We just finished A Separate Peace by John Knowles in my freshman English class, right in time for break! This is the first year I’ve taught freshman at my current school—as happens occasionally, teachers shuffle things around, which means every once in a while you get a new set of curriculum (to be specific, I …
Continue reading Where’s the Climax in A Separate Peace? (Freshman Want to Know!)
I love winter squash of all types, including spaghetti squash, because its texture holds sauce well. This recipe comes together in less than 30 minutes, so it is perfect for weeknights. We used kale because we had some that needed to be eaten up; other additions that would work well here include mushrooms and onion. …
Today On The Premises announced that I got second place in their 44th “mini-contest.” The prompt was to “write a story up to 50 words long in which some kind of board game plays an important role,” and you can read my winning entry by clicking here. I’m rather proud of what I came up …
Continue reading 2nd Place Win in ON THE PREMISES’S Board Game Contest (50 words)
Our book club had a Christmas party. And confession: neither Leah nor I read the book. It was The Which Way Tree, by Elizabeth Crook. From reading the back, and from what I heard, it’s a retelling of Moby Dick in the Western style, with a woman trying to track down and kill a panther …
Continue reading Traditional Holiday Book Club Gift Exchange Party
Yesterday Little Old Lady Comedy published my short story “Investigating Dr. Teatree,” which you can read by clicking here. I haven’t worked with LOL before, and it was fun. They are more of a satire website, and what I wrote is less of a narrative and more of a report, which fits with their style. …
Continue reading “Investigating Dr. Teatree” Published in LITTLE OLD LADY COMEDY (1080 words)
If anyone was curious, my first reading at an open mic went well! I wasn’t quite sure how it would go, so I read a story that I’d already finished—Everyone’s Favorite Couple, which was published last year. It came out to three minutes at a steady pace, which fit pretty well in the allotted seven …
On Monday I’m going to my very first open mic (where I'm participating, anyway). I’ve been trying to get more plugged into the local writing scene, and a writing friend I’ve made invited me. People get up and read for five to seven minutes at a local bookstore, and then people clap, and give feedback, …
A few weeks ago I sent On the Premises a short piece of fiction. The prompt for “Mini-Contest #43” was as follows: “Use between 30 and 75 words to give readers a bunch of information they don’t want, don’t need, and that interrupts the flow of the story in the worst way possible.” They titled …
This soup is simple and satisfying. The apple brings a natural sweetness to the butternut squash and I love topping it with crunchy squash seeds (they taste just like pumpkin seeds). Jeff mentioned that soup would often be the main dish when he worked in South Korea, so we love to pair soups with salads …
Massaged kale salads remind me of Boston, because I used to make versions of this salad often when I was in grad school and when I taught cooking classes there. This recipe is fun to make with a group because you have to roll up your sleeves and use your hands! The second part of …
Continue reading First Course: Massaged Kale Salad with Roasted Chickpeas Recipe
BATCH & NARRATIVE 