This week, actor and entertainer Andrew Rannells’ memoir launched. Its title is Too Much Is Not Enough: A Memoir of Fumbling Toward Adulthood. If that sounds somewhat familiar, it’s because the title of my memoir is Too Much OF Not Enough. The difference between IS...
From the get-go, I knew I was meeting someone who was totally herself. I don't have the opportunity to come into contact with many millennials, but Romina was seated beside me last night at the TDF Gala and we talked non-stop until the entertainment began. I was...
It was dark in the audience during Tayari Jones' appearance at Symphony Space last night or I would have been furiously taking notes and jotting down the gems that were pouring from her mouth. She was interviewed by Darnell L. Moore (No Ashes in the Fire) in a...
I find the daily obits in the NYTimes interesting and informative. Today I noticed a name that sounded familiar: Donald Keene. Is he the translator I once sought out I wondered to myself, only to read in his death notice to find out that yes, this was someone with...
Before I was out of bed this morning I checked my LinkedIn messages and saw one from a coaching colleague who has a popular podcast. He'd read my posts on LI and wants me as a guest on his show. I made note of the shipping address he sent and forwarded it to my...
HIlton Als, in his letter to Rachel Weisz featured in the Styles section of yesterday's Sunday Times wrote: "While talent or a lack thereof is certainly a factor when it comes to all this, what separates the true artist from the artist in name only, is a certain...
This morning as I sat in a meeting advising a high-end creative, she used a quote I knew I had to blog about: You think it's expensive to hire a professional? Try hiring an amateur! How often have I had to learn this lesson? I knew to spend my money on a topnotch...
I loved this memoir by Tommy Tomlinson who had me drooling over his many food descriptions and their impact on his growing body. It's a touching, sensitive and powerful story of a man whose shame and regret about his own body has him seek a better, more grown-up...
During my memoir writing period of YEARS, I started asking around if I might do a reading at friend's homes. Many said yes, and I was able to get useful and supportive feedback during the draft stage of my book. Someone mentioned a place in Brooklyn to me where...
What a privilege to be in the assembled Women's Media Group event at Barbetta restaurant to hear a most compelling conversation. Lesley Stahl spoke with Jill Abramson whose new book Merchants of Truth was given to each attendee. "Is this your good side?" Stahl...
This week marks three years since I bought my apartment in NYC. I moved to Manhattan in October, 2012, rented for awhile first, then got a place of my own in early February, 2016. While there are many challenges about living in this extraordinary city, every time I...
Remember the old vaudeville routine, "Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch"? That describes the process I went through to have my personal essay bought by an editor at New York Magazine recently. My process to publication: Last summer I enrolled in a...
I've talked so much about my upcoming memoir that each time I sit down with a friend I haven't seen in awhile, I'm often asked, "Can I have my niece call you? She's working on a memoir, and I thought you might be able to guide her." Or, "My friend Sue has been...
"Is everything okay?" This is something I've been asked a few times in the last month. How do you interpret that question? My take on it may be different. As I was going through a late adolescence (say, 40-ish), my mother noted, "You've changed, Jane!" The...
While some children are opening windows on their advent calendars, counting down the days till Santa Claus arrives, my calendar countdown is slightly different. In late October I had an astrological reading which I do every 5-7 years whether I need it or not. 2018...
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