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.
The Balancing Act: Working Tourism, Writing, and Working
Remember a while back when I mentioned I’d be working in tourism this summer? I work in Whittier on Saturdays, an hour and a half drive from my home in Anchorage. I wanted to try a side hustle that fit neatly in to my already full workweek. In a perfect world, this...
Preventing Domestic Violence/Interview with Dr.Sally Dorman
MMy longtime friend, Dr. Sally Dorman, will return to Alaska next week for a summer visit. Twenty-something years ago, I worked at an agency that served battered women and children. Abused Women's Aid in Crisis. Sally was one of my favorite coworkers. We worked in the...
Saying Goodbye to Page 139/Remembering Judge Ira Uhrig
https://lizbeth.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/75B2D6D9-852E-4CCC-B71B-C7DB66451EE8.png
Bellingham Police Department At times, something long-expected arrives unexpectedly. I’d been deliberately scaling back on Facebook in May. Partly to manage my writing time better and largely to reduce anxiety, for a while, I embraced the calm. And then, I had a sick...
Author Interview with Lisbeth Coiman/I Asked the Blue Heron
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. A perfect time to spotlight author Lisbeth Coiman's memoir, I Asked the Blue Heron. Lisbeth's new memoir is described as covering the trauma of abuse, the joys of motherhood, and the challenges of immigration alongside the...
Inspired by Mothers
With Mother’s Day approaching, I’ve been thinking about my daughters more than usual. Then I saw the movie Tully yesterday. Without giving away the storyline, it made me think about what my younger self would say to me now about how the journey of motherhood has...
The Calm Before the Summer
It’s hard to believe it’s already mid-April. In Alaska, we went from 20-something degrees to 50-something almost overnight, and I couldn’t be happier. There’s still enough darkness at night to fall asleep, and enough warmth put my winter boots and coats away. As I...
Author Interview with Author Angela Ackerman of Writers Helping Writers
I first found Writers Helping Writers while I was working on my memoir. I felt like I'd struck gold. This online support group, co-founded by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, is a resource for writers and editors, providing tools and support as well as a...
The Memories of March
We all have those anniversary dates that plague us. The death of a loved one. The accident that changed our lives. The day we got fired. Something. For me, the month of March holds most of mine. My children were kidnapped on March 13th, 1994. We reunited on March 27,...
On Love After 50 and Books/Author Interview with Ashley Sweeney
Happy Valentine's Day. Just before my initial book launch, I had the pleasure of meeting author Ashley Sweeney and her husband Michael as they were wrapping up Ashley's book tour in Alaska. Their chemistry was obvious, as was their mutual respect. And as it turns out,...
A Writer’s Mentor/Interview with Author and Professor Dr. Virginia Carney
In 1992, when I was a welfare mom trying to finish my degree before my girls were old enough to feel the stigma of poverty, I met a professor who immediately felt like family. Later, it made sense. Not only was Professor Ginny Carney an inspiring and nurturing...
The New Year’s Cruise and Other Updates
Happy 2018! My New Year began with a cruise vacation on Holland America's Eurodam, where I enjoyed sunshine, fireworks, good friends, and a break from social media and work. I’d needed a vacation. And here’s what I loved most: The days at sea. I slept well. I went to...
Cheers for the New Year
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities. And thankfully, it is over.- Lizbeth Meredith, after each and every Christmas. Happy nearly New Year! I hope your holiday was peaceful and lacking expectation. I enjoyed...
A Full Circle Christmas and Dog-Eared Reads
My youngest daughter called me from Barnes & Noble the other day. “What are 12-year-old boys reading these days?” she asked. She’d adopted a needy family whose name she got from a Christmas tree at the mall. It was a sweet reminder. We’ve come full circle. “Did...
Holiday Catch-Up and NaNoWriMo
I hope your holiday season is going well. Please forgive my lack of activity. I’m gently behind on some emails and calls and blogging this month. I’ve slowed down markedly with the increasing cold and decreasing light. Sometimes, after I get home from work, I sit in a...
Interview with Homestead Girl Author Chantelle Pence
This week, I'm happy to have Chantelle Pence as my guest author. I first met her at a farmer's market, and with our common interests in writing and Alaska life and our kids, we developed an easy friendship. I so enjoyed her book Homestead Girl, and now follow her...
#DVAM 2017/Does Talking About Domestic Violence Really Make a Difference?
While de-cluttering my bedroom recently, I found an old magazine that reprinted my first published article in 1993. First posted in Alaska Women Speak, later in The Radical, I wrote it about the epidemic of domestic violence. How novel it seemed at the time to be...
Pieces of Me Turns One/Looking Back and Moving Forward
Today it's been a year since my memoir was officially launched. More than 65 events, 103 online reviews (and counting), and three awards later, what a year it has been. Thanks to your support, Pieces of Me has enjoyed national attention, and has garnered international...
Interview with Becca Puglisi on The Emotion Thesaurus and Writers Helping Writers
I'm always looking for tools to help my writing. Two years ago I found Writers Helping Writers in the nick of time as I was polishing up the final draft of my memoir, Pieces of Me: Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters. Writers Helping Writers is an easy site to...
Other Duties as Assigned in a Writers Life
I’ve enjoyed the slower pace of summer the past few weeks. Nearly a year post-pub, I am fortunate book event requests continue for Pieces of Me: Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters, but at a slower yet steady pace. Now I have time to do the...
Interview with Author Tina Dreffin on the Healing Power of Travel
Imagine raising a family in the confines of a boat or catamaran on the open seas. I picture the closeness. The sunshine. The fun. Then I read Bluewater Walkabout: Into Africa by Tina Dreffin.More than a travel memoir about the...
Summer 2017 Reading List
When you live in Anchorage, Alaska, and the sixty days are (this year) cold and rainy, what can you do? Lots. Anchorage is an artsy place. And while I like the balance of trying new things while tending old routines, there’s nothing...
The Final Piece of Me/Meeting My Brother After Five Decades and Other Adventures on My Book Tour
I mopped my floor with zeal. This was how I knew my recent two week trip to Kentucky and Indiana, a combined book event and family reunion, was a success. Moments after getting home after sixteen hours of travel including layovers I was home, diving in to chores I...
Smile Before It’s Over
“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” ― Dr. Seuss Just as I was packing for my Portland book event, I got the call that a friend died. Jim was more than a friend. To my little girls, he was a hero that defended their right to safety when they were...
Q&A with Karen Meadows, Author of Searching for Normal:The Story of A Girl Gone Too Soon
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. It's estimated that one in five Americans lives with a mental health condition. All of us know someone who struggles. But despite this, mental health too often remains a topic we don't discuss until it's too late. I'm pleased to...
Springtime is here
Hello, You are the first human I have communicated with today. I've sequestered myself in my room for hours to write a few posts for 49 Writers, so I'll keep this brief. This, after a week filled with wonderful moments catching up with friendships I'd been neglecting,...
A Sense of My Ending/How Will I Later Recall Writing and Promoting Pieces of Me?
I saw the movie The Sense of An Ending recently, and this quote jumped out at me. “How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts? And the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around us to challenge our account, to remind...
A Girl’s Guide to Travelling Alone/Interview with Dr. Jane Wilson-Howarth
March 2017 Dr. Jane Wilson Haworth has been my virtual friend ever since our stories both appeared in this anthology. She eventually gave me I terrific book blurb that I included on the jacket of my memoir Pieces of Me: Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters. She...
Remembering the Magic of When a Community Unites
March used to be one of those months for me that held dreadful anniversary dates. We all have those dates. Whether it’s the dreaded anniversary of a death, or a divorce anniversary, or maybe even a natural disaster like a hurricane, there are the dates that split our...
5 Tips to get Indie Authors into Indie Bookstores
Last year, I remember telling any number of loved ones in other states that I’d likely see them in the upcoming months as I launched Pieces of Me: Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters. “I’m sure I’ll have a book event somewhere near you,” I said with such conviction....
Author Interview with Angela Wren/ Pairing of Acting and Writing
It isn't every day that I'm introduced an actress and writer, especially one from the United Kingdom. I'm so pleased Angela agreed to be a guest today. Angela's novel, Messandrierre, is the first in her new crime series. Sacrificing his job in investigation following...