Memoirous

Remembering the laughs, the tears, the upsets, the betrayals, the inconsistencies, the hierarchy, the absurdity, the surreal, sitting at Cook County for hours on end, Deac rides, Deac cars, tokens for the L, or having to jump the turnstyle, Mondays off, donation doughnuts, barrels of orange juice, government cheese, Malibu quiche, treats, getting awakened in the middle of the night to give up your bed, stepping over the sleeping homeless in the lobby, Strider. Answering the telephone, ignoring the telephone, getting telephones, handing out smartphones, info mail Checking to see if you’re on the money list, waiting in line for gas money, reserving a car Linda handing out Christmas supplies, afterwards trading pecans for more walnuts, eating the bag of chocolate chips before even going up the stairs, fighting for the kitchen, room on the stovetop, losing your favorite measuring cup, finding it in the dishroom, staking out your laundry slot, weekend work rotations, wrapping gifts for ...

  You’ll likely see this plea for the month of December. My books are available for download through Amazon Kindle and Smashwords (click on either to go to those pages). Also through Amazon you can order paperbacks of most of my titles. Through month of December Smashword downloads are 25-50% off. Highlight of this post: Orphan Girl: The Memoir of a Chicago Bag Lady Review "A homeless woman's story reminds us of the need to consider the suffering of others. Hertenstein's narrative . . . is a gift to us." Chicago Tribune, Sunday Book Section, March 15, 1998 From the Author I had known Marie for about ten years before I did her story. She was a bag lady--not homeless as she had an apartment she shared with a number of cats. Marie could be seen daily pushing her cart around the neighborhood picking up stuff put out for trash and giving items away to people who needed them. Whenever she saw me she'd say, "Jane, someday I have to tell you my story." And I...

Talking on the phone about Ron Brown’s Memorial   You have to trust that every friendship has no end, that a communion of saints exists among all those living and dead, who have truly loved God and one another. You know from experience how real this is. Those you have loved deeply and who have died live on in you, not just as memories but as real presences. --Henri Nouwen   A kind of grieving, missing, longing Missing not just a single man A great man, a big-hearted man But who we used to be   In the pictures I see Henry Huang, Lottie Jones, Stan and Vera I see their kids—or don’t recognize them Everyone is older, indistinguishable   The Communion of Saints Unsaints, using walkers Some, themselves, facing grave illnesses   Divorced now, separated All of us, in our own spaces, comfort zones Into old age, disease, ill-ease Mental health, fragile I can’t help but wonder Who we’d be all together Even grumpier, haters ...

You’ll likely see this plea for the month of December. My books are available for download through Amazon Kindle and Smashwords (click on either to go to those pages). Also through Amazon you can order paperbacks of most of my titles. Through month of December Smashword downloads are 25-50% off. Highlight of this post: Flash Memoir: Writing Prompts to Get You Flashing We begin with a sudden memory, follow it to see where it leads. Yet so many of us tend to ignore these flashes. We think later yet later on we might have forgotten or lost the relevance of the moment, the urgency that led us there. I recommend a process I call write right now. In the amount of time it takes you to brush your teeth, you can jot down the memory and an outline which can be filled in later. The prompts in this book are designed to spur memories, to get you writing. I’ll also direct you to resources, authors to read and study, and places to submit. What reviewers are saying: StalkyReader 5.0 Stars While Jane...

Here is an excerpt from my book: Beyond Paradise available from Amazon  and Smashword.  Through the month of December all smashword downloads are 25-50% off. are  Well, Christmas under Covid is interesting. This new variant . . . I've stopped keeping count of which one we're on. Anyway, Christmas Day went well, but then after the gatherings I've not felt the best. Let's just say I got a lot of extra for Christmas. I spent much of the vacation in the basement when lo and behold a rapid test said I was negative, but another person in the household was SUPRISE! positive. For all those in isolation celebrating this season here is an excerpt from my first novel, Beyond Paradise-- (available in as a print book as well as digital format, eBook from Amazon, Nook, Smashwords, y'all!). ANOTHER EXCERPT Christmas in Captivity Christmas Day arrived—my second in the Philippines, my first in captivity. It came without store-bought presents, without Papa, Julie, or mother. Mother ...

Here is an excerpt from my book: Beyond Paradise, available from Amazon  and Smashword . Through month of December Smashword downloads are 25-50% off. In the cold month of December we could use a little paradise--here is an excerpt from my YA novel (available in digital format, eBook from Amazon, Nook, Smashwords, y'all!). It is Christmas 1941--after the attack on Pearl Harbor the Philippines were targeted and the Japanese invaded the islands, slowly working their way down from Manila which capitulated (not the case at the end of the war where Filipinos and Americans  fought corner to corner against the Japanese. The city was heavily damaged. and the civilian population paid in many casualties). Anyway Louise's father was in the capital city when it fell and there are questions of when, if ever, he might be able to reunite with the family on the island of Panay. Christmas excerpt  Beyond Paradise Mother volunteered to make a Christmas Eve dinner for the Fletchers. By comb...

You’ll likely see this plea for the month of December. My books are available for download through Amazon Kindle and Smashwords (click on either to go to those pages). Also through Amazon you can order paperbacks of most of my titles. Highlight of this post: Cloud of Witnesses MG novel What reviewers are saying: Cloud of Witnesses hooks the reader with well-developed, interesting characters and snappy dialogue. The story features issues faced by many middle schoolers - coming of age, friendship, loyalty to family and classmates - but is set in the backwoods of Appalachia. The activities and language ring true in this slice-of-life tale about a region not usually featured in books. This is an important fish-out-of-water story about empathy and the dangers of and lessons learned from painting everyone in the same circumstances with the same brush. -- Marlene Targ Brill, best-selling author of over 60 children's books M J Lane 5.0 stars Wonderful coming of age story, set in rural Ohi...

Bike Life is a podcast from Warmshowers.org, a non-profit group that connects bicycle tourists to hosts. The organization is world-wide. For example, I was able to stay with hosts on my Rhine River ride in Koblenz, Koln, and Karlsruhe, Germany as well in Strasbourg and Egsheim ,  France. Doing this allows me to actually pursue international bike travel. After the costs of airline tickets and surcharges for bringing the bike, I can save some money not having to stay in hotels the entire time and ALSO connect with locals. My host in Strasbourg, Florian gave me great tips for getting out of the city, told me all about Egsheim and how great is is, then proceeded to help me by saying to stay on the German side of the Rhine after visiting my friend in Freiburg. These kinds of “insider” info has at time made all the difference in a trip. I go from just following directions to understanding a place or region, clued in as it were to only stuff a local cyclist would be able to share. I was...

  I meant to go for a run But I ended up doing a puzzle All day I meant to eat a salad But because of the puzzle, noshed All day I meant to go to bed early But stayed up to fit the last piece All night I meant to not nosh after dinner But I snacked anyway All night I meant to brush my teeth All day All night I mean to do all the things I meant to But day and night get in the way Life And I end up doing the things I want Life, I guess.

Check out Issue 7 of Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality & the Arts https://pensivejournal.com/ Pensive is out of the Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and Service at Northeastern University. The journal is available after Nov. 28 th for purchase or click on the cover at the website to browse. The story is entitled Little Norway and I wrote here recently about how I came to cobble together my ideas for the piece using found memories and experiences—and, a bit of my bike ride across the state of North Dakota. It’s amazing how when we let ourselves go to create what we draw in or ruminate about when allowed. I pulled on various threads to knit together Little Norway. Opening paragraph: Thelma ran a rag over the church kitchen Formica counter while listening to Pastor Rolfson go on and on. He did that a lot. Rambled. Though, to be clear, Thelma let her mind wander just as much. Yes, things were changing and not always for the better—was what Pastor Rolfson was say...

You’ll likely see this plea for the month of December. My books are available for download through Amazon Kindle and Smashwords (click on either to go to those pages). Also through Amazon you can order paperbacks of most of my titles. Through month of December Smashword downloads are 25-50% off. Highlight of this post: Freeze Frame: How To Write Flash Memoir Many of us are looking to write memories—either in the form of literary memoir or simply to record family history. This how-to book looks at memoir in small, bite-size pieces, helping the writer to isolate or freeze-frame a moment and then distill it onto paper. What reviewers are saying: Mary Ellen Gambutti 5.0 stars Excellent# I have read this book twice, and highlighted extensively. As a new memoir writer who works in slice of life and brief moments, I find her approach helpful. Highly recommend to all writers of memoir. Enjoyable read! Karen Douglass 5.0 stars Free to Write Short Just recommended this book to my memoir-writ...

You’ll likely see this plea for the month of December. My books are available for download through Amazon Kindle and Smashwords (click on either to go to those pages). Also through Amazon you can order paperbacks of most of my titles. Through month of December Smashword downloads are 25-50% off. Highlight of this post: 365 Affirmations for the Writer Plus Bonus Material Writing is a journey. Every time we sit down to begin a piece or write the first chapter or the first line we are venturing into uncharted territory. 365 Affirmations for the Writer is about listening to those who have gone before us and letting them guide us with their insight, their own trials. By reading what others have said, we can survey the path before us, count the cost, and plunge ahead. What reviewers are saying: Mary Jo G. 5 Stars If you are a writer in need of a little inspiration, this book is for you. The quotes are great, but I especially liked the bonus material which provided concrete exercises to spa...

It has been going on 3 years since I first posted here the poem “December” by James Schuyler. I was first attracted to it for the snide oblique personal references, people’s names—as if trying to puzzle out relationships, decode the poet’s life. Schuyler’s sarcastic tone as I perceived it: *Each December! I always think I hate “the over-commercialized event” * The giant Norway spruce from Podunk Podunk. That one word illuminating his disgust for Middle America, the fly-over regions, folks—people who take the holiday seriously, who refer to it as Christmas, who over-spend while afterwards always say, Next year I’m keeping to a budget. The gaudy tinsel and shiny balls and bright lights. Yet . . . It grows on each of us. We re-visit the sights, sounds, smells in memory so that when we are surrounded by Christmas we can’t help but sink into sentimentality. The poet confesses: catching glimpses, hints that are revelations: to have been so happy is a promise, and if it isn’t kept...