on the “Write On Mamas” website, for an A to Z blog challenge, titled “Q is for Quiet.”

The first paragraph of my Q contribution reads:

In the days when my parents were telling stories, before their memories of the past began to disappear, my father liked to say that every night when he and my mom put me to bed and closed the door, I was talking. The next morning, when they returned to wake me up, they opened the door to find me still talking. For all they knew, according to Dad, I’d been moving my mouth for a solid ten hours. I was the third of five children, born to two verbal parents skilled at spinning yarns, and sandwiched among siblings who learned from the masters. To be heard in that crowd, I needed to yammer and jaw: “Listen to me! Over here! I, too, have something to say!”

You can read the rest here.

In addition, I wrote a piece that aired on our local NPR affiliate, KQED, “Sugar High,” about my failed attempts this Lent to give up sugar. The idea came to me one Friday night at a weekly soup supper our church hosts during Lent’s 40 days, when all I kept thinking about was the possibility of someone serving a rogue dessert. Rarely, if ever, has an essay come to me with so little effort.

I’m hoping to stay inspired. De-cluttering was the first step. Just getting rid of stuff cleared space not only in our house but also as in my mind. It’s a start.

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