Oregon public schools are in serious crisis mode. I know this isn’t a unique situation. Public education has been undermined by political policy across the nation for years now. (Why does a certain segment of those in power want the…
Oregon public schools are in serious crisis mode. I know this isn’t a unique situation. Public education has been undermined by political policy across the nation for years now. (Why does a certain segment of those in power want the…
Yesterday I shipped off a freelance proofreading job–my last job until I finish the publisher-requested revisions to The Revolution of Every Day and turn the manuscript back in. Billy and I talked it over and agreed that I need to…
Our girls have moved outside to their coop. I carried them out one by one. I imagine it was the first time any of them had been outside in their lives. It was kind of like chicken graduation. First out…
It happened this morning. It went well. Very well. The only way it could have gone better is if they’d offered me a million bucks and a contract on the spot and a guarantee that I’d win the Pulitzer next…
1. This week, one of my top-choice publishers requested revisions on The Revolution of Every Day. We’ll be talking about it on Tuesday. I’m stuck somewhere between excited and terrified, because I have no idea what changes they’ll ask for,…
It might stay. It might take off again. It just wants to be friends, really. And while it’s here, we can bang out a few pairs of socks. You know, that might be cool. But nothing too heavy. No sweaters,…
March in Portland. My love for the rain is all run out, and the rain keeps coming. I’ve had this song stuck in my head for days. It’s no coincidence that The Thermals are a Portland band. The Thermals, “Back…
I’ve wanted chickens since before we moved to Portland (in September 2007), but it never seemed like a real possibility. Our house sits on a smallish lot and about two-thirds of the backyard is given over to vegetables. The only…
1. It was a weirdly disjointed weekend. I finished These Dreams of You on Saturday during the girlchild’s nap and then spent the rest of the day in a sort of Erickson-induced haze brought on by watching everything fall apart…
You know how these things go… One minute Kiddo was happily riding his skateboard down a slightly sloped sidewalk around the corner from our house while the little girl collected twigs in her wooden cart. The next he was headed…