“The art of managing a lot of things is to never drop the same thing twice in a row.” Bishop T. D Jakes said this at the Global Leadership Summit last week. I love thinkers and thinking, I crave the presence of thought leaders, and I am something of a conference junkie, so I signed […]

Never underestimate the cleansing power of true words on a clean page.

Sometimes people write to me because they're in an English or Writing Class that requires them to interview an author.  I always feel like I should pass it off to someone else, until then I remember: oh, wait.  I am an author.  And then I settle in and answer their questions, and I simply delight […]

When our kids were little, we were so uptight. It was so important to us that our kids do the right things, say the right things, belong to the right things. That’s all well and good, and I encourage you to do those things. Learn all you can. Pray for your kids. Get them involved […]

It’s possible that I think too small. Also, I’ve fallen in love with Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, Big Magic.   It’s a re-read actually. I first listened to her audible recording of this book because I love-love-love to listen to Elizabeth Gilbert talk to me, and now I’m going back and reading because I equally (love)3 […]

I mean, really.  That's pretty much what it comes down to.

Sometimes love seems easy. Like... it’s easy to love rain… and hawks. And it’s easy to love wild plums… and the moon.  But with people, seems like love’s a hard thing to know. It gets all mixed up. I mean, you can love one person in one way and another person in another way, but […]

So there's these couple of donkeys, Squire and Daniel.  I love these little guys. Squire and Daniel are the best of buddies, and they enjoy their sweet little donkey life together until one day when Daniel gets taken away. We don't know where he goes, or who takes him, or why he must leave, but […]

“Maya,” he says, “Do you know how old I am?” “Yes,” she says.  “Twenty-two.” “I’m quite a bit older than that.” “Eighty-nine?” “I’m…” He holds up both of his palms four times and then three fingers. “Forty-three?” “Good job.  I’m forty-three.  And in these years I’ve learned that it’s better to have loved and lost […]

A book was born this week. If there were birth announcements for such things, it might read, "Weighing in at just under seven ounces, with more than 55,000 words stretching across 220-or-so pages, this book came into the world to a grand release party in attendance that challenged the fire marshall. This newborn is really quite […]

"Every crowd, sooner or later, will let you down. The crowd contains a shoplifter, or a heckler, or an anonymous boor who leaves a snarky comment. The crowd loses interest, the crowd denigrates the work, the crowd isn't serious. Worst of all, sometimes the crowd turns into a mob, out of control and bloodthirsty. But […]

Last week, shortly after the UPS man delivered my copies of Let's Pretend We're Normal, my writing mind stopped working. I opened this box filled with the very fruition of the last 18 months, I breathed in the scent of paper and words and finishing, and my spirit exhaled a great sigh of relief.  And […]

I wish I'd known from the beginning that I was born a strong woman. What a difference it would have made! I wish I'd known that I was born a courageous woman; I've spent so much of my life cowering. How many conversations would I not only have started but finished if I had known […]

I think one of God's greatest creations is women. That's not a feminist statement or sexist statement, because - believe me - I also think very highly of God's masculine workmanship.  Very. But what's on my mind today is the collective of women.  The sisterhood.   He created us together, to listen to each other, […]

I don't know how to 'clear my mind.' Sometimes it clears itself, more often than not in recent months.  I can be mid-sentence, and suddenly my brain and emotions are done: Reset.  Control+Alt+Delete.  Hold, please.  We're rebooting. But to choose to 'clear my mind,' this I don't know how to do. It's like choosing to […]

Grief has come to visit today.  I love and hate her, this dark girl who follows me around until I let her in to set me free. It is quite handy, then, that I have Anne Lamott's book with me, Small Victories. I'm reading her chapter called 'Ladders.' She has written my heart once again, […]

I am putting the final loving touches on the next book, Let's Pretend We're Normal. (If perhaps you are thinking, "Trish, didn't you already do that?" then to you I say, "Yes, and this is the ongoing joy of the writing life until the publisher waves the checkered flag.  It's never finished, merely abandoned.") I […]

"If you ask yourself 'What's the best thing that happened today?' it actually forces a certain kind of cheerful retrospection that pulls up from the recent past things to write about that you wouldn't otherwise think about. If you ask yourself 'What happened today?' it's very likely that you're going to remember the worst thing, […]