(I know this is a bit long for a blog post, but if you are married, or have been,  you just might enjoy the ride :) )

Valentine’s Day

I placed a hesitant hand on the smooth metal door handle of the Hallmark store and pulled it open to the sound of tinkling bells. Ruby hearts hanging from the door jamb brushed the top of my head as I stepped…

Gosh, I'm sick of everyone accusing memoirists of being narcissists. For the last couple of weeks, there was another uproar of essays that mix up memoirists with journalists—AND narcissists--again. The topic comes forward every few months: there seems to be the opinion that somehow it is bad manners, bad writing, or narcissistic to spill personal details in memoir. But what's confusing to me is that most of the people being criticized, or doing the criticizing, were journalists. It…

When I was a graduate student, I worked as Susan Sontag’s personal assistant for one year. I went to her apartment on East 17^th Street on Friday mornings to run errands, take dictation, type letters, and retype essays. (My typing skills were not what she expected so I quickly signed up for a class at a secretarial school near Penn Station that enabled me to pick up speed and keep the job.) I was thrilled to be in proximity to so prominent a writer, and she gave me…

Pump Up Your Book is pleased to announce Susan DiPlacido's Shuffle Up and Deal Virtual Book Publicity Tour beginning December 3, 2012 and ending on March 15, 2013. Susan will be on hand during her nationwide tour talking about her book in candid interviews and guest posts! As an added bonus, Susan's tour is also part of a…

October is Roctober with Litquake! We have readings galore for you this month!

FIRST UP, join us for our regularly scheduled event at Studio 333 in Sausalito, October 11. 7pm. This very special show features writers from the audience who entered their names in the drawings over the months. 333 Caledonia Street, Sausalito, 7-9pm. $5. 

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I just returned from four glorious days nestled deep in the evergreen woodlands of Northern Arizona.  Rim country they called it, referring to the Mogollon Rim. Two hundred miles of dramatic rock formations, deep canyons and more sky than you have ever seen at one time.  Three of my treasured writing pals and I gathered at a mountain cabin in Christopher Creek. Call it…

More Moments in Montclair

Cultural Weekly Writing Contest: We Have a Winner!

Hello fellow writers,  

Here's a link to my new blog, Inspired by the unusual constant sunlight in Pittsburgh this summer and by the poets Mary Oliver and Susan Hutton's lovely illuminated poems.  Hope you enjoy!  :-)  (And how awesome to have this supportive site for women writers.  That makes me very happy.)  Let me know what you think!  What poems about light inspire you?    Sharon…

Holding My Hand Through Hell the latest book by Violence Prevention Specialist, Susan Murphy Milano, is slated for release on October 3, 2012.

To place your *order…

Susan Spence has always been intrigued with life in the west in the 1880s. She researched historical accounts and first-person narratives as she prepared to write A Story of the West. A lifelong resident of the west, she currently lives in Montana on an old sheep shearing station with lots of furry critters and one partially furry critter. This is her first novel, and she is busily…

To all of our mothers.  Thank you for your love~

A Mother's Silhouette

I awoke for a moment in late afternoon, the hospital room spare and efficient.   I looked over and saw my mother sitting with a rosary in her hand, a cool dark silhouette before a window fiercely illuminated by the hot desert sun.

“You don’t have to talk,” she said noticing I was stirring. “I’m just going to sit…

Article first published as Book Review: The Woman in Black by Susan Hill on Blogcritics.



The Woman in Black  is a good old-fashioned ghost story by Susan Hill, first published in 1983. It's a…

I dedicate this post to my sister-in-law, Mary Lou, who has urged me to publish it for two years now in hopes of buoying the spirits of thousands of hard working Americans that have suffered as a result of our failing economy. Now that my family has moved successfully through this unexpected and painful chapter, I am emotionally able to give this essay some well earned wings.  Please feel free…

• Exotic…