About

If you met me, you’d see a tall 51-year old woman with a big smile and bad posture. You’d hear my deep Texas accent, which I can’t seem to hide even for delicate New Yorkers’ ears, no matter how hard I try. You’d also hear about all the things I love – my dear husband and our many travels; my oldest daughter and her husband, who live in Austin; my 2nd daughter and her husband, who live in Chicago; my son who lives here in Manhattan and who is a dashing man about town; and my youngest daughter, who is a sophomore in college, far away in Texas. You’d hear about social psychology, since I have a PhD in the subject and until very recently, acquired books in social psychology for a famous university press, the one that published the very first book. Now, I am a writer and editorial consultant, and I assist publishers with market research for online product development.

You’d also hear – of course – about all the creative things I love to do, and have been doing since I was five years old. I started embroidering pillowcases during play periods in pre-school, and graduated to crochet when my Aunt Meecie (Aint Meecie, if you’re from the south) taught me how to chain stitch. I’d chain stitch my way through skein after skein of acrylic yarn, always begging my grandfather Big Daddy to run to Ben Franklin’s for more yarn. He’d grumble, then put in his teeth and make a yarn run. Gradually my handwork and creative outlets became more sophisticated, and I branched out: handwork such as knitting, quilting, spinning, weaving, lacemaking, a bit of crocheting, and sewing; photography; and baking.

Or we could talk about books! I’m always up for a discussion about any books by Rushdie, or Cormac McCarthy (Blood Meridian, anyone? anyone? Bueller?), or Victor Hugo, or Vonnegut, or Robert Solomon, or Moby Dick, or poems by Yeats or Heaney or Milosz. Lots more – I love to read. Or we could talk about movies – I tend not to find blockbusters very interesting, but can talk til the cows come home about “littler” movies.

my other blog

Food is always an easy subject to talk about, since most people like it. My husband and I keep a food blog called Luscious – check it out! I love to bake, though when my kids were at home, I cooked big dinners every night. Now, I’m just the baker, and baking bread is one of my weekly activities, most weeks. See? I haven’t met a recipe I didn’t love to bake. My husband does the cooking for us, and he’s a wonderful natural cook, no recipes for that guy. He has a fantastic taste imagination, and daydreams about what to make us for dinner.

I also really love art of all kinds, especially the art of a young printmaker and book artist based in Chicago whose work can be found here. Check her out, and buy something!

And finally, just so you don’t think I’m all fancy Manhattan-like, my secret shames include America’s Funniest Home Videos, Poptarts, and Cap’n Crunch. I can’t stop laughing at the first one, and could eat the last two until the end of my days.

I adore your comments, and try to answer every single one. But if you want to talk off-line (well, off-blog-line anyway), feel free to email me; I also have a little business making mastheads for blogs and websites, so you can write me about that too! The icon below is a clickable link to my email address: