The beginning of a new year seems to demand the saying of something profound. If I were really smart I could say something that would get pasted into a cool pic and memed around facebook. (Well, my first problem is that meme isn't even a verb. Should be at this point though, don't you think?) …
Category: life
The Magic of Numbers
Numbers are magical. Well, they can be. Numbers go on forever. We need fractions and percentages and formulas. As much as you may hate math, numbers are everywhere. They allow the Internet to work. They make sure you take enough medicine to help you but not kill you. Then there are those numbers people believe …
Christmas Pig
Christmas Pig appears in our neighborhood every year. My son, my husband, and I cheer when Christmas Pig's owners set him in their yard. "Yea! It's Christmas Pig! Let the holiday season begin!" Christmas Pig lives on a street not far from us, but we have to go out of our way a couple blocks …
The Questions
My son found the CNN page with profiles and photos of the victims in Newtown. He read every single one, and several he went back to. One little girl, for some reason, struck him more than the others. An hour later he told me he was thinking about that particular girl a lot. I asked …
Presents and Ungiven Things
My mind keeps coming around to the Christmas presents. Many parents have bought presents for their children and hidden them away somewhere in the house. Maybe these presents are already wrapped. Maybe not. It's hard to think of the parents who will, eventually, take those presents from their hiding places but who will no longer …
12 Days of Writermas!
After reading about what vampires get for Christmas, I was inspired to write my own holiday verse (something ink rather than blood inspired). On the first day of Writermas, my true love gave to me A contract with a publishing house. On the second day of Writermas, my true love gave to me Two coffee …
Speaking of mug shots…
Do you ever google people from your past? Hmmm? Well, okay. So. I set my novel in 1985 because that's when I was a teen and because I didn't want to deal with cell phones and google. I used my hometown as a starting point for my novel. But then my fictional town of Lake …
Is that the best you can do?
In high school I spent one year on the yearbook staff. I started the class really excited, and I ended the class hoping never to speak of it again. When my mother saw the section I'd worked on--the advertising section, which I hated but did work hard on--she said, "That doesn't look very good. That's …
Why is it dark in here?
Recently I joked, "I could've written a light comedy." And my husband replied, "I don't think you have light comedy in you." A friend said, "It's odd because you're a funny person." Hey, I didn't set out to write a dark, emotional novel. I started with an image and went from there. But I don't …
A Plum Heart
Today a new friend in my life puts her heart out into the world. Her heart should be lifted up and celebrated. Well, perhaps every heart should be. Forgive the potential sappiness. But sometimes sappiness is okay. We don't have to be all edges and armor every day of the week. (Anyway, I don't know …
Marta Bacon 