Category: LIFE CLUBS: Writing

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365 Project: Life Clubs, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“Lessons Learned from Writing Every Single Day for a Year” Club

Many things can happen in a year. Things move whether we want them to or not; whether we’re ready for them or not. Babies are born, children grow, adults age, and all ages die. The most human clubs of all are birth and death; the two clubs we’re guaranteed to join which bookend life. In between them lies our common struggle, though the specifics differ greatly. … Continue reading “Lessons Learned from Writing Every Single Day for a Year” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“Join the [Life] Club” Club

I’ve written about “Life Clubs” every day for the last 360 days. While some Life Clubs are joined voluntarily (Marriage Club, Motherhood Club, Tattoo Club), others are more like a military draft and you get inducted into the club whether you like it or not (Alcoholic Mother Club, Aunt Died Club, Apartment Got Flooded Club). The guiding principle for all Life Clubs is you join … Continue reading “Join the [Life] Club” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“I Write Every Day” Club

I’ve compared my daily writing challenge to marathon training, each day closer to completing my metaphoric 26.2-mile run. Today it dawned on me, though, how runners train all year and get to have a grand finale, the main event: the race. On the last day of my writing marathon, I will just have another essay. It won’t be my opus essay. It will simply be … Continue reading “I Write Every Day” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, family, LIFE CLUBS: Relationships, LIFE CLUBS: Writing, love

“My Husband, My Editor” Club

When I decided to write every single day for a year, my husband was my biggest cheerleader even though he was inadvertently forced to take on this project with me. Every single day (usually night; minutes shy of midnight), he reads over my autobiographic essays, searching for typos, inconsistencies, and misguided T.M.I., before I hit the blue PUBLISH button.  This project was my Queen Mary … Continue reading “My Husband, My Editor” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“Queen of Self-Doubt” Club

I’m the type to count my “didn’t do’s” rather than my “do’s.” I’ll faster point out the one item I didn’t cross off the list rather than the dozen I did. I have a pattern of minimizing successes and negating worth. The first month after I launched my 365 writing project, each essay I wrote felt like an arduous attempt; I cut my heart open … Continue reading “Queen of Self-Doubt” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, family, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing, love

“Life is My Writing Prompt” Club

Before I launched my 365-Day writing project,  I came up with a 13-page (10 point font, 1.5-spaced) list of ideas. In the early days of the project, this numbered list guided me; I’d even used the strikethrough feature to cross out the topics I wrote about. As the year progressed and the calendar pages flipped faster than the leaves fell off the trees, I couldn’t keep … Continue reading “Life is My Writing Prompt” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“Strong Work Ethic” Club

I totally get that renovations are a metaphor for life; I’ve written something to this effect five days in a row. I understand how surprises lurk behind every wall you open and around every corner; I’ve lived this already. Today’s gripe is about work ethic. When I’m hired to do a project, whether it was as an advertising executive or as a writer or as … Continue reading “Strong Work Ethic” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, family, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“No Lazy Day Sundays” Club

Scrolling through my social media feeds on Sunday night, I see a bunch of happy posts showing families apple picking in the midst of autumnal rainbow trees or else even better, people commenting, “I’m on my third cup of coffee and not moving from this couch.” I long for a day like this; when I have nothing to do. The clock in my mind ticks … Continue reading “No Lazy Day Sundays” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing, love

“Keep On Keeping On” Club

I spent all day painting (it was actually priming) my 1,500 square foot apartment. I have souvenir calluses on three fingers on one hand and my hands feel arthritic as if they’ve engaged in extensive bicep and forearm calisthenics. Tomorrow I have to do it again, this time, two coats of Benjamin Moore “Smoky Embers” will glaze the walls which were damaged in the flood … Continue reading “Keep On Keeping On” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“My Writing Got Nasty Comments” Club

I knew I’d finally “made it” as an Internet writer when I encountered my first barrage of negative comments in response to one of my articles. When I became a Featured Writer on the SheKnows Network, they welcomed me with an email warning me how extra exposure is often accompanied by negative comments, and while they do their best to filter the awful ones, sometimes … Continue reading “My Writing Got Nasty Comments” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, family, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing, love, motherhood

“Late Bloomer” Club

I’ve notoriously been a late bloomer to many things in life; I’m hoping “writing success” becomes another item on the “Late Bloomer list” and one day my kids will read this list as encouragement. I have a goal of making it onto one of those lists of people who weren’t successful until their 40s, like Stan Lee and Vera Wang and Julia Child and Henry Ford, … Continue reading “Late Bloomer” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing, pop culture

“I’m the Go-to Google Gal” Club

I am a compulsive Googler. Google has been a savior to my perpetually inquisitive, journalistic, non-stop mind of mine. Whenever I’m mid-discussion and there is a fact of which I’m uncertain, (How old was Marilyn Monroe when she died? What day is the exact middle of the year?) I Google. Don’t we all? Kids today take it for granted (allow me one paragraph to pontificate … Continue reading “I’m the Go-to Google Gal” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“Perpetually Doubting Myself” Club

I thought reaching the exact middle of the project would unleash a vibrant burst of successfulness. I envisioned the middle to be “when” something… When I’d have a certain number of followers or when someone might discover me or when I’d have something else written, something of substantial significance. Instead, the date came and went, burst free. July 2, 2016, marked the exact middle of … Continue reading “Perpetually Doubting Myself” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Mental Health, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“I’m Writing for Sanity” Club

One of the overwhelming goals of my 365 autobiographical-essay-a-day project was “writing as therapy.” I theorized that getting “it” all out of my head (while learning what “it” was) would ease my anxiety and panic disorder. I embarked on a journey to shovel the shit out of my garage of a brain, alleviating the past baggage weighing me down in the present and preventing me … Continue reading “I’m Writing for Sanity” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“I Watched My Dreams Fly Away” Club

I sat on my balcony typing away furiously trying to get on top of my project before our two-week vacation. I had my red composition notebook nearby filled with printed half-stories and two handwritten pages. On the handwritten pages were 40 titles for articles I would write. It was the cheat sheet I had created for myself to get me through this week of writing … Continue reading “I Watched My Dreams Fly Away” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“When Your Family Member Deletes You From Facebook” Club

If I’m being completely honest, I never enjoyed viewing my step-mother’s life on parade bogging down my Facebook feeds. She was a postaholic, sharing photos of my 10-year-old half brother’s tennis lessons, playdates, and their twice yearly vacations. She was younger than my father by 30 years and a generation ahead in social media. Last March, my dad and his new family went on a … Continue reading “When Your Family Member Deletes You From Facebook” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“Finally Taking the Road Not Taken” Club

Dr. Seuss’ Oh The Places You Go is sold in the children’s book section, but could be filed under motivational guide or self-help book. Struggling artists’ and writers should regard the book as a cheerleading bible, whose rhymes ought to be re-read over and over again until we believe them. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.  You can steer … Continue reading “Finally Taking the Road Not Taken” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, family, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing, love

“Writing When Your Family Doesn’t Want You To” Club

I lived the career version of Sex and the City, jumping from one rebound job to another in search of the “right one.” For 15 years I refused to truthfully answer the question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” When I looked in the mirror, a ghost reflection of who I am stared back at me. My dormant passion burned on … Continue reading “Writing When Your Family Doesn’t Want You To” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing, pop culture

“I Was the Expert of the Minute” Club

One of the most time-consuming elements associated with my 365-essay-a-day writing project has been the social media promotional element that goes with it. In the last 162 days, I maybe have spent at least 162 hours (that’s almost a solid week of 24/7) Tweeting and posting and sharing. It has been overwhelmingly easier to share with strangers on sites like Twitter and Instagram than with … Continue reading “I Was the Expert of the Minute” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“I Write at Starbucks” Club

One of the beauties of being a writer is the convenience of a virtual office anywhere, everywhere. Since embarking on my “365 Life Clubs Project,” life hasn’t slowed down to accommodate my daily obligation to whip out an essay and post it for a universal critique. In the last 158 days, I’ve found myself writing wherever I’ve had the opportunity. Twice I’ve written at the … Continue reading “I Write at Starbucks” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“I Write to Live and Live to Write” Club

When I started my 365 project, I had no idea how it would really affect my life and the lives of my immediate family. My project would entail a total re-shift of my priorities this year and within a month, it was evident around my house. Dishes lived in the sink longer than usual, dust bunnies grew in the corners, and the 8 loads of … Continue reading “I Write to Live and Live to Write” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“I Put it in the Ether” Club

I often speculate on how my husband, the perpetual dreamer and I got (and STAYED) together. To his dreams, I bring a sense of Russian pragmatism, which I call realism, but he calls pessimism. He envisions the movies he’ll write, Oscars he’ll win, old firehouses he’ll convert into the dream work/live space for us. I, on the other hand, put a concrete ceiling on my … Continue reading “I Put it in the Ether” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“I Haven’t Listened to My Dream” Club

This year marks the 20th anniversary of my graduation from NYU (Magna cum laude, thank you very much). It was one of the worst weather days on record in New York City’s Washington Square Park. The Arch seemed to look like a huge concrete frown. There was marble sized hail hitting us as we sat through torrential downpours. Our pretty dresses were saturated under our … Continue reading “I Haven’t Listened to My Dream” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, LIFE CLUBS: Writing, New York, pop culture

“I Always Thought I’d Be…” Club

Last week on a walk through New York’s Rockefeller Center, home of NBC, I stumbled upon a live broadcast of Access Hollywood. Arianna Huffington was the guest and she promoted her book and discussed two of my favorite things, sleep, and sex. The dormant rebel in me thought, “I could wave my hands in the air in the background” or “I could hold up a … Continue reading “I Always Thought I’d Be…” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing, New York

“I’m Never Going Back to a Corporate Job” Club

Spring in New York City is a unique descriptor which means everything to the native city dweller. Walking through the streets of the greatest city in the world in 74-degree weather, the sun warming my newly exposed shoulders, I am dancing with every cloud. New York City is a high-fashion supermodel in every season, but with the blossoming pots of baby blue hydrangeas decorating even … Continue reading “I’m Never Going Back to a Corporate Job” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing, pop culture

“I Took to Twitter” Club

A decade ago when Twitter was this fun new thing, I jumped aboard like a hip wanna-be Gen-Xer. I was such a late bloomer with everything else, it felt great to be riding on the Millenial bandwagon. Thinking of tweets consumed my mind more than I care to admit. Driving my son to school, chopping carrots, staring at a blank box with a little blue … Continue reading “I Took to Twitter” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“Valuing Your Writing” Club

There is no greater satisfaction than filling up a page. There is no sound more rewarding than the rapid stroking on the keyboard. The quick tapping is reinforcement that it’s going, it’s writing; the machine is working. Quantity and quality aren’t as important as the physical act of stretching the muscle; like exercise. For a writer, to get the words out, to document, to annotate, … Continue reading “Valuing Your Writing” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, family, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing, love, pop culture

“I Met My Favorite Writer” Club

On our drive down for a weekend visit to Philadelphia, I said out loud to my car witnesses, “The only famous person I know in Philadelphia is Jennifer Weiner.” “Who’s that?” My 14-year-old son asked. He hasn’t had the benefit of jumping into her stories, engaging with her thoughtful, well-rounded, intelligent characters. “She’s one of your mom’s favorite writers,” my husband chimes in. “She wants … Continue reading “I Met My Favorite Writer” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“I Blog” Club

I’m writing every day. Yay. Good job. Celebrating my little victories, ceremonial pat on the back at 100 days; 265 to go. What’s 28% of anything? I’m a marathon runner on mile 7.4 of 26.2. In the back of my head I’m thinking, OK so I’m gaining some expertise; I’m flexing my muscles daily but where am I getting. If I’m just doing the training … Continue reading “I Blog” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“Writing 6-Word Memoirs” Club

The six-word memoir concept made me think of tombstones. For those of us who don’t write a memoir or autobiography, will the gravestone become the everlasting definition of ourselves? Historically, marble slabs are etched with names, dates lived, and titles. Our lives are summed up by how we related to someone else. Daughter, Sister, Mother, Wife. In the end is that ultimately how we want … Continue reading “Writing 6-Word Memoirs” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“Becoming CEO of Me” Club

The first day of work often feels like the first day of school, and often just as memorable. My first job after college was as an Account Executive at an advertising agency. On my first day, I was  paraded around the office with introductions, row by row in the maze of cubicles. I gave my name at least twice to everyone and shook their hand … Continue reading “Becoming CEO of Me” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing, love, motherhood, pop culture

“Let Me Announce My Own Announcements” Club

My daughter was born 6 years ago, in the Pre-Timeline Facebook era. This scary period in early modern history allowed friends to post anything they wanted on your page without giving you the opportunity to approve it first. I keenly recall laying in the recovery room after my emergency cesarean section, separated from two other women by curtains, with a painkiller drip. The world spun … Continue reading “Let Me Announce My Own Announcements” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing, pop culture

“I’m Back to the Twitter Party” Club

I joined Twitter in December 2008 (only 21 months late to the party) and pitched hard from the TweetDeck until 2012. Then I took a break. In those 4 years time, I sent about 1,800 tweets; averaging to roughly 1.23 tweets per day. I’m not sure what that means about me or my life, but I didn’t miss it when I dropped off the Twitterverse … Continue reading “I’m Back to the Twitter Party” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“Learning to Say Yes” Club

I didn’t realize “Saying Yes” existed as a cultural momentum until I read it in Amy Poehler’s book, appropriately called Yes Please. Soon afterward I noted how the opportunity to say, “yes” surrounded us. My daughter’s drama class had a parent observation day and I marveled at how my almost 6-year-old dove right for the “yes!” The realization of “yes” versus “no” people never seemed … Continue reading “Learning to Say Yes” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing, love, russian

“I’m a Reluctant Artist” Club

The day I met my husband just over 11 years ago he was working his “day job” as a professional clown. I was a young mother taking my son to his first Manhattan birthday party. Our how we met story is awesome, as anyone who is lingering in the happily ever after part, would say. We left the party together and the first question I … Continue reading “I’m a Reluctant Artist” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“Waiting for Likes” Club

Every day this year I vowed to write – and with this promise, I send a bit of blood, sweat, tears, and cliches out into the Interweb AKA the vast mecca of others just like me. Closely tied to this commitment is my pledge “not to care” if I don’t get favorable (or any) response. It’s been 70 days and I haven’t made a blip … Continue reading “Waiting for Likes” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“I Used To Have a Corporate Job” Club

(No, I will not blame spring fever for choosing to write another 100-word story for today, although it is a real affliction and this is a very poignant and true story!) I worked for an advertising agency in the city where I had a windowed office overlooking 42nd Street. The news station, WPIX occupied the top floor and I rendezvoused with Mr. G, the Weatherman, … Continue reading “I Used To Have a Corporate Job” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, finding happy, life, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

“I Have Career ADD” Club

Steve Harvey recently said that everyone is given a gift and to really succeed in life, you have to jump.” It was an inspirational 6-minute pep talk, but it left me thinking, “What is MY gift?” I really need to figure this out at 41 so I can jump already. My husband says I have many gifts, and unfortunately therein lies part of the problem. … Continue reading “I Have Career ADD” Club

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365 Project: Life Clubs, LIFE CLUBS: Writing

365 Day Writing Project

Happy New Year! WHY THE 365 PROJECT? I’ve written my whole life, if not on paper, certainly I’ve maintained a ticker-tape life dialog transcription in my head for the better part of 35 years. I’m that girl – the one that can recite things you’ve told me 20 years ago and throw it back at you. I hold onto everything – the photographer who told … Continue reading 365 Day Writing Project

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