I received an important appeal-writing question from newsletter subscriber Miriam.

Miriam writes:

My son Mickey was reading a heartbreaking book for his high school English class. The Other Side of the Sky is a memoir of a girl who grew up in war-torn Afghanistan... and her perilous journey to the United States.

Mickey looked up from the book asked, "Why do they make us read depressing...

Some things just go better together...

... peanut butter and jelly
... Scooby-Doo and Shaggy
... the Covid vaccine and your left arm

Writing and editing are two peas in a pod, too.

Putting words on the page is an ugly task. (You should see this blog post in its first draft. It ain't pretty. )...

As I was walking by the women's clothing department at Kohl's, I saw a thing of beauty.

Instantly, I thought, "I've gotta have it."

I could imagine enveloping myself in this brightly colored, bell-sleeved tunic top. It reminded me of something familiar. Maybe I owned a similar top at one time....

There's something so special about crayons. The distinct smell.... that waxy feel… the memories of childhood creations that sometimes were displayed on the refrigerator door.

If you’re like me, a crayon was the first drawing tool put into your little pincer grasp when you were a...

Fresh out of college in the mid-1990s, I took a traveling sales job. My responsibility was to sell as many industrial tools and supplies as possible. (Yes, that’s just as exciting as it sounds.)

My liberal arts education hadn’t trained me to sell anything. Puzzled yet determined, I...

Last summer, I was given a project to write a content piece. The wonderful nonprofit client usually provides a full-page creative brief. Essentially, the brief is the plan for the project.

This time, though, I didn't get any such plan. The client's attention was focused on another important...

Beginnings are so memorable.

You can probably remember a bunch of "firsts" clearly. Your first crush. Your first apartment. Your first day at a new job.

I'll never forget the first time I met each of my four children. The picture below is the first family photo taken after my husband and I...