Things Just Got Real…
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG.ADVANCE READER COPIES JUST ARRIVED. Troy asked me, "How do you feel?" Hmmm...How do I feel? Excited. Nervous. Relieved. And maybe just a little bit like puking.Years of soul searching, hard work, ass-in-chair 24/7 writing days...and now it's...
A New Year, A New Beginning
For the past few years on New Year's Eve, I couldn't wait for the year to be over. They were years of struggle and challenge, lawsuits and deaths and restraining orders and floods and exploding plumbing disasters. But in these years, there have also been miracles....
Dreams are a Powerful Thing
Last night at the King Family Christmas party, our friend Wendy got up and told the story of her childhood Christmases in Australia. Her father ran a general store that was open 365 days a year, even half a day on Christmas. On Christmas, she and her brothers...
“Muslims are terrorists, black guys are scary, cops are racists” and other crazy assumptions we make.
Yesterday, while watching the news unfold about the horrific hostage crisis and shooting by a madman in Sydney, Australia, I became concerned when CNN stated over and over that the shooter was a Muslim cleric. And today, with news of the massacre in Peshawar, I fear...
A Lesson in Courage
The past several weeks, as my heart broke watching the news accounts of the Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner tragedies and protests, I've been reading "The Invention of Wings" by Sue Monk Kidd. The book takes place in the early 1800s and is a historical novel...
How To Survive Being Fired
Author Wayne Dyer recently told a story about doing an interview at a radio station where a huge layoff had just taken place. As he walked down the halls, he saw employees packing up their offices. “Congratulations!” he called out. One of the employees responded, “You...
Fire Season – My Journey from Ruin to Redemption
As many of you know, in November of 1994, our house burned down. After my husband Troy and I jumped out second story windows with nothing but our pajamas and our kid, our lives began a downward spiral of loss that would continue for four years, leading us into a deep...
The Shero’s Journey: Women Risen from the Ashes
If you are familiar with author Joseph Campbell’s work around the “Hero’s Journey,” perhaps you’ve recognized the patterns in your own life. Campbell said that numerous myths from the ages share this fundamental pattern: “A hero ventures forth from...
What I Learned From My Two-Month Internet Break
This summer, after years of both working in social media and having active personal accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, a spate of ugly events caused me to shut down my computer and walk away. I didn’t plan this, nor did I have any idea if I would ever open...
Downloading Happiness
Wouldn't it be amazing if we could simply download happiness into our brains? According to Harvard researchers, that actually might not be so far-fetched. Though our experiences in life shape us, we are all born with a certain type of temperament. Some of...
Elevate
When I got fired from my job in June, it pretty much knocked me flat. Not only had this been a job, it had been a calling. Add to that the betrayal by people I'd thought were my friends. My true friends rushed in to lift me, like emotional EMTs. Amy said, “You haven’t...
Tammey
Tammey and I, talking about life. My cousin Tammey and I were born just months apart and grew up together like Irish twins. Our mothers are sisters. Sometimes, she and my cousin Tracey lived at my house. When my mom’s life was falling apart, we lived at their...
Live and Unplugged
In June, I was fired from a job that meant the world to me, and I’m in a lot of pain and confusion from it. I decided to unplug from social media to take time to heal myself, and to re-engage with my life and my children in real time.I knew I needed a...
Everything You Done To Me
This morning I woke up remembering a powerful scene in the Color Purple where Whoopi Goldberg’s character Celie is finally escaping her abusive husband. As she is driving away, he comes chasing after her, raising his fist, but she simply puts her hand up to...
Why Women Will Lead the Way on Gun Reform
Huge thanks to my friend Brooke Elise Axtell for inviting me to write this piece for The Feminist Wire. This details my personal experience with gun violence, how it led me to work in gun violence prevention, standing up against the bullies who want to silence...
Follow Your Bliss: Amy Friedman
Follow Your Bliss is a new series of interview blogs I'll be posting about people who inspire me. These are friends of mine who have courageously said NO to a conventional life, and followed their dreams no matter the cost. Every person on this planet has a rich...
Rosemary Butler – The Girl Who Fell In Love With The World
I recently had the opportunity to interview my friend (and idol!) Rosemary Butler for Rock Cellar Magazine. In addition to her mind-blowing resume, Rosie's got a life story that will knock your socks off. Below is an excerpt, link to full article at bottom....
Follow Your Bliss: Author and filmmaker Alex Stein
Follow Your Bliss is a new series of interview blogs I'll be posting about people who inspire me. These are friends of mine who have courageously said NO to a conventional life, and followed their dreams no matter the cost. Every person on this planet has a rich life...
“My Writing Process” Blog Tour
Hello all,I've been asked to participate in the “My Writing Process” blog tour. I post today, and will invite three writers to carry the tour forward on their own blogs the following week. I was invited to participate by my soul sister, the talented and...
Follow Your Bliss: Super Agent Andy Ross
Follow Your Bliss is a new series of interview blogs I'll be posting about people who inspire me. These are friends of mine who have courageously said NO to a conventional life, and followed their dreams no matter the cost. Every person on this planet has a rich life...
The 5 Things I Gained From Losing Everything…
(This story was posted on "Maria Shriver's Architects of Change." It is excerpted from my new memoir "Fire Season: Losing Everything and Finding Myself." With deep gratitude...) On the morning of November 18th, 1994, my family seemingly had it all: a strong...
Answered Prayers?
Lately a friend asked why I seem to have so much going on in my life at once. First let me just say that facebook presents a false reality that absolutely everyone is out having a fabulous life while we are home doing laundry (and in fact I spend the majority of my...
The International Women’s Day Hangover
Photo: Forbes MagazineMarch 8th was International Women’s Day. I celebrated by surrounding myself with brilliant, strong courageous women who inspire me. From morning till night, I was in the company of estrogen-laced greatness. Yes I was giddy and uplifted by the...
We Are Stardust
Last week I had “one of those days.” You know the kind, where everything is going wrong and everyone is on your last nerve. Work was stressful, my kids were fighting, even my cats were fighting. Before I blew a gasket, I packed the kids in the car and headed off for...