Category Archives: Self-Reliance

Rule Bait

Posted on July 21, 2011 by

It just occurred to me how obstinately opinionated I can be about writing. There are things that work for me, things that I’ve come to realize about the writing I do and the writing I most enjoy reading, and it … Continue reading →

Posted in Self-Reliance, truth, Why write, writing | Tagged , , , | 20 Comments

And So It Goes: How a Literary Hero Showed Me He Wasn’t All That—But I Was

Posted on July 17, 2011 by

By Jolie Breeden Kurt Vonnegut dissed me. Shut me down, blew me off, dismissed with the slightest movement of his gray and grizzled head. It was, perhaps, the best thing that could have happened. Not that I wanted to be … Continue reading →

Posted in guest post, Self-Reliance | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

not from around here…are you?

Posted on April 18, 2011 by

Once a month, sometimes less, I work the counter at Real Coffee down on Main as a excuse to talk to people I don’t know. I’ve lived in this little house in this tiny town for one week shy of … Continue reading →

Posted in coffee, relationships, Self-Reliance | 10 Comments

Unequivocal

Posted on April 11, 2011 by

We are waiting for a storm. The winds are high and warm, all the spring birds sing a frantic chirrup as if playing chase in the voice of little girls. Then it quiets, cars are missing from the streets, the … Continue reading →

Posted in coffee, Dance, kids, music, Self-Reliance, truth, wildness | 13 Comments

Throw me Thursday: Politics

Posted on February 18, 2011 by

In the fourth grade, a round boy with fat chestnut curls sucker-punched me in the gut. He blew me away. Because I wouldn’t move my locker door. He wasn’t a bully except by way that he was a boy and … Continue reading →

Posted in Self-Reliance, Throw me Thursday | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Blur

Posted on December 20, 2010 by

When I was younger, but still an adult, I was obsessed with my body. It didn’t fit right. I had curves, sometimes too many, was never straight and bony and flat like a flapper or those girls with the right … Continue reading →

Posted in adventures in childrearing, flying pigs, kids, Saved, Self-Reliance, truth | Tagged , , , , , | 16 Comments

Oil and Rust

Posted on December 5, 2010 by

I have a friend who says, “Enlightenment is lonely.  You can’t relate to people the way you normally do.”  She cites inner peace as a kind of impairment where our regular conversations fall into meaningless excess, and I understand. This … Continue reading →

Posted in memoir writing, quotes and wisdom, Self-Reliance, truth | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Throw me Thursday: Ugly Free

Posted on December 2, 2010 by

@JulesJeffs sent me this video of Janis Joplin. (Julie’s blog) There is only one story I can write when I hear Joplin.  It’s about the summer I started reading Kerouac and Dostoevsky and cheating on my boyfriend and smoking pot.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Saved, Self-Reliance, Throw me Thursday, truth, wildness | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Throw me Thursday: Hidden Things

Posted on November 5, 2010 by

I nearly forgot Throw me Thursday this week what with the tizzy of NaNoWriMo biting away at my soft little heals. I took this suggestion out of context, as usual, and went with what I was most strongly reminded of. … Continue reading →

Posted in Self-Reliance, Throw me Thursday, truth, wildness | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Try (Just a little bit harder)

Posted on October 4, 2010 by

This is the epitome of Wisconsin autumn–the huge old maple trees out front are acting like chameleons shuffling color while we sleep, temperatures flit near freezing, and left over campfire scents follow the lowering sun. I left my children to … Continue reading →

Posted in memoir writing, Self-Reliance, truth | Tagged , , , , , | 20 Comments