• Events & news,  Magazines

    Springtime surprises

    It doesn’t happen as often as I’d like, but sometimes my work gets published in a magazine without much effort on my part. Late last year, for instance, I received an unexpected letter and a contract from an editor at Ideals magazine, requesting my permission to reprint an Easter essay from my book, Writing Home. This week, I received my advance copies of Ideals Springtime 2018. My essay in this issue is about a surprise gift (a box of ducklings) that I received one Easter when I was a kid. Ideals is a soft-cover anthology of stories and poems by a variety of nationally published authors. Owned by Guideposts and…

  • Empty nest,  Home & Family,  Magazines,  Where I'm published

    Mother’s Day “Ideals”

    Ideals magazine was launched in 1944 with a Christmas issue compiled by Van B. Hooper, a public relations manager for a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, manufacturer. Over the years it has featured the writings of well-known authors such as Edgar Guest, Sue Monk Kidd, Chris Bohjalian, Susan Allen Toth, Garrison Keillor, and many others. Now produced by Guideposts, the magazine continues its celebration of American holidays with timeless stories, quotations, poetry, recipes, and fine art illustrations. Since 2008, several of my own essays (including a few from my book, Writing Home) have been published in several issues of Ideals and its hardcover gift anthologies. This spring, my essay describing my son’s first year away from home (“Field…