Today is my daughter's 18th birthday. She's a beautiful, smart person, in spite of the fact that she went to school in a toga this morning (this is what happens when your birthday coincides with senior toga day during homecoming week). And this is a year of transition for both of us as she completes her last year of high school kid, chooses where to send her college applications. I'm journaling my head off during this time, trying to make sense of why I should feel so sad when she's heading…

After a couple of weeks of no blogging, I'm getting back into the groove at One Minnesota Writer. My break wasn't a vacation, however.

This summer has been challenging so far. My father-in-law went into hospice and passed away within a a few days of his arrival. No one in my husband's family expected him to slip away so quickly. We made several 600-mile round trips by car to visit him in hospice and return…

For those of us who blog, things can occasionally feel uninspired, bogged down, a drag, [insert your favorite term here]. I was feeling like that with my blog, One Minnesota Writer, where I've been posting writing prompts, creative suggestions, and snippets about the writing life since 2010. Earlier this year, I was running out of steam. It wasn't just my blog that was suffering, it was my attitude toward the slush pile at…

This week, I heard Gloria Steinem speak at Beth El Temple in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. When I told my daughter Abby, who is seventeen, that I was going to this event, I asked her if she knew who Gloria Steinem is. She did not, which surprised me. But then, Abby and I haven't spent a lot of time talking about specific people who worked to change women's place in this culture before Abby was born. That said, Gloria Steinem is every…