Simple Gifts book signing this week!

If you're in Seattle and need some root vegetables and a book of 50 kick-ass gift projects, look no further than the Queen Anne Farmer's Market! I'll be there this Thursday, Sept. 23, from 5-6pm signing copies of Simple Gifts at the Queen Anne Books table. I'll bring along a few of the book's projects so you can see exactly what you can make quickly and inexpensively. As evidenced by the Halloween candy in my grocery store, the holidays are afoot so you'd best get crackin' with the craftin'.

I am; therefore, I write

In case you'd like to know more about this gal's writing process, I did a Q&A with the lovely, talented (and U-Michigan alum) Colleen Newvine Tebeau, who's a writer and market research specialist for a major news organization. I've always sort of glossed over the writing process when asked, and this is the first time I come clean about how frickin' hard it all is. That said, I also talk about what jazzes me and why I continue to do it.

Check it out here. And let me know what you think? What's the biggest joy/challenge for you when writing? Or heck, even in life?

Goodbye, Oakdale

I can't stop crying. Seriously. I keep losing it every time I turn on the TV. I just watched The Early Show's retrospective of As the World Turns, which goes off the air today after 54 years. I've been in denial about this day for months. I kept thinking some deus ex machina would swoop down and sponsor the show after Proctor & Gamble pulled the plug ( like Margo did when her stepdad had a terminal illness).

No such luck.

The Bold & the Beautiful is just too ridiculous for me to take to, so I'm left up the TV creek without a paddle.

But between the tears, I did manage to write a couple of pieces that sum up why I loved the show so very much.

Check out my humorous slideshow over at Salon, where I detail life lessons learned from a daily dose of ATWT.

Then on the Huffington Post, I talk about how the show impacted me as I moved from a gawky pre-teen to a successful career gal, all the while looking for cues from the show's themes, characters, and storylines.

Goodbye, Oakdale. You have been loved and you will be missed.

(Video: a recent tearjerker: Barbara's wedding to Henry, in which all the key players are haunted by the specter of Bab's ex and Henry's father James Stenbeck.)