Blog
As a curious observer of life, I blog on writing, marketing, my prairie - anything that interests me in the moment. I like to have conversations with readers, so don’t hesitate to leave a comment. I'll respond.
“You have to make your own fun,” Dad told me. His comment embodied both a life philosophy and the financial reality of our eastern Iowa dairy farm in the 1950s. So as often as not,…
My mother had macular degeneration, a disease that destroys straight ahead vision but leaves peripheral vision. She could no longer sew or read or see the faces of people right in front of her. But…
I took advantage of the beautiful weather – spring at last? – yesterday to clean up one of my perennial gardens, the first I planted when we moved to this acreage four years ago. In…
This coming week – April 12-18 – is National Library Week. An annual celebration of the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians. The theme this year: “Worlds connect @ your library. I am personally…
After taking a couple of months (the really cold, really snowy ones) off, I’m back on the road again, doing readings, discussions and signing events at Iowa libraries. Three weeks ago, Maquoketa; last week, Bettendorf,…
“Failure worries dog life insurers” This was a headline in the Des Moines Register yesterday. When I read this, I thought that with all the economic woes the country is facing, the failure of people…
Okay, visualize this. Every day as you drive home from work, you reach in your pocket, pull out a nickel, and throw it out the car window. Every day. Sometimes you throw out a dime.…
When I published my memoir, Growing Up Country, my goal was to implement one new marketing idea every day. With marketing I was finally in my comfort zone! After 30 years in marketing, I knew…
Along with many millions of other residents of Planet Earth, I was glued to my TV yesterday watching the inauguration of President Barack Obama. As a public relations counselor for more than 30 years, I…
Recently I stopped at a deli for lunch. When I walked up, tray in hand, the young man at the cash register said, as they always do, “How are you today? Did you get everything…