Fall Afternoon on the Pike

A guest at my house once said I live "in the middle of nowhere." Today it feels like living on the runway of Newark Airport.

I heard what sounded like a jet engine outside this morning. The farmer who comes around once a year, in September, to mow the hay field across the road, has arrived. His tractor is very picturesque but don't these things have mufflers?

Who knew that life in the country was so noisy? I love to watch him from my front porch. In a day or two, he will start baling, and stacking the bales at the end of the field.

My neighbor, Denise Callanan Kline, is a fine artist who did this painting of him last year. Have a lovely autumn, wherever you live.

Having It All

This week I've been enjoying a wonderful novel by Rachel Pastan. Lady of the Snakes is an artful, satisfying story about a young woman's struggle to create a meaningful career, be a good parent, and sustain a loving marriage. When men do all those things at the same time, we call it - well, we call it a life. Women doing the same things are said to be "having it all."

It's 2009, people. We're supposedly post-feminist. The novel was published last year. And it's so NOT 'last year.'

This is an exciting, entertaining, read with intriguing, sympathetic characters and a compelling story. I recommend it highly.

Read it and let me know if you think there's something off kilter about the way we look at women's lives today.

The old ladies

Since a large part of Off Kilter is about growing up Polish-American, I'm curious about how other writers have thought about their ethnic heritage.

I've created a workshop called "Writing Our Cultural Traditions," and presented it at three different conferences - in Austin and Houston, TX and in Blue Bell, PA. One of the examples I use is a lovely poem, Black Dresses by Maria Mazziotti Gillan, a wonderful poet and creative writing program director at Passaic County Community College, NJ.

It begins:
"I dress now all in black like the old ladies
of my childhood...."

How did the old ladies of your childhood dress? The old men?

Here's an excerpt from my essay, "Pine Lake," published in Ducts.org, issue 20, Winter2008:

Our grandparents passed the afternoon on wooden folding chairs in the shade. He was a small man in a white shirt with black arm garters, on his head, a straw hat with a black band. And she, white-haired and smiling, wore a pastel housedress, thick brown stockings and laced tan shoes. Grandpa liked to walk off by himself to look at a tree or pick up a pinecone and show it to one of the grandchildren. From time to time, Grandma handed out the food she’d brought: bags of potato chips, bunches of ripe yellow bananas.

Rosemont Writers Retreat

Looking forward to the second annual Rosemont Writers' Retreat, presented by Rosemont College and PhiladelphiaStories, especially since they just awarded me a scholarship!

I'll be studying Novel Writing with Marc Schuster, going to readings every day and practicing yoga before breakfast.

The event is June 14-19, and a weekend version is June 12-14. More info is at www.rosemont.edu/writers.

This should give my novel a big boost toward completion (I hope!)

Speaking About Writing

This afternoon, I drove through rainy Bucks and Northampton Counties to Westminster Village, a retirement center in Allentown, PA. The activities people invited me to talk to residents on National Letter Writing Day about The Healing Power of Writing.

A small group of women had spent the morning making greeting cards with scrapbooking materials. I talked to them about the health benefits of writing their life stories, a bit about Off Kilter, and then had them do a short note-card exercise about someone they loved.

I'm always amazed at the energy in the room when I do these talks and classes. You can almost see the words travel from their brains (or hearts) down their arms and through their pencils onto the page. People go from staring at me expectantly to becoming completely absorbed in self-reflection. Watching them continue the conversation over tea and snacks made my heart sing.

An afternoon well spent, I drove home, through the rain, with that 'good tired' feeling, soft and open.

Characters

The novel is slowly taking shape, mainly because I am writing it. Who knew? LOL
These things don't happen by themselves. A friend asked me if my characters are taking over and telling me what they want to do next. I wish they would! My characters are just standing around, doing laundry and shopping...

Joining the YouTube generation

Last week, I did my first video interview via webcam about my book, Off Kilter, for Dr. Sally Witt's radio talk show on the web. But first...I had to buy a webcam, set it up, and fix my hair!

It was fun talking with Sally, who I met about 15 years ago at a women in business breakfast. So nice to reconnect and chat with her. I'm looking forward to our radio interview on September 10th.

Meanwhile, you can watch the video here: http://www.drsallywitt.com/dr-sally-interviews-author-of-off-kilter-on-video/