Since two of my books have been set on Peaks Island, and since the people of Peaks Island have been so kind and generous to me when I’ve gone there to write, I wanted to give back to the community. In June, I offered a free writing workshop at Peaks Library to anyone Read More
Blog
In the Flow, reposted from Sunny Room Studios
August 28, 2012
Why should writers add one more thing to the precious time we have allotted to writing? Some of the most powerful stories I’ve ever read keep the reader firmly in the body of the characters so that I felt every twinge and movement right along with the Read More
It's time for a party!
August 23, 2012
Jacqueline signing books.
What’s a writer to do? The publishing world is changing at a rate that leaves me feeling breathless and out of control. Indie bookstores have been devastated by a corporate plague and I pray for the survivors. For writers who actually like to do store readings and meet with readers, it is getting Read More
Tess from Picture This offers a summer recipe
July 24, 2012
Delicious strawberry crepes
Strawberry Crepes
In my new novel, Picture This, Tess and her granddaughter Danielle make delicious strawberry crepes (or Skinny Pancakes, as Danielle used to call them). They are the perfect meal for a summer day. I have wonderful memories of my mother making them and serving them with only butter and fresh maple syrup.
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In my new novel, Picture This, Tess and her granddaughter Danielle make delicious strawberry crepes (or Skinny Pancakes, as Danielle used to call them). They are the perfect meal for a summer day. I have wonderful memories of my mother making them and serving them with only butter and fresh maple syrup.
Read More
NEVER TRUST A SEAGULL
June 11, 2012
What is the best thing about summer in New England? Lobster rolls. There may be other virtues like the beach, the strawberries, the roadside stands selling local produce, but they all take second fiddle to lobster rolls. We can get pretty good lobster rolls right here in Massachusetts, but the ultimate place to get Read More
FINDING OLD FRIENDS
May 19, 2012
Clark, Anne and Jacqueline
I met Clark when I was 18, fresh out of high school. We both worked on a federal program called Student Work Experience and Training (SWEAT) at Southbury Training School, an institution in Connecticut for people with developmental disabilities. I met Anne when I was 23, once again working a summer job at the same place. Read More
Writing Block in China - Guest Blog by Morgan Sheehan-Bubla
May 14, 2012
Exercising in the Park - Picture by Fred Ranaudo
I’m a writer with an almost three year old. Lately I’ve been the mom of a sick almost three year old. I sometimes sit down to write, but mostly stare at the computer without doing much of anything before being pulled away by some sort of child emergency.
“Mommy! I is hitting Read More
“Mommy! I is hitting Read More
RACHEL MADDOW: DRIFTING
April 17, 2012
I couldn’t wait to see Rachel Maddow when she came to Mt. Holyoke College this month. I was one of the first 100 people to reserve a ticket; a very modest $5 secured my place in general seating. She felt like an old friend coming home. Only Rachel didn’t know she was an old Read More
WHAT YOGA TEACHERS DO AFTER THE LAST NAMASTE
April 5, 2012
Yoga by lake Atitlan
Have you ever wondered what yoga teachers do after all the students leave class and the teachers are left in a great big studio? Well sometimes they become eight years old again and they play. One year at a writing and yoga retreat in Guatemala, I was Charles MacInerney’s yoga assistant. His inner Read More
Hachiko: A story of loyalty and devotion - Guest blog by Lesléa Newman
April 1, 2012
Lesléa with Nico, an Akita who looks very much like Hachiko.
Lesléa Newman is the author of 60 books including A Letter to Harvey Milk, Nobody's Mother, Hachiko Waits, Write from the Heart, The Boy Who Cried Fabulous, The Best Cat in the World, and Heather Has Two Mommies. She is a faculty mentor at Spalding University’s brief residency MFA in Writing program.
Sometimes, as my friend Patricia MacLachlan, author of Sarah, Plain and Tall, likes to say, if a writer is very lucky, a story comes along and taps her on the shoulder.
On day I felt a tap and turned around. I saw a paw. A very large paw. It belonged to Hachiko, the most Read More
Sometimes, as my friend Patricia MacLachlan, author of Sarah, Plain and Tall, likes to say, if a writer is very lucky, a story comes along and taps her on the shoulder.
On day I felt a tap and turned around. I saw a paw. A very large paw. It belonged to Hachiko, the most Read More