Write Through Doors

For three years I have wondered who has been drawing the 6 feet long phantasmagorical chalk creatures on the path near Las Vegas Park in the Dicken School area.  I run through that park weekly in the warmer months.   The creatures have captions like “joint eater” and “spooky floating human/vampire hybrid,” but the artwork is [...]

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My writing projects are usually smooth sailing except for two tiny glitches:  getting started, and finishing. Everyone has their own tricks  to get unstuck (shake the dust off your ideas and get started) and stick to it (get finished).  What are yours?  How do we support ourselves to sit in a dark room with just [...]

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Is an unwritten book lurking or smirking within you?  Listen to a January 6, 2010 blogtalk radio interview with my esteemed colleague, Lisa Pasbjerg.  Interested?  Here’s Lisa’s description of the event: Would you like to write more clearly and easily? What would it do for you as a leader to feel more confident and competent [...]

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Biggby Coffee and the Professional Coaches Association of Michigan (PCAM) Present: Conversations for Possibility Drop by to experience an inspiring conversation with a professional coach! Wednesday, December 9, 2009 Biggby Coffee 1667 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor, MI (734) 222-7030‎ To serve the community this holiday season, Professional Coaches Association of Michigan (PCAM) members are offering [...]

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“I want the ancient pleasure that probably goes back to the cave: to be blown clean out of myself for a while, as violently as a fighter pilot who pushes the eject button in his F-111,” writes Stephen King about reading short stories. When Stephen King walked in my door last week, on the cover [...]

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http://www.slideshare.net/secret/fnpmdM2YdIZ0h5 My brother, Gary Eisenberg, rocked the house with his lecture today 11/6/09 in Ann Arbor on “Complementary Interventions for Autism, Aspergers and Sensory Dysfunction In Children and Adolescents.”  He asked me to speak for ten minutes about how writing could help the attendees, and my slides are above. In keeping with Gary’s sense of [...]

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Joan has pushed aside Eckhart Tolle as my recent literary love interest/obsession.  I just quoted her in my email signature. I’ll type the quote in a moment, but for now I want to say why I think she is amazing. It’s her voice–strong but not shouting.  Her sad story never has us feeling sorry for [...]

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I’m passionate about the value of college application essays.  I see time and time again how students grow by examining and writing about their strengths. Now a study published in the April 17, 2009 issue of Science magazine is backing me up. What’s more, this study, titled “Recursive Processes in Self-Affirmation: Intervening to Close the [...]

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Louise Miller is visiting from Bali. She facebooked me (I just made it a verb!!) a week before she arrived:  “Are you the Debbie Merion I met at Natalie Goldberg’s workshop in Taos?” Days later, she took the train to Ann Arbor from Nebraska, to investigate the University of Michigan’s MFA in writing. I picked [...]

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An essay about rekindling family connections Finding Judy Judy’s hair is straight and black and she lives in San Francisco.   Mine is curly and brown and I live in Ann Arbor. We grew up together in Philadelphia in the ’60s. As a child, I was a tall geeky tomboy who coveted her brother’s worn leather [...]

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