Author Archives: BJ

from sometime in July: well at least up early-ish, compared to every other day in July thus far. it’s been a struggle to shift from work mode to sabbatical mode this time around, though honestly I cannot remember the last … Continue reading →

Title “Unraveled; or the Unraveling accomplished” Abstract My third sabbatical brings to fruition my creative non-fiction collection, Unraveling. A compilation of twelve previously-published essays and several unpublished ones, this book unravels the strands of a life spent “working it out”— … Continue reading →

Friday morning: I had blocked out 3 hours on my calendar to write, so drove downtown, found a rare parking spot in front of Grounds for Coffee, ordered a 16-ounce latte, perched at the bar upstairs, opened my laptop, logged … Continue reading →

After eating my breakfast, I unroll the sleeves of my LL Bean flannel robe, tugging them to cover my arms, and notice a give in the fabric on the left side–a give in a place I haven’t noticed a give … Continue reading →

I’ve been rolling around this word, plucking it out and placing it at the center of conversations since the beginning of the new year. So yeah, it’s my usual feeling in January. Post-holiday blues, inversion sick, state legislative session angst, … Continue reading →

I just can’t. I just can’t make the effort to do anything better, different, more meaningful for my long-term health and well-being. I just can’t. 2022 enters with a sigh, which is better than no sound at all. I suppose. … Continue reading →

When I learned that I would be interviewing Alice Sebold in November of 2007, I picked up copies of her two books: The Lovely Bones and Lucky. I couldn’t bear to read the first one–a fictional account of young girl … Continue reading →

now this is a word that sounds like what it means: The word came to me as I contemplated my writing, the M-D piece in particular, and I thought perhaps I could revisit that story and my more recent experience … Continue reading →

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a disorder in which people have recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas or sensations (obsessions) that make them feel driven to do something repetitively (compulsions). I label my emails. I color-code and file them. Nested, rainbow-hued stacks of … Continue reading →

and a partridge in a pear tree. how many words count as “writing”? I watched a colleague write page after page in a spiral notebook during a poetry reading. was she responding to the poet with her own poems? was … Continue reading →