Rita Arens's Blog, page 56

Let's Talk Blogs to Books (and Give Away a Kindle Fire, Why Not?)

Editor's Note: I was paid by BlogHer to write this post and conduct discussions on Chime.in. But the discussions were about blogs to books, so, you know, they didn't have to twist my arm very hard. Also, there's a really, really good giveaway at the end of this post.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by social media? I mean, here you are, reading this blog, so it's not like you don't know anything about it, and it's not like I don't, either, but I'll admit ever since there was more than blogging...

I Am Not Ready for You, November

I woke up this morning and it was November. I laid in bed for several minutes, trying to remember October. It seemed to be one big pumpkin.

Last night while Beloved walked the little angel around the neighborhood with the Chiefs game thrumming in one ear, I stayed back to finish some work. After wrapping it up, the kids were still coming every few minutes, so I pulled up Ebay and started looking for fake American Girl stuff for Christmas presents. I thought about Christmas, which suddenly...

About That Economy: Catching Big Biz Doing Good

It's Halloween. And this year, we're handing out Pixie Sticks. It's a small thing, really. It's not that we can't afford chocolate candy, it's that we've chosen in every area of our lives to think hard about whether that purchase is a want or a need, how it fits in with all the other purchases, how much happiness it will actually bring us. Halloween candy just isn't that important.

I made my daughter's costume this year, where "made" equals "assembled." I based it around the purple Mardi...

Right in Front of Me

We're waiting for the bus. I'm fixated on my list. I love lists. Especially with Beloved gone on the road with his new job, I need lists, because I need to remember to do the things he usually does, the things I didn't even notice, because after ten years together we've each got our stuff that we do. I empty the dishwasher. He starts it before he goes to bed. I keep forgetting to start it and arrive in the morning to a gooey coffee pot and sigh and write myself a new note. My mother always...

A Video of My Cat Dancing

Because life is too short.

 

 

Little Lies We Tell Ourselves

In 1998, I moved to Kansas City from Chicago in search of a new start. In 1999, I enrolled in the graduate writing program at the University of Missouri -- Kansas City. I kept working full time, and it took me four years to complete a two-year program ... four years of nights and weekends spent absorbing a novel a week, my short stories and poetry, detailed analyses of the merits or not of some other writer's work. 

Whenever someone asked me why I was doing it, I replied it wasn't for my...

The First Time She Said "I Hate You"

October 23, 2011: The first time my daughter said, "I hate you."

Somehow I made it until second grade, seven and a half years without hearing those words. I knew it was coming, the closer she got to tweendom, the faster and harder the attitude came, and these past few months have spawned a love of pop music and a need to wear fashionable shoes, and I knew it was coming.

Today she and a neighbor friend got in a fight, and I said the friend couldn't stay for dinner. Even though I'd said she...

Oh, Hell, the Holidays

Today's post is in response to Addy's writing prompt, thank you, Addy! 

Changing seasons means the holidays are coming. What are your plans, hopes, fears and dislikes for that time of the year? Do you make resolutions or just watch everyone else break theirs? Will you have a neighborhood celebration this year? Too many questions?

I like parties. Thus, I like the holidays, even though I always shrug them off immediately after like a wet coat. (I have been known to take down my Christmas...