by Diana Renn | Jun 16, 2011 | goals, revisions, writing and parenting
It did not hit me that my son’s first year of preschool was really ending until yesterday afternoon, when I took his art projects and papers out of his cubby. There it was: the letter Z. I felt the floor drop away from me as I stared at that final worksheet. My...
by Diana Renn | Jun 7, 2011 | memories, mysteries, organization, writing material
Here’s a picture of my great-grandmother, looking on as I helped clean out my mother’s attic last week. I can’t tell if her expression is one of bemusement or horror. For decades, her portrait has been the silent guardian of family archives and...
by Diana Renn | May 31, 2011 | bookstores, Seattle
For the first time in my life, I have nothing to read. Nothing! I’m totally disoriented. I’m twitching and hallucinating and muttering to myself. I’m visiting family, 3,000 miles away from my tower of nightstand books. I came here having hastily...
by Diana Renn | May 26, 2011 | hobbies and the writing life, Japan, Odaiko New England, taiko
For many years, I had no hobbies. Not a one. I pursued work, grad school, and, above all, writing, with gritty determination, leaving little time for anything else. I lived on little sleep, piled on the freelance work, and was generally unpleasant to be around. Around...
by Diana Renn | May 16, 2011 | Apocalypsies, conferences, NESCBWI, SCBWI
Spring brings showers — for me, showers of new information and new friends and contacts. It’s conference season, the time of year I like to put on actual clothes (as opposed to the pajamas I work in most days) and emerge from my cave. In years past, I...
