Dear Barb: My sister and I each have two children. Mine are 10 and 12 and hers are 16 and 18. We have always had different ways of raising them: I am a very protective parent, while my sister is more relaxed. We’ve had an ongoing debate about whether a parent should shield their children… Read more »
Grab a grand vocab—and romance it. I made a file of delightful words I named “Wordlist.” But crazy spellcheck named it “Wordlust.” Perfect, I thought—a play on love for words. My vocabulary shriveled. So, I stared down a dictionary nightly. I learned that words have multiple meanings that don’t mix or make sense. And whenever… Read more »
There is a debate over whether or not writer’s block is a thing. To which I say, “Of course it is,” as I sit staring at a blank screen. The debate should not be whether or not it is a thing but what is the cause of it. Sometimes it is something simple, for fiction… Read more »
Do you want to control your emotions? To suck back tears and never moan? To stop scuffs that break out while ordering McDonald’s double-doubles? Well, I’d love to seem smooth and suave—like Audrey Hepburn. So, I Googled royal etiquette: cross legs at the ankles, fold hands on lap, lift chin parallel to the floor, and… Read more »
Dear Barb: Well, another Thanksgiving has been ruined because of my sister! She’s divorced and has two kids. But the last three Thanksgivings she has brought a different guy and his kids to our family dinner. She hardly knows these guys, so everyone feels uncomfortable. The guy she brought this year had three kids. Two… Read more »
Dear Barb: I am the mother of a fourteen-year-old daughter. We have always had a strained relationship and it just seems to be getting worse. I had a difficult relationship with my mother and I hoped that my relationship with my daughter would be different, but it doesn’t seem to be. I come from a… Read more »
Sometimes the tasks we undertake seem impossible until they are done. Then the next step looks just as, or even more, daunting than the last, and we think “how will we ever accomplish that?” A habit I had with my courses at Athabasca University was flipping through to the end of the study guide and… Read more »
Do you get stuck when studying? Well, don’t stop seeking solutions. An answer will appear as fast as a semi-truck driver sneaks shipped bags-of-oats for his pantry. Here are some tips for busting creative blocks, as partly gleaned from Beth Brown’s blurb in Noah Scalin’s book Unstuck: 52 Ways to Get and Keep Your Creativity… Read more »