Ah, the New Year begins! The 4th of July waves flags. Halloween carves pumpkins. Christmas decorates trees. The New Year writes resolutions. Sure. You can dismiss the idea, you can dig in your heels and plant your flag in the sands NoImNotGonna Land, but like avoiding red-white-and-blue, candy, and Christmas carols, good luck avoiding the …
Way back in the very early 80s, Mom took me on a day trip to hang out at a beach town with friends of hers. The memory has faded, but we had fun, and on the way back home, I said or asked something about the women we'd hung out with that made my mother …
I've been jumping from project to project. The term monkey mind comes to, uh, mind. My ideal self would sit down and concentrate. But at this point in my life, I'll just work with the mind I have. Jumping to a different project might be procrastination. It might be a way to never finish even …
I love StoryaDay. Often when I post about it, someone tells me why they can't do it. And there are many valid reasons for not taking part. Nothing is for everyone. (Well, air. That's generally for everyone.) So my love of it and participation in it is not me knocking on your door like a …
(where I grew up ~ starlight added) It's the most contemplative time of year. (Well, not for everyone. Plenty of people may find other points in time more suited for contemplation. Some people seem to have no ability to contemplate much of anything least of all their place in the world and the hardships of …
I have mixed feelings about self-help books. I recently read a scathing piece on the self-industry which characterized self-gurus as con artists convincing you that you are inadequate so that you'll buy more products promising easy fixes. Well, some doctors sell you snake oil and some doctors make you better. So while I may have …
I was going to write something completely different, but I've forgotten what. As some know, my mother died of an aortic aneurysm when she was 45 and I was 21. In early November, someone I grew up calling Aunt (but who is not genetically related) almost died of an aortic aneurysm. Thankfully, she is recovering. …
October arrives! Welcome witches and all! I'm here for it, in spite of everything. But this post isn't really about Halloween. One of my goals as we in this hemisphere slide into winter is to create more space or rather to clear out more stuff that I do not need. Last year, I tried the …
I've been making books. And I'll be selling them on Etsy. I've also been writing my Fairy Tale Asylum story. (You can read installments here--see menu bar--or subscribe via Tiny Letter.) Honestly I've been stuck with what to write most of the time. Maybe it's pandemic brain. Everything I think of seems better said by …
When I was a toddler, my mom spent time in a hospital in Tampa. It would have been in the summer of 1971 or 72, right around the time of The Baker Act. I don't know if that had anything to do with her time in the hospital. I know that she tried to harm …
Marta Pelrine-Bacon 