Randy Susan Meyers's Blog, page 6

Ten Unusual, Caring, & Artistic Presents For Family, Friends & You

T’is the season to do a million things (good, great, exhausting, hair-pulling-annoying) but one I find the most relaxing is finding (and recommending) small shops, artists, and craftspeople. Below are some of my favorites cause I’ve already shopped with them, or ones I plan to recommend that my loved ones visit *for me*. BELMONT BOOKS ... Read more

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Grandma Millie’s Stuffing: Childhood on a Fork (and how I Googled my way back to Thanksgiving)

My sister and I didn’t grow up rife with traditions. On Halloween we wore old shirts to represent that we were hobos or beatniks, depending on our mood.  When we hung our socks on Christmas Eve, seeing them flat and unfilled the next morning reminded us that Santa didn’t stop for little Jewish girls—but there ... Read more

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Nurture? Nature? Culture? Imagination? The Thin Lines of Fiction vs. Fact

by Randy Susan Meyers When you grow up a fatherless daughter of a fatherless mother, where does your outlook on family begin? Culture? Nurture? My mother worked hard, partied harder, and resembled a movie star when dolled up. My sister and I watched her transform as we three raced around, getting ready for school and…

Photoshop Botox for Author Pictures

First, there was Vaseline on the camera lens. Next up was rose-colored lighting, shooting through pantyhose, and soft focus. And then came Photoshop. No one tells the truth, of course, so for the “me-too-ism” of writers everywhere, I will set aside my vanity and offer the unadulterated, unvarnished, unphotoshopped truth. These are the things I…

MFA or Folding Scarves? How 26+ Jobs Taught Me What To Write

Our writer’s code, written into our secret writer club rules, reminds us that day jobs stand between us and a published novel. I understand. For years I thought if only and when and someday. And yes, working one, two, three jobs at a time took a big bite out of what would have surely been…

When Lying is Second Nature

My sister and I are great liars. World-class liars. Maybe we were born with the trait (after all, our paternal grandmother’s top hobby was shoplifting.) Brooklyn-born Great-Aunt Sally (Jewish, like the rest of the family) pretended to be Catholic and French — and swore she attended the Sorbonne. She even spoke English with a Gallic…

Launching a Book Without Losing Friends & Family (Hopefully)

Unmitigated panic. Unrelenting fear. Ulcer-inducing worry. A year ago my book was launching and I should have been on cloud nine. I was realizing a life-long dream at a time when many my age popped Lipitor. I was edging close to a sedative habit. Looking back to my novel debut last January, terror defined my…

The Before and After of Author (All?) Photos

  If you love every picture of yourself, or you’re one of those naturally photogenic people, you won’t need this post. And I probably don’t want to stand next to you in any photo. For the rest of us, there are tricks to make ourselves look less double-chinned, squint-eyed, or serial killer-ish in photos. I…

When A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN meets a farm in Iowa: MILK WITHOUT HONEY

“I’m looking for possible blurbs to be published on the back or inside cover of my 90-year-old mother’s novel,” Michelle Hoover wrote on Facebook. “Her health is precarious, she’s isolated in a care facility in Iowa, and I want to do something that raises her spirits and makes true one of her dreams, or as…

2020 Gratitude? 2021 Hopes

  2020 gratitude? This morning I woke trying to remember the day. Saturday? Ah, wait, it’s New Year’s Eve. Goodbye, 2020. Welcome, 2021? I looked back into my photos to see where I was in Jan 2020 (only one year ago) and found the picture above—taken at the Highline in New York City. I couldn’t…