4 Min read Mount Fuji Japan Hokusai on art 1 Book rec Upcoming Events * Nothing I produced before the age of seventy is worthy of note. Hokusai * Sunrise at station seven on Mount Fuji more than anything else helped me understand Japan's namesake. The land of the...
On Writing
Gently Weeps
4 Min read Santana The drive home Rain on the Roof Full circle Poetry for emergencies * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Lotus flower at my mother's Buddhist Center in Bealeton, Virginia * I took a trip to my mother's Buddhist center for the one-year anniversary of her death....
On the Set at 30 Rock — Where’s Camera 1?
4 min read NBC News Daily Audiobook available Four Book Recs Toolbox on creativity * * I joined anchor Vicky Nguyen on national TV this week. This Tuesday, July 7, was the fifty year anniversary when women showed up for the first time as cadets for Reception Day at...
A Flag Day Speech: A Question Becoming an Answer
4 Min read What the flag means to me Those who serve Final verse of the anthem Video and audio links of speech * FULL SPEECH IN AUDIO ON SPOTIFY VIDEO OF OPENING of SPEECH ON YOUTUBE VIDEO OF MAIN SPEECH ON YOUTUBE * * The national anthem does not open with a...
One Thing My Daughter Has That I Did Not
2 Min read 1 Book Rec Book Excerpts Reader Notes Signed Copies * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Author proofs - link to book page * For twelve years I've been sharing books with you in this letter. Today I'm sharing my own. Here are excerpts from Raising Athena: a Mother and...
What Readers Are Saying
1 Min read Launch stats Reader feedback * * * Good morning! Launch week is almost behind us. Here's where things stand. Readers are writing meaningful, thoughtful reviews. "An essential piece of the American story." * "Part memoir, part history lesson, part love...
The Books Arrived and I May Have Cried a Little
2 Min read On publication Book launch at West Point Athena's Arena conference (April 20-22) Debut author On writing An excerpt from the upcoming book * * I was a bit emotional, I admit. The books arrived in ordinary, brown boxes, like the ones you might get on your...
A Veteran’s Four-Word Rule
2 Min read On leadership On rhetoric 1 Book rec - what a combat veteran reads 1 restaurant rec Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * The four-word rule flummoxed me. First, let me frame the story. TJ met with my husband and me during our trip to see my son,...
Old Boys Rugby: “Scum of the Earth” Sings Second
4 Min read Army Rugby Honors Alumni Match in Aldie, VA Old Boys Army Ruggers Beat Navy Bawdy ballad & Army songs Poetry for emergencies Ages 13 and up * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * At a rugby match, fans won't be suprised to hear the words that come off the pitch. The...
Tsundoku and a Goodreads giveaway
2 Min read Wordnerd - Japanese word for unread books Studio pickups IndieReader review & rating Goodreads giveaway for Raising Athena * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Tsundoku My friend Jon sent this word to me in a post, along with a photo of a stack of books. The word's...
Stick Season, 10000 Hours, and a Book on the Way
3 Min read On military service On publishing -- April 21st Launch On writing craft 10,000 hours Apprentice, journeyman, master Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * And I love Vermont, but it's the season of the sticks. -- Noah Kahan * I look out the window...
Punch, Roll, and Breathe – the Art of Audiobook Narration
4 Min read How a book becomes voice Creative process Voice actor's guidebook Toolbox ages 9 to 99 * AVAILABLE ON SPOTIFY AVAILABLE ON APPLE * "You did about ten full length solo shows with an audience of one," the director said. "Broadway performers only do an...
On Fathers and Storytelling: The Merchant of Saigon
3 Min read Lunch hour Lit 1 Ancient tale Writer's Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * * Murder your darlings. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch A popular writing exercise is to kill--or murder--your darlings, those lines and that passage you cherish. You know the...
Poetry for Emergencies: Love Fiercely
2 Min read 1 poem rec 1 podcast rec Toolbox * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Sometimes I make things more complicated than they have to be. So I'll write what I'm thinking as if you were sitting here beside me. I listened to a writer talk about his poem, The Truelove, which...
When Life Is Like a Country Music Song
Giving Thanks 3 Min read 1 Song rec 1 Book rec 1 Poem rec Music in Prose * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Life feels like a country music song this fall. The artist seems to sing directly to me: Bela Flick and Abigail Washburn belt tunes out on the car speaker, banjos...
In Search of the Blue Flower
4 Min read 1 book rec On Friedrich von Hardenberg On teachers On Mathematics On love * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * I have no craving to be rich, but I long to see the blue flower. It lies incessantly at my heart, and I can imagine and think of nothing else....
You’re Not Wasting Your Time…
5 Minute read 2 Book recs, Satoshi Yagisawa and David Foster Wallace On drifters and jobs On the bookseller; on the accountant The Music in Prose AVAILABLE ON PODCAST ON SPOTIFY * The truth is the heroism of your childhood entertainments was not true valor. It was...
Sirsasana, King of Asanas
2 Min read Yoga headstand Book rec on editing Toolbox AVAILABLE ON PODCAST On SPOTIFY * You can only do so many things great, and you should cast aside everything else. Tim Cook * This quote is taped by my desk to curb my tendency to procrastinate, to run down rabbit...
The Monk, the Nun, and the Poet
4 Min read Alternate title: The Buddhist, the Catholic, and the Dying Man Poetry for Emergencies On happiness and desire On reputation Bar joke - in Footnotes 😉 AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * * It sounds like a bar joke but it's better, because there's more to this...
Nice or Not-so-nice? A $14,000 Dress
3 min read 1 book rec with 3 quotes Toolbox - writing humor Bergdorf eveningwear price in 2009! * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * I like authors who make me laugh. Ann Leary's essay collection, I've Tried Being Nice, reminds me of the person who imagines herself as...
Water, Water: a Year-End Muse
3 Min read 1 Poetry rec Snowflake and rain fall speed Poetry for emergencies * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST On Spotify * Winter Trivia : It takes approximately two hours for a snowflake to fall from a cloud to the ground. * Epigraph to Winter Trivia by Billy Collins *...
A Sutra on Solitude
3 Min read Solitude 1 Book rec and series Buddhist sutra Tool box: The music in prose * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * Solitude and loneliness have been on my mind when this page came up in my reading. SOLITUDE * Being in solitude can help us relax. Solitude doesn't...
An Omen and 3 Ravens
4 Min read Poetry for emergencies 1 Poem 1 Poetry collection Baltimore & Annapolis A bit of Harry Potter A bit of Edgar Allan Poe US Poet Laureate, Ada Limón * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST ON SPOTIFY * * OMEN. On Gay Street in Baltimore on the way to Johnny's for...
Living on Hotdogs
6 Min read True story vs story; fact vs fiction 2 Book recs On poverty On music Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * * Well, I never been to heaven. But I been to Oklahoma, where The LOKAL makes Indian Tacos and has live music on Thursday. We joined...
Dinner with Obama
7 Min read Sylvanus Thayer Award On a Strong Military and Secure Nation Toolbox: Speech and Rhetoric * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * The evening with the 44th POTUS (President Of The United States) went about as planned. He was all business, in and out, no meal just...
Queen Amahn, the Third Circle of Hell
5 Min read Five Points Neighborhood, West Buffalo Dante's Inferno and the Nine Circles of Hell* Foodie special Toolbox: texture in writing 1 book rec AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * SPOTIFY * I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde * Morning Scene Locals gathered...
St. Louis and the Sublime
7 Min read Gateway Arch, St. Louis Pilot's Glory Math geek alert* Toolbox, ages 9 to 99* AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * I want to share two moments with you, rendering them as best as I am able. They are startling in the manner that makes an imprint, a fully sensual...
The Weavers of Woodstock* and the Essential Detail
5 Min read 1 book rec on writing Murder your darlings Write with intention Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 * * McCann Arena in Poughkeepsie can seat 3200 people and I sat among scattered fans to check out Army's first scrimmage of the season. Army beat Marist in volleyball, but...
Back to School: the Tame Sentence vs the Lively Sentence
7 Min read 1 English textbook 1 Style Guide 4 Writers: Stephen Ambrose, Jhumpa Lahiri (Pulitzer), Jon Fosse (Nobel), Patti Smith Improve writing immediately, ages 9 to 99 Toolbox * * How to Improve Writing Part 3: Use the active voice. * I sat down with an English...
The Prophet in the Wine Cellar
4 Min read 1 book rec On love On leaving * * New vinyl plank flooring went into the basement this week. My dogs loved to have a pee party down there, especially when guests were visiting. So I was more than happy to see the urine-soaked carpet leave the house, a kind...
Not for Money, Fame, Love, or Anything Else*
5 Min read 2 Book recs: Joseph Nguyen and Ray Bradbury On work and creating Beyond suffering Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 Bonus - children's book and Tolstoy essay * If I had infinite money, already traveled the world, had no fear, and didn't receive any recognition for what...
“Well-Intentioned Fools”
2 Min read Poetry for Emergencies On grief * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * I came across this poem about the stupid things people say to each other after someone dies. * STEALING GRIEF By D. Adam BoazI think thatOne of the things we doWhen someone we know isHurtingIs say...
“We Lived, Felt Dawn, Saw Sunset Glow”
3 Min read Memorial Day Vietnam War Toolbox: Speech writing and public speaking Creative nonfiction / True story Poetry for Emergencies * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Last fall I received a request to be the speaker for Memorial Day. I was surprised and then I let it sink...
That Teacher, You Know the One
5 Min read Poetry for Emergencies: E.E. Cummings On music: J.S. Bach Commencement speech * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Let's take a moment for teachers. That teacher, you know the one. Because, I have a confession to make. In the lottery of life and learning, if you're...
On Poetry, Spring, and Transition
4 Min read Poetry for emergencies 2 Poets Mary Oliver on things Lao Tzu on excess * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * When I moved from one house to anotherthere were many things I had no roomfor. What does one do? I rented a storagespace. And filled it. Years passed.First lines...
How to Improve Your Writing – Part 2: from Confucius to Lincoln
8 min read 1 English textbook 1 Style Guide, Illustrated 4 Writers: Confucius to Lincoln le mot juste Improve writing immediately, ages 9 to 99 Toolbox AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify I sat down with an English textbook* and read through the lessons on improving...
How to Improve Your Writing – Part 1: from Tolstoy to Grohl
9 min read 1 English textbook 1 Book rec 1 Style Guide 4 Writers: Tolstoy to Grohl (of Nirvana and Foo Fighters) Improve writing immediately, ages 9 to 99 Toolbox AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify * I doubt whether we are sufficiently attentive to the importance of...
An Alabama Road
3 Min read Music Writing for the senses Songwriting AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY Each singer stepped towards the front of the stage, put a hand on the mike, and burst into five-part harmony. There are stars in the southern skySouthward as you goThere is moonlight and...
Town Mouse and Country Mouse
9 Min read 3 book recs 1 film rec True story: Coffee with "Josh" The Music in Prose: Willa Cather on town and country Wordnerd special AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify * The town mouse and the country mouse. Distress and agitation of the town mouse. Meditations, Book...
Living Outside the Page
5 Min read Pickleball 3 short books by prize-winning authors Historical fiction, fiction, nonfiction AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * If I don't write things down, they haven't been carried through to completion, they have only been lived. Annie Ernaux * Happy 2024! I...
Books for the Casual or Serious Reader
7 Min read Gift list 15+ Books Contemporary Fiction and Nonfiction Books on Writing Classics AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify * I read because to not read is to live one life. To read is to live many lives. Then, I ask, what should I read and with whom should I spend my...
Involved and Implicated: Narcissism and Poetry
6 Min read Poetry on a December afternoon 1 Book rec Word nerd special AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify If you're like me, you can use a bit of poetry. I've had a few days to consider this collection, its after shocks, surprised at my evolving response. Tony Hoagland's...
On Flesh-Eating Beetles and Sins of the Mother
7 Min read Sense writing: traditional five plus two more 2 Reading recs: historical novel and story 1 Writing guide Improve writing immediately Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify * Writing Through the Seven Senses When I'm working on an aspect of my...
Spooky Hour with Spirits of the Dead
6 min read Word Work 2 Lexicons: Webster's NID 2nd Ed and Shorter OED 1 Book rec Halloween, All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day Fall mocktail, easy and delicious AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY Lakeview Cemetery next to my father's grave * No pressure but what are you doing...
What’s in Your Trunk?
5 Min read New England's largest flea market* Poetry for Emergencies--on the folly of fame, legacy, empire Sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley Book rec on writing song lyrics Toolbox, use 7 senses to improve writing** Texan king in a cow pasture AVAILABLE ON PODCAST...
Fall is Like a Country Music Song
3 Min read Music and memory Norman Blake, Colter Wall Poetry for Emergencies * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * I'm listening to Colter Wall, titles like Corralling the Blues, Sleeping on the Asphalt, and The Devil Wears a Suit and Tie. I'm a late-comer to new...
Trailway to Heaven
3 Min read Poetry for Emergencies Autumn Farewell to a friend AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * Fall is my favorite season and I suppose it has something to do with trees. Today I walked through the cool, damp woods to my mother's house, listening to gentle rhythms in...
Confusables, Contronyms, and Jane’s Potato Salad
2 Min read Word Nerd special Humor and the paraprosdokian Usage manual rec - The authority on grammar, usage, and style Essay rec - DFW on assignment to research the above lexicon and the Usage Wars AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * The limits of my language means the...
The Music in the Stories: Pavan on Borges
7 Min read Book rec, three Borges stories Argentine composer and guitarist Carlos Pavan Literature: song and story Perfect memory Music in Prose * AVAILABLE NOW ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * Probably you were expecting a young and handsome Argentine, but then here I am, the...
Beyond Grade-School Sentences: Adding Depth and Texture to Writing
4 Min read Depth and texture in writing Cumulative and suspensive sentences The Music in Prose: Ernest Hemingway, Vivian Gornick, Ralph Waldo Emerson Crayon packs and colors Toolbox, improve writing immediately * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Grade-school...
The Master Sentence and the Centenarian
5 Min Read One book rec Punctuation guide Sentence construction Language Lover and Word Nerd Special Toolbox, ages 9 to 109 * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * A master sentence tends to be long though length is not its sole characteristic, nor is it a sign of a...
Three Days in Sun Valley and the Best Writing Teacher
5 Min read Book rec Photo journal Ernest Hemingway Pioneer Cabin Trail hike Foodie highlights Toolbox, to improve writing for ages 9 to 99 AVAILABLE IN PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know. A...
Classic Prose: Thought and Presentation
4 min read 2 Book recs Toolbox, improve writing immediately Music in Prose, Ocean Vuong * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * In the classic stand on the elements of style, writing is neither a way of thinking something out nor an art that exists for its own sake....
Goggins, Pushup Yoga, and the Art of the Paragraph
5 Min read 2 Book recs, memoir and writing craft Forty percent rule Pushup Yoga Toolbox, improve writing immediately AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * [Wordnerd alert: pay attention to the numbers at the end of each for the types of paragraphs. Spoiler alert: pay...
Degree of Separation
5 Min read Social connection on Earth in 2023 Network theory U.S. Army and Armed Forces Math geek special, logarithm AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Thought exercise for the day. How many friends between you and anyone on the planet? In popular culture this...
What Makes a Speech Great?
2 Min read Admiral McRaven Operation Neptune Spear Toolbox, Speaking skills AVAIlABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes Admiral 'Bill' McRaven spoke at the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment event to commemorate Operation Neptune Spear. He started by saying he was...
Weasel Words
3 Min read 2 Book recs on grammar, usage, and style Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 Improve writing immediately AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes * One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called weasel words. When a weasel sucks eggs it sucks the...
What Makes a Single Person’s Death Feel Large?*
4 Min read 2 Book recs, on writing and on jigsaws Toolbox, the Eulogy 1 Elegy, What is Dying? for the bereaved * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * Four friends died recently and three were my age: one from acute liver failure, one from Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS),...
Today is a Numeric Palindrome
1 Min read Word Nerd Alert Toolbox * * Today has a date format which is a numeric palindrome. Or, a palindromic number. Or, a palindromic number sequence. Fun, if you're in to such things as I am, sequences and syntax and such. Or alliteration. Or sentence fragments....
The Edgeless Sound and the Night Owl
2 Min read Poetry for Emergencies Leonard Cohen Roshi's Poem The Poe Arch - Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Gateway AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * TreeHouse view of dawn * The book falls open to Roshi's Poem. Though I had already read it, in my hurry up the stairs I...
Belief Is a Powerful Elixir
4 Min read 1 Essay collection, Maya Angelou Music as a gift AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * Believe in me and I can do anything. It's a powerful thing, belief. If a person believes in you, you can move mountains. As a child when I asked why I had bent fingers,...
Prescription for Life and Rumi’s Cow
2 Min read 1 Memoir, Short Take Poetry for Emergencies Rumi, Mystic Poet * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes Dx, Rx. You may recognize these as abbreviations for Diagnosis (Dx) and Prescription (Rx). Melody Moezzi writes how the poet and mystic helped her deal with...
Two Things Everybody’s Got to Do
2 min read What is love? Music in Prose Receiving a book you already own Black History Month 1 novel, Zora Neale Hurston AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY iTunes * This winter I received five new copies of books I own, four as gifts. When I've read a book, I have a...
ChatGPT on the Meaning of Life, Love, War
3 Min Read Prompts on life's mysteries Artificial Intelligence generates short answer, sonnet, couplet, haiku, blog post Writer's Toolbox OpenAI and ChatGPT * Three times a charm. I finally got onto the site in the witching hours; maybe a 3:30 AM login helps. If you...
“Good Luck and Smooth Sailing” in the Year of the Cat
3 min read Lunar New Year Vietnamese Zodiac, Cat vs Rabbit Year 2023 Writing tip, lyrics, backstory on Al Stewart's hit song * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST on SPOTIFY iTunes * Chúc mừng năm mới 2023!! Happy Lunar New Year! * It's the Year of the Water Cat according to...
How to Capture a Life in 400 Words
3 Min read The Obituary AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Writing an obiturary is a sobering task. I'm not sure if it is harder to write one for someone you know, because I haven't had to do that. My husband wrote his parents' obituaries and my father had written...
Punch In, Punch Out: the Profession and the Side Hustle
3 Min read 1 Book rec Writing Originality and Passion AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * So you want to write? Do you like words? I finished reading Murakami's book Novelist as a Vocation which was published in 2015 and translated to the English in 2022. As of the...
“Pithy and Practical” – Time in Memoir
4 Min Read Time as a Literary Element The Divided Self Christmas and the Solstice Readers Call to Action AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Not to toot my own horn, but I'll let my cousin do so. She wrote in her Christmas card that she loved the TreeHouseLetter...
Which Part of Speech Makes Up Most of the English Language?
4 Min read Toolbox, Parts of Speech 1 Book rec, grammar guide Word nerd alert Ages 9 to 99 * Let's talk about the parts of speech. As for the seven words in that sentence, the first two-- let's talk--are a sort of conundrum. They're not spoken at all, though I am...
Write for Your Life*
2 Min read Short take 1 Book rec AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect. Anais Nin. In Anna Quindlen's new book, Write for Your Life, she says that people are "made of nouns, live by verbs, and enlarge and...
What Music Teaches Us About Writing
7 Min read The Music in Prose Creative Writing Forum, West Point Sentence rhythm, Beryl Markham and David Foster Wallace Writer's Toolbox, Improve writing immediately * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes I met with the Creative Writing Forum at West Point to discuss...
Reading for Foodies
5 Min read 2 Book recs, memoir and craft Improve writing immediately AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes * "Buy me five, ten, okay? That's 50, make it a 100," my mother says, leaving a Ben Franklin on the counter with two packs of TJ's peanut butter cups.* I order the...
Key Messages: Bringing Writers and Readers Together
2 Min read Short Take - THL Key Messages Creative process For writers and readers AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Maybe the better way to think of this letter is, why you read TreeHouseLetter. For me, it's about why I write. Which, are two sides of the same...
“Old Age is Not for the Young”*
6 Min read 2 Book recs, by elderly writers Serial comma 10,000-hour-rule Explicit language, 13 to 103 AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * If you believe 10,000 hours of practice will help achieve mastery, say, on the violin or as a volleyball player, then the...
Books I Love
5 Min read 17 Books, 19.5 including mentions in footnotes Genres: Memoir, Essays, Fiction, Writing, Love, Poetry, War Toolbox, Texture in writing Contemporary and classic books from the top of my stacks, my more current reading. * The most common question I get is,...
What Book Would You Take to a Desert Island?
7 Min read 2 Book recs Film rec Article abstract, on Virtue and Vice* Toolbox, Improve writing, ages 9 to 99 AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes * What book would you take to a desert island? I didn't know and hadn't given it much thought until Saturday when I told my...
Charlie Munger and the Art of Swearing
5 Min read EXPLICIT language, Ages 13 to 103 True Story, investing Toolbox Essay and book rec, Ursula Le Guin Patton's Speech AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * Charlie Munger was making the rounds with investors. A living icon in the investing world, he was some...
The Sentence Fragment
3 min read Toolbox, Ages 9-99 Improve writing immediately 2 Book recs: on writing and on essays AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes * (1) When you haven't seen someone you love for a while, you notice them anew. The tongue that touches the side of the mouth. The wisps...
No Ordinary Hike: Marchback for USMA Class of 2026
7 min read Figure of speech, synecdoche Long Gray Line Marchback AVAILABLE ON PODCAST On Spotify On iTunes * The long gray line of us stretches / through the years of a century told / and the last one feels to the marrow / the grip of your far off hold.* To the...
On Fighting and Writing: Blackwing and Bruce Lee
5 Min read Bookstore and Bakery rec, Augusta Blackwing limited edition Writing tips AVAILABLE ON PODCAST On Spotify on iTunes I'm back from Georgia. I visited The Book Tavern and the Boll Weevil Cafe and Sweetery. My daughter hosted me and loves the cake. She's a fan...
Spandrel: Byproduct of Evolution and Thing of Beauty
3 Min read Word of the week Architecture, evolution, philosophy, philately AVAILABLE ON PODCAST On iTunes On Spotify The word of the week is spandrel. In my mind, it has vague associations with an Iberian water dog or a large red-faced primate. Spelling Bee...
Thoughts on Music and the Brain
5 min read True story 2 Book recs Songbook Collection AVAILABLE ON PODCAST on Spotify on iTunes Each morning, Simba crosses the end of the driveway tail first, three feet above the invisible fence. He is set down in the grass across the road, then walks his porter on...
Essays that changed me: Alison Lurie and ‘When most boys … joined the armed services’
7 Min Read Essays that Changed Me, Their Harvard by Alison Lurie Men, Women, and War AVAILABLE IN PODCAST on Spotify on iTunes Alison Lurie wrote Their Harvard, an essay included in her 2019 book, an essay collection.* She attended Radcliffe which was the sister...
On the Double Negative, Circular Definitions, and Children
4 min read Double negative 2 Book recs, 1 short story Roe v. Wade A Double Negative by Lydia Davis At a certain point in her life, she realizes it is not so much that she wants to have a child as that she does not want not to have a child, or not to have had a child.*...
Notes on a Year of Love
3 Min read The Music in Prose Simile and metaphor 2 books AVAILABLE ON PODCAST On Spotify On iTunes My book group chose to read love stories. We read seven or eight books, a mix of modern and classic. The night was perfect, the trees lush and full; my skin felt alive...
Why I Write
5 Min read Creative process AVAILABLE ON PODCAST ON SPOTIFY The main window with view of pine, poplar and birch in the TreeHouse where I do most of my writing. MacBook with this letter on a portable table. I sit in a Herman Miller office chair, an essential for the...
“The Q-tips Are for Your M4” and the Art of the Paragraph
3 Min read Writer's toolbox Improve writing immediately Book rec AVAILABLE ON PODCAST On SPOTIFY The Q-tips are for your M4, Norah's uncle said as she held them up when unpacking her 7.62 ammunition canister. Norah reached in the green ammo can and took out 100 feet...
“Keep the Faith for Which They Died”
4 Min read 3 Poems by John McCrae, a Poet Warrior Poetry for Emergencies Memorial Day The "MURPH Challenge" or Workout of the Day AVAILABLE IN PODCAST On SPOTIFY Click links above to listen to the poems This Memorial Day I read other poems written by the Canadian...
The Last Recital
2 Min read Piano music, composers Writer's Toolbox: the series and the infinitive phrase AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Silvermine School of Music, former Carriage House (built 1903) I shall not forget the old carriage house, the hayloft used for bedrooms, the balcony...
“Django with One Finger,” a Living Music Icon
4 min read Book rec Music in Prose Songwriting AVAILABLE IN PODCAST I finished Willie Nelson's memoir or musings from the road, as he titled it. The book is a short reflection on a long life, punctuated throughout with song lyrics and crude jokes and notes from family...
Most Underused Punctuation Mark in American Writing*
Short take Writer's Toolbox Em-dash Book recs So says the lexicographer and usage genius Bryan Garner. My desk copy of the 4th edition of Garner's Modern English Usage states on page 750, "The em-dash is perhaps the most underused punctuation mark in American...
What Makes a Speech Great? An Admiral Tells 3 Stories
6 min read Writer’s Toolbox Public speaking AVAILABLE ON PODCAST HERE Admiral McRaven commemorates the 11th Anniversary of Operation Neptune's Spear What makes a speech great? There are a lot of good speeches and good speakers. But a great speech is one you remember....
Exercises in Style: a Writing Tribute
3 min read Book rec Writing Toolbox Wordplay Ages 9 to 99 AVAILABLE IN PODCAST HERE Titles begin with letters as human forms Narrative One day at about midday in the food line, behind the checkout of a more or less busy Costco, I observed a person with a very big...
Bedside Counselor on Parenting in Anger, in Two Translations
6 min read Book rec Prose for emergencies Writing feature AVAILABLE IN PODCAST, CLICK HERE For solace and for counsel, I have several books I find myself returning to again and again, and to this one, most recently, as my third child prepares to leave home.* For...
A Poet Warrior Learns Kindness
4 min read Book Rec, Tokaido Road Poetry for Emergencies AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes Google Podcast It made me feel flawed as a human, this passage from Lucia St.Clair Robson's book, Tokaido Road. The protagonist Cat is disguised as a young man when she meets...
Each Sentence Reflects 3 Choices
2 Min read 1 Essay Toolbox How to improve your sentences immediately AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes Google Podcast Each sentence reflects three choices. What to write about and what we want to accomplish by writing about itWhich words to useWhat order to put them...
Essays that changed me: Rachel Cusk and “Making Home”
5 min read The Music in Prose Rachel Cusk St. Augustine, Montaigne Why an essay breathes AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes Google Podcasts The essay can make the best of people cringe, with its connection to the dreaded common application or the college assignment....
Writing on the Road and the Creative Process
5 min read 4 book recs on writing 1 novel Toolbox, Ages 9-99 AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify iTunes Google Podcasts How do you write on the move? A computer and phone work for me. When I'm not in the TreeHouse I miss my books, dictionaries, and style guides. Worse, there...
Poetry for Emergencies: Ukraine, Howard Nemerov, and the War Dead
6 Min read Howard Nemerov 2 Poems TreeHouseLetter feature: Poetry for Emergencies AVAILABLE IN PODCAST iTunes Spotify.com anchor.fm/emelle Poetry is a way of getting something right in language. Nemerov It's a batshit crazy world, especially for our friends of...
Sex Over 70 Years and the Synecdoche
7 min read, EXPLICIT content 2 Books 2 Rhetorical devices The Music in Prose - THL feature focused on writing that 'sings' and why AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify ITunes Google Podcasts It's a double entendre, this letter's headline, but it's fitting. I'm not...
Adult Child and a Zen Koan
2 Min Read 1 Book Rec 2.5 Zen Koan** Em Dash* AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Anchor.fm/emelle Spotify iTunes My adult child--an oxymoron when you consider that there is no single word for grown offspring in a language with 171,476 words of which 47,156 are obsolete, but please...
Love in a Sad Cafe
5 Min Read 1 Book Rec The Music in Prose AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Anchor.fm/emelle Spotify iTunes The Music in Prose is a regular feature of the TreeHouseLetter. The idea for this came from my work on music and language, considering just what it is about the...
If You Want to Write, Your Writing Has to Have Rhythm
7 Min Read Ages 19 to 99 Precocious 9+ AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Anchor.fm/Emelle Spotify iTunes Toolbox: On Sentences and How to Improve Your Writing Immediately If you want to write, your writing has to have rhythm. No one ever taught me this. But,...
The Meaning in Music
4 min read Song and Story Rachmaninoff Rybnikov AVAILABLE IN PODCAST (Listen to this letter to hear the piano music) Spotify iTunes Anchor.fm/emelle Your job will change, where you live will change, the people in your life will change, but you will always have your...
The Coaching Habit by Stanier: Short Take on How to Avoid Crappy Advice for the Wrong Problem
2 min read AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify iTunes Anchor.fm/emelle If you're like me and have to work with people, at home or in the work place, then you're looking for ways to improve interactions and relationships. I read Michael Bungay Stanier's bestseller, The...
Books as Trophies? the Bibliophile vs the Bibliophagist
6 Min read 2 Book recs Music in Prose Funniest passage in modern literature Toolbox, Ages 9 to 99 Word Nerd Special AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify anchor.fm/emelle * * I have a book problem. It's a good kind of problem because books teach me a lot and I get to...
The Sexy Semicolon, Really?
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm Loved and loathed, sexy and sinister may not be modifiers that come to mind when you think of the semicolon. Cecelia Watson argues otherwise in her deep dive on this misunderstood mark, concluding a decade of research,...
Poetry for Emergencies: Iain S. Thomas at Daybreak
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm Sometimes I wake in the middle of the night and I’m scared. It’s not often and I usually can get back to sleep. I’m lucky that way because people do suffer from insomnia and my waking is not like that. An overactive mind...
April Dreams: a Story & Two Poems
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words. Goethe The bleachers were full and folks were talking...
Spirits of the Fall: Episode (1) In the House
AVAILABLE on PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm This is the first in a series of True Stories for the season, of eerie occurrences, deathly visits, haunted rooms, and childhood visions. EPISODE 1 In the House Fall is the season when...
Memorial Day Reflection – Two Poems and a Tribute
POEMS AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Anchor.fm Spotify iTunes Two short Memorial Day poems to remember and reflect on the sacrifice of all those who gave their lives for freedom. The first is a notable World War II poem, graphic and difficult, because war is...
This Bus is Empty – A COVID Photo Journey
This Bus is Empty My town opened park trails this week at April's end. Come walk with me on this photo journey, no mask and no worries. Let me show you what the COVID-19 Stay Home, Stay Safe mandate looks like in Connecticut, less than an hour...
Poetry Dinner Night – A Quarantine Scene
Does she or doesn’t she? Do you recognize this from the 1956 ad campaign? Does it elicit unsavory thoughts? This Hall-of-Fame advertising slogan was used for Clairol’s Hair Color and within six years seventy percent of women were dying their hair. Maybe you remember...
For the Class of 2020 During the Pandemic, a Poem and a Mother’s Wish
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify Anchor.fm iTunes Today's letter is for high school seniors, for my son and his classmates, for my friends’ children, for Andrew and for Allie and for Brian, and for my friends with college seniors, Jane and Emma. I want to tell you a bit...
On Presidents, Politics and War, and Poetry
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm You ever have that moment when something you’ve believed for some time begins to shift and slip, leaving you a bit off-balance? I had that happen in a foundational way. Flipping to the date of a page-a-day calendar, I came...
Raise Your Glass! A Toast by W.B. Yeats
AVAILABLE IN PODCAST Spotify Anchor.fm iTunes I wanted to share a short poem and what makes it special, why it works as a poem and a toast. Along the way, I’ll talk a bit about punctuation and words, and why they are important to making language sing. This...
You’ve tidied up the closet. You’ve tidied up the house. Why not tidy up your writing?
AVAILABLE ON PODCAST iTunes Spotify Anchor.fm A friend lamented the lack of grammar taught in schools and I said that English was out of fashion. What passed for writing in grade school amounted to stream-of-consciousness and emotion-riddled drivel, and to what end:...
On Poetry and Mondegreens and Teenagers
Listen to PODCAST iTunes Spotify I had a teacher in eighth grade named Miss Michaelson. She was a bit long in the tooth and had a jagged helmet of black hair. A big boned woman, she wore dresses which wrapped about her like robes on a Greek statue, the overall...
Walking With Homer – A Connecticut Odyssey
Today I was in for a surprise, an unlikely and timely gift. It was a sunny Sunday in January, just breaking into the 30s after a cold spell. I put on yoga pants and dressed in layers, a puffy vest, a sweatshirt with black date stamps printed on the front, like the...
The College Essay & the Shameless I – “I enjoy urban hang gliding.”
" The laws of physics do not apply to me . . . Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down." If you haven't encountered the college essay in a while, you're in for treat. I first came across this example in Constance Hale's Sin &...
National Punctuation Day – the Vulgar Pronoun – Read THIS
I was looking up the definition of the demonstrative pronoun this last week, and got a lesson in modern American slang. Gestures help with understanding just what this means in certain circles, but if you give it some thought, you will realize that the mean and the...
Grammar Matters – So, Three Pronouns Walk Into a Bar
Grammar matters. OK, really truly, it does. So here are some grammar matters worth sharing with fellow word nerds. AND there's even a little something for math geeks too. BAR JOKES Three pronouns walked into a bar. She let him have it. An interjection...
On Riddles & Language – A Cabinet of Curiosities by Roy Sorensen
Assassination Proof? As Nero became more powerful there appeared to be no limit on who he me could eliminate -- even his mother. His philosophy teacher, Seneca, warned Nero that there was someone he could not kill. Who was it? (Sorensen) This riddle felt appropriate...
Dulce et Decorum Est – Is it sweet and noble to die for one’s country? or just an old lie?
A tribute to Roman soldier poet Horace and British soldier poet Wilfred Owen On Memorial Day we remember those who died while serving their country, a holiday dating back to the Civil War, but with roots going even farther back than that. The highest honor for a man...
Why Scout Finch Hates School – the Best Novel of the Century on Education
"Scout” Finch’s first day in school exposes the pretentious and often hollow ambitions behind progressive education in the 1930s and today. The beloved characters from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird provide timeless insight on public education. Scout’s father...
History Teacher Provides a Lesson – But Not One She Intended
Some unlucky souls have already returned to school and we will keep them in our thoughts. Meanwhile, stretch out on the lounger, kick off your shoes, and crack open a cold one while we consider our luckier path, no school till AFTER Labor Day. Let's contemplate the...
The World’s Most Powerful Pirate, a Woman – Jorge Luis Borges, the Widow Ching, & a Chinese Parable
Read Borges to understand the world and your place in it. I have experienced nothing like it before. Jorge Luis Borges was exceptional, distinguishing himself with his multi-lingual fluency; the Argentine writer learned English before Spanish from his father who was...
Close Reading & the Power of Words – Edward Gorey – Artist and Writer
If you want to write, study English. If you want to write well, study literature. Francine Prose shares this about writing. One essential and telling difference between learning from a style manual and learning from literature is that any how-to book will, almost by...
Disappointment on Ellis Island Field Trip, Shattan’s Day Off
"The field trip was a huge disappointment. It took us four hours of driving, two ferry rides, and we had half an hour in the museum," my son said. "Did a guide or a ranger give you a tour?" I asked. "No. Our teacher told us to do three things. We had to sketch...
“If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong.” This is a paraprosdokian. Huh?
In the spirit of National Grammar Day and the power of language to go beyond its machinery and rules, let's explore strange new words, seek out new life in literary figures of speech, and boldly go where great authors have gone before. (R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy, Spock of...
March 4: There’s a National Grammar Day? So, three pronouns walk into a bar . . .
"National Grammar Day is Wednesday," I told my eleven year old daughter. She looked up and said with deadpan delivery, "Every day is grammar day." I winced. I chuckled. She's poking fun at ME, but she's doing more than poking; she's taking a jab at me. She's the...
Marginalia – Notes in Books – To Write or Not To Write?
Marginalia as a word may bring forth varying associations, but focus on the first two syllables for its meaning, as opposed to the last. Readers write in books along the margins, on the flyleaf, making various marks, scribbles, appendages and annotations. As a...
The GoldFinch – Donna Tartt – Spew-litzer Prize Study in Victimology
I kept reading The Goldfinch for several reasons: it was my reading group's selection, I had to facilitate the discussion, and it won the Pulitzer for Fiction. This became the kind of book that I needed to set aside time to read, because it required effort. I'm OK...
Why Students Don’t Write Well – the PSAT and English Today
Many children struggle to write well today. Here's the number one problem they face. First let's consider their writing skills. See how you fare on these three questions from a full length PSAT or Prelimary Scholastic Aptitude Test, the precursor to the SAT. Choice...
Cut the Flab, a Writing Primer
Simple steps to improve bloated writing In a digital world, many people only know you through your writing. At work and in your personal life, social media extends our connections across the globe. So it’s more important than ever to write well. But who has time...
“As droplets fell through the dark” – a Poem for 9/11
Poet Billy Collins, then U.S. Poet Laureate, was asked by the Librarian of Congress to write a poem to remember the victims of 9/11 which he read at a special joint session in September 2002. It is titled "The Names" and is worth listening to or reading. This is the...
Elegant Sentences, Express Ideas & Make an Impact
I am not a grammarian but I love words, their arrangement and sound, the infinite combinations and uses, their impact. Words are responsible for founding our country, We the people; for ending a war, Tear down this wall; for perhaps the most intimate and familiar of...
See No Evil – Poet Billy Collins – “Poetry is Balm for the Soul”
The Trouble with Poetry was wedged between Annie Proulx's Close Range and the Peterson Field Guide, making up a lifetime of books, purchased, not borrowed or lent, but loved enough, standing one by one like a row of sentries flanking the mantel, guarding two wooden...
Handwriting, a Foundation for Communication and Thought
During a year of homeschooling, my children practiced penmanship. The positive impact on everything from legibility to understanding and reinforcement was impressive. A year back in public school and my son's handwriting has regressed. And he no longer writes in...
Mother’s Day Menu: Wild Onions & Grammar
Good morning from the Tree House where I have just been served my menu du jour by youthful decree. My selection includes omelet with wild onions, cranberry juice, and berries. Brunch will be served promptly at 9:30 they inform me. I particularly like the wax seal...
On Writing and Orwell
Friends often ask me about writing and here are four things I want to share. To write well, you must write. Practice often. When we think of improving our reading skills, we read. Friends often share how well their children read. This makes...