home

We’ve been home from the West Coast tour for a week and a half now, and I’m just catching my breath. D ended up driving home, and the girls and I flew stand-by thanks to the help of my dear friend Bonnie and her husband. We had such an amazing trip, but we were ready,…

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portland

We’ve been relaxing in Portland these last few days, catching up with old friends and tooling around town. It’s been such a wonderful trip so far, but I can tell that we are all feeling the pull back to Minnesota. Stella, especially, is missing her cousins. But book stuff is continuing to go really well.…

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eugene

I feel so lucky to be meeting all the wonderful people (and visiting all the wonderful bookstores!) on this tour. Last night I read and discussed Use Your Words at the University of Oregon Duck Store. Thank you so much to Laura White for her hospitality and warmth (and the gift of Melissa Hart’s Gringa,…

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loving the west

All of my stops in the Bay Area were fabulous. Thank you to all the gracious bookstore staff for welcoming me and making me feel at home. A special thank you to Judy at Towne Center Books in Pleasanton (for the homemade muffins and coffee and the book!) and to Jerry at Books, Inc. for…

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berkeley love

We rolled into Berkeley Tuesday evening after four days on the road, and Stella immediately announced, “I love it here. This is where I’m going to live.” I don’t blame her. We spent Tuesday evening with my friend, the fabulous Mary Hill. I’ve gotten to know Mary’s family through her writing, but I’d never met…

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minnpost & mn reads

My friend Jess sent me an email this morning saying, “Yay for MinnPost.” I’d done an interview yesterday with Amy Goetzman, their book reviewer, but I had no idea she’d turn it around so fast. Amazing! Check out the feature/interview here. I also failed to post a link to my MN Reads 6 Questions interview…

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juggling

Sorry I’ve been absent here lately. Over the 4th, I was up and down to my mom’s cabin on the days I had off. (The girls and D were up there the whole week.) Then I flew to the Adirondacks for my aunt’s memorial service. There is more I’d like to say about that, but it needs its…

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remembering spencer

It was a year ago tomorrow that my grandpa, Spencer Nelson, died at 102 years old. It doesn’t seem possible that a year has already passed since we sat vigil by his bedside for those 6 days after he decided he was ready to die. It was an intense year filled with work changes, family…

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new beginnings

Some of you who have been faithfully reading this blog for years might remember my post a few years ago about the orchid I inherited from dear Mimi, the woman with whom Donny and I lived for three years just after we got married. (We lived in an apartment attached to her house and did…

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haiku winner

I have been meaning to announce the winner of the 5th annual Motherhood & Words Haiku contest for a week now. Life has been, um, hectic. The days following my return from NY (which was fabulous, by the way) were filled with many loads of laundry because our washing machine broke a couple of weeks ago, and we finally had the new one delivered on…

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