Just A Little Red

Confessions Of A Bookaholic: The Problem (And End?) Of Noteworthy

Posted on May 27, 2014 by DMW

I have been torn about what to do with my noteworthy book lists. I have thought carefully and think I am going to discontinue them (at least for now). When I first came up with the idea, I envisioned the blog posts to be like People’s monthly book review section, on the books that mattered or impacted me the most. After four months of doing so, I have ran across a few problems that I am not sure how to tackle.

A Novel In And Of Itself

Truly noteworthy books deserve much more than a blurb and yet trying to cover three or four books that can be anywhere from 650 to 950 words means that my blog posts are way too long. I appreciate anyone who actually reads them in their entirety, but I am sure most people skip over ones that don’t catch them right away or even see the length and think ‘is there a cliff notes version?’ and frankly I don’t blame anyone who does. I want to be able to give the books I review, what they deserve, but also hope to do so in a post that doesn’t exceed 2,000 words.

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Posted in Book Reviews, Books, Reviews | Tagged "book reviews", "reading list", fiction, non-fiction, noteworthy, reading | Leave a comment

This Memorial Day, I Remember… (Part 2)

Posted on May 26, 2014 by DMW

Yesterday’s blog memorialized the three people in my biological family that are in my thoughts often, but wanted to pay special tribute to this holiday weekend. The three people in this post are family, but that of a different variety. Two are chosen family, which does not make them any less cherished and the third is someone I actually never had the opportunity to meet, but that doesn’t stop her from being family or keep her out of my thoughts. These people were gifts when they were alive and now these memories are the gifts they leave behind.

My dear friend and chosen family, Jerry

Jerry passed away 28 months ago and I still can’t believe he is gone. The day I found out, I had just woken up and my Facebook feed had ominous messages on it, so I went to his husband’s page and then his own and my heart stopped. I went upstairs to where Roy was still sleeping and he woke up hearing me crying as I entered the room. He jerked awake quickly – I am not a crier. If I am crying someone is either dead or my shunt is broken. It took me a few minutes to tell him what little I knew between sobs. Later that day, after reaching out to his husband, Jay, I looked at my old phone, which was rarely charged because I had a new line and everyone knew my new number. This other phone only had a month left on my contract so it was better to pay for both than deal with an early termination fee (I had also switched carriers). Jay had left me a message shortly after he found him. I’ll never forget that message.

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Posted in Family, Holidays, home, Inspiration, Life, Love, People, Relationships | Tagged "brain tumor", "chosen family", "Memorial Day", Cancer, friends, grandma, memories | Leave a comment

This Memorial Day, I Remember… (Part 1)

Posted on May 25, 2014 by DMW

I have observed Memorial Day since I was thirteen, after I lost my Aunt Linda. I would put flowers on her grave. Now, fifteen years later, I have quite a few more names to add to that list. I’m not going to talk about everyone I have lost because that list would be far too long (and kind of depressing in volume), but there are six people I am thinking of in particular this Memorial Day. So in no particular order, here are the people who I am remembering right now. And no matter who they were to me or how they left, when I think of them, I smile.

My Aunt Linda

I was always very close to my Aunt Linda, my mother’s sister, even if I don’t particularly know why. I think it may have been because she always seemed on the outside, looking in, and I connected to that. She was both intellectually and developmentally disabled. I have always hated the word retarded, and perhaps she was the reason why – she was the reason I learned the word so quickly. (It was often used in my family to describe her, so I hated it very early on, even before I knew what it meant, because somehow I understood what it meant.)

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Posted in Family, Holidays, home, Inspiration, Life, Love, People, Relationships | Tagged "Cult buster", "developmentally disabled", "Divided By Hate", "intellectually disabled", "m&m's", "Memorial Day", "private investigator", Cancer, detective, grace, grandma, grandpa, mementos, memories | Leave a comment

A Writer’s Real Education – The Importance Of Writing Workshops

Posted on May 20, 2014 by DMW

Let me start with saying that I love school. In case my many majors and minors as an undergrad and obtaining my MFA (Master of Fine Arts) wasn’t a testament to that fact. I mean, if I won the lottery (note to self, start playing the lottery) I would probably be a professional student, taking whatever class I fancied and relishing the experience without worrying about the grade. (That is the one thing about school I don’t miss, when I was a freshman I was devastated when I received an A- in a post-graduate class I was taking. I also don’t miss research papers – at all!)

While I would never trade my graduate school experience for the world (though I would trade my students loans, two years was twice as expensive as four years and three summers of undergrad and that was with scholarships) lately I have been evaluating what experiences were the most valuable and two come to mind. The first is much more abstract, and that is being around so many other creative types. I almost said like-minded, but it wasn’t that we were, except that we were writers. Whenever I attended residency, lectures or even ate lunch on campus there was this indescribable collective energy you couldn’t help but feel. It always gave me a sort of creative high and I would produce more new pages of writing, during and after a residency than I would any other time. (It’s hard to believe that as of late June, it will be six years since I have experienced that – life just has a way of happening.)

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Posted in Editing, Education, Inspiration, Writers, Writing | Tagged "writing workshop", community, critique, feedback, fiction, memoir, workshop | Leave a comment

Confessions Of A Bookaholic: Guilty Pleasure Edition #13 – Sweet Valley High’s Second Super Edition And Books 25-26

Posted on May 19, 2014 by DMW

This Sweet Valley High list is quite possibly the strongest to date. It kicks some serious butt, with a Special Edition, two perfect fives (and the other almost a five)! The books on this list remind us of how ridiculous this series is (hence the guilt) and at the same time how it is totally worth it!

“Special Christmas” (Super Edition)

Sweet Valley Scale: 5 out of 5 Twins
Pick Of The Bunch Rating: Second Place

Everyone at Sweet Valley High is in festive spirits. It’s officially Christmas vacation, with the annual parade just days away; secret Santas are out buying surprise gifts and everyone is talking about the holiday dance at the Patmans’ mansion. Jessica Wakefield is determined to be crowned Miss Christmastime for the parade and her sister, Elizabeth, is counting the days until her faraway boyfriend, Todd Wilkins, returns to Sweet Valley for the holidays. But then Elizabeth and Jessica’s holiday is threatened when their parents tell them a certain somebody is also visiting (and staying with the Wakefields) for the holiday. It looks like their perfect holiday, might be the worst ever!

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