In an episode of Burn Notice, which I used to watch while exercising before I became a Caroline Girvan devotee, a man hires Mike (or, in our house, Burn Notice) to find the guy who beat up his sister and put her in the hospital. The guy and Burn Notice stand at the sister’s hospital bed. … Read more
A few years ago my 48 year-old husband got the job he’d always wanted at one of the best companies he could work for. I’m happy he achieved his dream, but I also feel bad for him. I feel bad for most people who realize their Big Dream and still have 30 or more years … Read more
Years ago, on a now-abandoned WordPress site, I made A book’s stages of growth: in pictures after having written my first novel, Homefront (Homefront later became Pretty Much True, which became Pretty Much True by Chris Jane, and yes it’s all the same story. Regerts, I have a few). Now that The Age of the Child … Read more
Between Two Worlds by Tyler Henry Oh, that wide-smiling, angel-haired Tyler. Am I crazy to believe he talks to dead people? Yes, you say, but I say no. If famous actors—many of them ardent skeptics, mind you—believe him, shouldn’t I? For the sake of argument, let’s say believing something a celebrity believes just because a … Read more
I think it’s natural that people will see a book cover heading this post and assume, “This chick’s trying to sell her book again.” It’s a safe assumption, because I am. But for a reason. The whole thing was written for a reason. (Please indulge me.) “I would never want a book’s autograph. I am … Read more
Note: This post was originally published at my old website location, but my opinions haven’t changed, so I moved it here. I don’t know whether Edan Lepucki’s opinions have changed.- K In “Kill the First Novel? Are You Insane?” I responded to author Edan Lepucki’s decision to semi-permanently put away her first novel after it … Read more
As a salad addict (I get a hankering if I go more than two days without one), I was recently shocked and awed to discover from a Facebook post made by Marko F., 33, that he had just made his first ever from-scratch salad. “So I did something I’ve never done before. I went to … Read more
Any child of parents can probably imagine what it might feel like to see a picture of their mother’s (or father’s) face in a major publication accompanying an article whose headline basically screams, “I wish I’d never had the lot o’ ya!” Isabella Dutton doesn’t say that, exactly. What she does say is that she … Read more
When a friend told me recently that she’d been judged for enjoying alone time when her kids spent summers with their dad, I worried—about myself. Had choosing not to parent meant I’d doomed myself to a life free from arbitrary and unwarranted criticisms? Sure, there’d been the occasional, highly conspicuous side-eye because I was a … Read more
When you feel the strange tug in the left side of your chest, you’ll think of that disease you recently read about, Powassan, and the tiny deer tick you pulled off your thigh in bed last week. Deer ticks–all ticks, really–are on the rise after the warm winter, which means the risk of contracting Powassan … Read more
