Staring at the unemployment form online, I searched for any word on the list that correctly described my line of work. “Bookseller” wasn’t there; neither was “author event manager,” “knowledge professional,” or even “Retail Sales–Books.” I tried typing in “Bookseller,” but the template insisted I pick one of the pre-ordained choices. So I chose “Retail …
By all the signs by which I count, summer is here. Our roses are blooming, the farmer’s market has begun, the days are so long we often go to bed before dark, and it’s so hot some days I can’t be in my house in the afternoon. The heat isn’t as much of a problem …
“What?!?” The exclamation burst out of me. I couldn’t contain my shock when a customer told me that writer, teacher, and theologian Dr. Marcus Borg had just died. The customer was buying Borg’s book Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary, so I told her how much I had liked the …
Winter has arrived. I know the calendar says winter doesn’t begin until December 21, but I’ve never put much stock in that. Our farming season is over, our house is stuffed with storage crops like onions, potatoes, and winter squash, and as I write this, I can look out my window, through the leafless rosebushes …
On the day in September that my sister went into labor, I was hiking out of the woods with my husband after a three-day backpacking trip. I told Brian, “Maybe Juniper had the baby while we were out here, or maybe she’s about to have him now.” He thought I was probably wrong, but it …
Earlier this month, I went up to visit my sister in Renton, WA. Every time I visit her, I ask to go to an independent bookstore. I love visiting other indie bookstores, seeing how they do things, and seeing books I may not have encountered. Sometimes it isn’t convenient to get to a bookstore during …
Not long ago, I became frustrated with my inability to find fiction whose main character has a chronic illness or chronic condition. It seems there’s no lack of fiction about characters with terminal illnesses, but very little where the character has a chronic illness. Being afflicted with a chronic illness myself (chronic migraine) and being …
This is the sound of me not writing. There is no whisper of pen on paper, no click of computer keys, just me, alone in the house, trying to decide whether to go out and dig in the garden, or make oatmeal cookies, or read a book, or take a nap. Anything but write. Because …
For months, the attractive young man who now stood across the library circulation desk from me had made cautious conversational forays toward me, and I had responded in kind. We were both shy people, and our attempts were hampered further because I was working, checking out his books to him. He wasn’t a stranger. I’d …
Today, it snowed here for the first time this winter, making me think of Christmas. Although I work in retail, I have the ability to be shockingly unaware that Christmas is actually coming. I can wrap presents, recommend books, and hear people say “Two Christmas gifts taken care of!” for weeks, still apparently thinking it’s …
