Birds and Books

Birds and Books

In my February 2025 blog, “Delights and Joys,” I wrote about my Daily Delights journal. The journal rests on my nightstand and every night I write in it one or a few things that delighted me that day. Many of my daily delights are creatures and most of those creatures...
We-moirs and Family Memoirs 

We-moirs and Family Memoirs 

Noemi, Matilda, Hilda, and Silvia Haigazn, 1926. . When I think about family memoirs, I think about Michael Ondaatje’s Running in the Family, Jeanette Walls’ The Glass Castle, and Deborah Miranda’s Bad Indians, to name just three....
Chuckanut Writers Conference

Chuckanut Writers Conference

Highlights, Past and Future Community is my number one reason for attending writing conferences. To meet up with local writer friends and make new ones. To be around people who get what being a writer is all about. To share in the struggles and the flow, to support...
How Long?

How Long?

A friend recently inquired about my writing. I’m always happy to be asked how my writing is going and on this day the work had gone especially well and I was excited to share that news. I had started a new chapter in my Armenian family memoir, a chapter that, for a...
What Are You Training For?

What Are You Training For?

A few years ago, in my late fifties, I became concerned with some aging-related upper body muscle loss. But every time I tried to strengthen my upper body, I’d hurt myself. Low-level neck, back, and shoulder issues grew worse. Pain is a great motivator and I started...