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The Listen To Your Mother Book is Born!! Happy pub day #LTYMBOOK!!

    Today is a defining day for me, for 55 additional contributors and for LTYM. Two years ago I got the first email from my agent Elizabeth Kaplan, and today LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER: What She Said Then, What We’re Saying Now hits bookshelves everywhere. There SO are many people to thank–especially my editor Liz Stein, my national LTYM team, over 100 director/producers across the country, everyone at Putnam Books–especially Stephanie Hargadon and Elena Hershey who coordinated the launch event with Book Court (with help from LTYM: NYC team of Amy Wilson, Elizabeth Robinson & Barbara… Read More »The Listen To Your Mother Book is Born!! Happy pub day #LTYMBOOK!!

    Welcome Mats & No Soliciting Signs: A Passover Prayer

      The debutant spring came out this week. The belle of the ball swept into Madison on Monday, and with her a bouquet of stomach virus plaguing our home. Then, a knock at our door. Make that several knocks. Despite the “no soliciting” sign above our doorbell, once the snow melts window sellers, house-painters, and fund-raisers come knocking. In fairness, our stoop offers both a welcome mat and a no soliciting sign, because intermarriage. I think I hear Solicitor Brisket knocking from the fridge right now, yelling for me to get off the computer and prepare tonight’s… Read More »Welcome Mats & No Soliciting Signs: A Passover Prayer

      Author Advice: Save your Elle Magazines for 30 years for when you end up in Elle

        Now that I’m almost an author, I have some pretty sage advice to pass along. All that nostalgia you’ve been hoarding in your brain and in boxes over the years? Time to drag it out and parade it across the internet! Exhibit A: Save your 1980s-era Elle Magazines from when you were a PRETTY WITTY mustachioed Freshman in High School quietly terrorized by her OH BOY BEAUTY percentage of “male hormones,” and likely still reeling from THE SHOCK OF SHEER white swimming suit that allowed your camp friends to see your butt over the summer.… Read More »Author Advice: Save your Elle Magazines for 30 years for when you end up in Elle

        Keija Parssinen’s “The Unraveling of Mercy Louis” release day GIVEAWAY!

          Keija Parssinen is an incredible writer and storyteller. Her debut novel, The Ruins of Us, was simultaneously beautiful and shattering. Her second book, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis  releases today and possesses a similar quality, but with even more mystery and an even sharper edge. Mercy Louis is one part Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, one part Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park, and a little Louise Erdrich’s The Round House too, in terms of rich settings, riveting plot, and family dynamics. Parssinen transports you to teenaged life in small town Texas, and presents the evangelical and… Read More »Keija Parssinen’s “The Unraveling of Mercy Louis” release day GIVEAWAY!

          Unhelping by Zachary Zugg Imig

            …Zachary Zugg took out the rug, Jennifer Joy helped shake it. And Jennifer Joy She made a toy, And Zachary Zugg helped break it. from “Helping” by Shel Silverstein I’m a dedicated unhelper. I unhelp–for free–in my kids’ school, and with the local Jewish community. I sign up, and I show up, with smiling eyes, ready hands, and ample enthusiasm. With that smile and enthusiasm comes a super-sized social tendency, and a venti distractedness with room for spaciness. My volunteerism shows heart, if not as reliably…head. Every Friday I administer spelling tests in my fifth-grader’s… Read More »Unhelping by Zachary Zugg Imig

            It’s Awards Season! For Parenting!!

              And the winners are… Best Tooth Fairy goes to the parent who actually caries cash. Best Supporting Tooth Fairy goes to the parent who remembers to run to the ATM at 10:30 pm, or writes the most convincing IOU with his or her non-dominant “fairy” hand. Best Timer goes to the parent who has his or her children trained to time their own screens. Best Supporting Timer goes to the parent who remembers to set the timer at all. Best Nail Clipper goes to the parent with kids who trim their own nails. Best Supporting… Read More »It’s Awards Season! For Parenting!!

              Real Valentines for Exhausted Parent Partners*

                You’re so freaking hot, I made the coffee, Super Model. I won’t press snooze 875 times when you don’t have to get up, Valentine. I’ll put the kids to bed, Cupid. You just lie there like you do every night, but tonight I’ll heat your neck-warmer thing in the microwave and cool your eye mask and even turn off ¾ of the white noises to make it sound 3/4 less like an airport hangar in here. The bigger the holes in your t-shirt armpits–the more it shrinks to resemble a midriff–the more I want to… Read More »Real Valentines for Exhausted Parent Partners*

                Life is hard in man-bag land!

                  Excuse me, but could I trouble you to swath me generously in indigenous textiles?   As you can see, I’m only partially swathed. I need your help, Sister, as I tend to my nest of artisanal kilims. Surely you’d feel more sourced, and ready to purchase my man-bag if I didn’t have this asymmetrical swath problem, wouldn’t you, Girl. See how vulnerable my pedicure looks, as it caresses these tender fringelings? My skinny jeans, while rich in hue, hardly suffice for such holisticness. Of course, because this fool stylist left me swath-imbalanced. But, my hand-made… Read More »Life is hard in man-bag land!

                  5 Reasons to Read Your Stories On Stage

                    Last week I gave you 5 reasons to write down your stories. As Listen To Your Mother auditions approach, I present 5 reasons to read your stories on stage: 1. Get if off your chest. Literally. You’ve heard of the mind-body connection? Your story might be weighing you down, intervening between your best self, your past and your future. Your creativity–your humor, your light– might be vibrating inside you, begging to be unleashed. Let it out. Let it fly. 2. Someone else needs to hear it. We are not alone. No matter what we endure,… Read More »5 Reasons to Read Your Stories On Stage

                    5 Reasons to write down your stories

                      1. Write to remember your alibi. If you listened to the Serial podcast you can imagine the difficulty of trying to remember an ordinary Thursday 10 years ago. If you can’t remember where exactly you saw a dead body in the trunk of your buddy’s car, how are you supposed to remember the day your 8 year old yelled I. DON’T. LIKE. BEING. SOOTHED unless you document it somewhere. Also, it helps when your children grow up and want to hear about their childhoods, if you have some sweet details to share other than One… Read More »5 Reasons to write down your stories