MamaManagement

There is this sensation that is one of my most favorite things to feel. I call it the weight of love. It is the feeling of the weight of someone's body pressed gently against yours. Not the suffocating kind of full body weight on your lungs. Not a stranger bumping into you in a crowded space. But the gentle pressure of someone you love's body touching yours. It is your dog asleep against your side. It is your baby asleep on your chest. It is your spouse's hand on your shoulder or back or hand. It is the extended hug of a dear, dear friend--the kind where you lean into one another and hold each other up. It is your child's embrace, their head on your shoulder, their body leaned into your's. It is your spouse's leg or arm touching your's in bed at night. It is the weight of love. And sometimes I feel it simply as the lovely, warm contact that it is on the surface. But other times I feel it as the deeper connections of life. For it is as simple

As many of you know, I participated in my 4th National Novel Writing Month this November, and made it for the 50,000 word win for the 3rd time in a row. First, let me explain something to you about NaNoWriMo that you don't likely understand if you are a) not a writer, and b) have never participated in NaNo yourself. It is all encompassing. When you participate in NaNo for the win, you live and breathe NaNo. To write 50,000 words in 30 days, you have to average 1667 words per day. (And, remember, you're not just putting any old words on a page here, you're creating a whole other world...and you're hoping at least most of the words aren't total crap.) That's a fair amount of work, especially if you have a job or a life or young children who aren't in school all day. You have to work writing time into your regular life schedule, and you have to immerse yourself in what you're writing. Which means you become obsessed with the whole thing. It also m

If you ever read my book reviews on this blog, then you know I have a particular soft spot for character-driven YA novels. (See: Eleanor & Park, Aristotle & Dante Discover the Universe, Mosquitoland, etc.) There's just something about the capturing of that time of life. It's so hard, so pivotal...the stories so relatable. Even if I've never really been through what the character's going through, there's just something universal about the trials of adolescence and early adulthood. So, after basically taking the entire month of November off from reading (aside from a parenting book and a memoir for book club) I thought I'd jump back in with a good character-driven YA read. And, my oh my, did I find another beauty. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven is the story of Violet and Finn, two broken teenagers who meet under most unusual circumstances and at exactly the right moment in their lives. It is a story of love and courage and a fight worth f