AKA "The Writing Woman"
A Grieving Heart: Poems of Love, Loss, and Healing for Widows and Widowers is now available. This book is a compilation of the poetry from the three books of essays and poetry in my Widows Words series plus poetry I’ve written in the years since those books were published. It’s available on Amazon in paperback,…
Now that I’m retired, I love taking writing courses. They challenge me and make me dive deeper into my feelings – and they also encourage me to make more time to write. In my current course, called “Writing to Heal,” this was one of today’s prompts. What was a time you felt some connection to…
I’ve been honored to receive emails from people who have recited my poetry at a memorial or service for a spouse who died. The poem they always seem to use is “I Wanted to Grow Old With You.” This gave me the idea to create framed prints of some of my poetry to sell at…
I attended my first author event in November 2024 and had so much fun I made this new activity a huge part of 2025. Beginning in May, I took part in seven author events and two flea markets, including: The Brighton District Library Local Author Showcase in April and October The 2 Dandelion’s Book Shop…
When I was a never-married single mother in my late thirties, I went back to school, hoping to start a career so I could better support my son. Since I loved literature, I took every English Literature class available. I was a hopeless romantic. Things hadn’t worked out with my son’s father, we never married,…
ALTERNATE REALITY In some lovely other universe I awoke today in bed And these pillows piled up next to me Were really you, instead And we chatted over breakfast Then we set about our day Both happy we’re retired now With more time to chill and play We planned our next vacation To the cabin…
Yesterday I woke up prepared for the worst. It was the eighth anniversary of losing Rick to lung cancer. But I realized that, as the years go by, the major events aren’t as painful as the loss of the little daily things that I miss about being with him. I spend a few days of…
I’ve had years to study the effects of grief and just about everything written about it. And one of the things that surprised me when I first became a widow was how much fear was a part of grief. After Rick died, my biggest fear was that I wouldn’t have the strength to go on…
This upcoming Mother’s Day weekend, give the gift of remembrance. 💐 The Widows of Hope 5K is more than a walk—it’s a chance to stand beside a woman carrying the weight of loss. Whether it’s your mom, sister, friend, or someone quietly grieving the loss of their loved one, walking with them—or in honor of…
In the eight years since Rick’s been gone, I’ve tried dating and managed to find three men who were potential partners. Yet, here I sit alone again, mulling over what went wrong with each budding relationship. One moved out of town for work. One returned to his ex-wife. The third is an on-again, off-again relationship…