Podcast Notes
Persistence U with Lizbeth Podcast
Podcast episodes are posted Wednesdays and include stories by and for survivors and strivers, all threaded together with a dose of persistence.
Need help becoming a sought-after podcast guest? Click HERE for my freebie!
Author interview with Betty Hafner/Not Exactly Love
https://www.bettyhafner.com/sample 1. What motivated you to write a memoir about your difficult first marriage Not Exactly Love? It wasn’t something I had ever thought of doing, actually, but about 10 years ago, I started taking memoir and creative nonfiction...
When Showing Up is Enough
I was so in need of a break before I set off for what we Alaskans call the Lower 48 some weeks back. Getting closer to retirement from a job I have loved and occasionally loathed, I’ve been searching for what comes next and where to live it. I’ve hoped for a place...
The Book Launch Failure Nobody Knows About…Until Now
Author: Meredith Noble Author Meredith Noble In the world of independent publishing, Meredith Noble is defying the odds with her book, How to Write a Grant:Become a Grant Writing Unicorn. Quickly becoming a #1 release on Amazon in its category and garnering a...
Four Things I Learned from Maria Henson’s “To Have and To Harm” series on domestic violence
As I drove to Lexington, Kentucky yesterday from my temporary station in Louisville, I remembered the first time I’d committed to going. In 1991, while taking Literature of Appalachian Women in Alaska that rocked my world, we students were given copies of the...
August Roundup
A quick note to share art and conversations that I think you might enjoy, too. My recent favorite book is Successful Self-Publishing by Joanna Penn. For anyone considering beginning a writing career, the author gives a step-by-step guide of how to succeed. And in a...
A Sign of Good things to Come
As I was driving my friend Ruth to lunch the other day in a windstorm, I grumbled in too great of detail about how many (relatively) little things turned to ash the previous week. Long made plans to raft with my family? Cancelled due to weather. My nifty birthday...
Simple Expressions of Love
Just a quick note to say Hello to you and goodbye to July. My oldest daughter had a birthday recently, and we just celebrated together a few hours ago. This is definitely my more reclusive child. The one who gets upset if photos of her are posted on social media...
Author Interview with Lisa Braver Moss/Shrug
I love a good book, and was honored to provide an author endorsement for this one. Shrug is available to order now! I'm so pleased to have Lisa Braver Moss as my guest. Author http://lisabravermoss.com Lisa Braver Moss What inspired you to write Shrug? My experience...
June Listens, Watches, and Reads
How are you? Welcome! It's June with a vengeance. With warmer temps and thicker wildfire smoke than I can remember in Alaska's history, it's one for the books. And movies. And podcasts. Due to the long and lovely summer days, I still have 6 hours of bright sunlight to...
Scenes From My Balcony on Summer Solstice
During summer solstice, a sacred time here in Alaska when it's light almost all night long, I sat on the balcony most of the day and night, reading and writing. I’d squished all of my socializing in the day before. Coffee with one friend, a long walk with another,...
May Musings
I've been listening to audiobook WHAT COMES NEXT AND HOW TO LIKE IT by Abigail Thomas, a terrific memoir that nudges me to savor the large and small happenings of life in the moment. So here's what's happening right now; my cats are chasing one another around the...
Supplemental Mothers
My girls, mom, and me. Our mothers are our first homes, and that’s why we always trying to return to them. By Michele Filgate in What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About. I emailed a friend in recently to bid her Happy Mother’s Day. Normally sunny, her response caught me...
Author Interview with Elizbeth Silva/Another Cheesy Family Newsletter
Author Elizabeth Silva "I ALWAYS WONDER WHEN I GET my friends’ and family’s annual holiday newsletters what really happened in the writers’ families. What titillating tidbits are they leaving out?" --Elizabeth Silva in Another Cheesy Family Newsletter. I met Elizabeth...
The Importance of Sharing Ugly
Yesterday, I had a conversation with the Seward Library Book Group about coming clean in my memoir, or, as one member put it, telling on myself. Referring to the times I mentioned my own flaws and frailties, being judgmental or quick tempered, that are sprinkled...
A Week Inspired by San Jose’s Recycle Book Club
At the risk of sounding superstitious, I’m fairly certain that my house is jealous of my efforts to leave it. The web searches for homes in less expensive states to live in after I retire, the upgrading of the bathrooms, the kitchen, and the floorings. The...
Single Mom Turned Solo Traveler/Interview with Karen Sim
I was the lone geriatric in my hip hostel in Buenos Aires a couple of months back when I stumbled on a treasure trove. When I mentioned to the young woman from New Zealand, perched on the bunk across from mine, that I had not journeyed intentionally (can’t really...
On Love and Motivation.
It’s February, and my mind is on matters of love and motivation. On Love: I may be single, but I adore experiencing second-hand love. Here are two of my favorite Valentine’s reads. One is from my friend Ginni Simpson on being in the moment with her...
One Good Thing Leads to Another
Have you ever noticed that when you set out to take a positive action, you're given a doubly positive reward? A couple of weeks ago, when I saw my maternal cousin’s Facebook post about her fitness coaching business being offered online, I jumped at the chance....
Committing to Less to Enjoy More/My 2019 Resolution
Happy New Year. It’s that time of year where we make promises of transformation that are too easily abandoned by the middle of the month. I typically make a small list in a few categories, but this year I’m making different commitments. Last year, I ran my legs off....
Solo Travel to South America/Uruguay and Argentina
I was firm in my decision to delay a solo travel adventure since I’d financed long-awaited kitchen renovations. Yet solo travel, outside of bringing me joy and growth, is the subject of future writing projects. But I told myself that it was too time consuming, too...
Afterthoughts About the Earthquake of 2018
My return from South America was promptly eclipsed by the massive November 30th earthquake here in Alaska. I’d landed in Los Angeles from a brief layover in Peru when I turned on my phone to find a flood of texts. The first was from my youngest daughter, giving me a...
Author Interview with Susan Joyce on Screenwriting and Redefining Her Next Chapter
Meeting author Susan Joyce in person was a highlight of my trip to South America. We had originally connected through the Facebook group, We Love Memoirs two years earlier. Susan has written two memoirs, and authored and edited numerous children's books with her...
The Storm before the Calm/Readying for South America, Solo
The reasons I get so nervous are many. I’m about to leave for South America in a few days. By myself. It will be continent 6/7 for me, and I'm nearing my goal of finishing the research for a travel memoir and companion guide book for older, non-wealthy women who...
Author Interview with Linda M. Kurth/When Abuse and Faith Intersect
There are many reasons an abused partner may choose to remain in their relationship. Faith and ties to their faith community factor in for many. I'm honored to have author Linda M. Kurth sharing from her experience and upcoming memoir. Crazymaking: A form of...
How My Daughters Are Today/The Question I’m Asked Most at Author Events
It's Domestic Violence Awareness Month. As I prep for a few book events, including a FaceTime conversation with a Florida book group, The question I get asked the most is always How are the girls now? And just after that, Do your daughters mind you writing and talking...
A Missing Girl/ A Found Helper
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”—Fred Rogers “Do you remember me?” came the message from Greece this...
Photos and fabulosity/ Remembering Vietnam and John McCain
With the passing of Senator John McCain, I was transported back to my first big solo trip at the Hanoi Hotel in 2012, when I began this blog. Vietnam and Laos were appealing because they were inexpensive and beautiful. Plus, I'd worked with and around many people from...
The Headlines We Can’t Ignore/Everyone Matters When Responding to Domestic Violence
The headlines keep coming. Buried between Chicago mass shootings and the primary elections and Denise Richards joining the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast (is that really news?), there they are. Northern California man with record...
Love at the Speed of Email-Interview with Author Lisa McKay
After sailing through her fascinating memoir in which issues of love, faith, work, and passion are examined, I interviewed author Lisa McKay. Lisa, who presently lives in Laos, answers questions about Love At the Speed of Email as well as the writing process, and her...
Snippets of Beauty
I'd like to share some moments of beauty in my weekend. I joined friends for a gorgeous kayaking trip for several hours in Prince William Sound this past weekend. Paddling through cool waters with nothing but the sound of glaciers calving was as calming as a massage....