Category: Friends + Family

When My Best Friend Accuses Me of Being Normal

Jessica Rinker

I’ve gone through phases when I’ve wanted to appear normal. I wore properly pasteled clothes from Lands End, drove a mini-van, attended mom and me classes, bought the right snacks for soccer practice, made Halloween costumes by hand, went to the mall in regular intervals. Actually all that makes me Read more

Jessica Rinker

Jessica M. Rinker received her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2014 and is a freelance writer and editor as well as a reading teacher for the Institute of Reading Development. Between teaching, reading, writing, and mothering her life is books and kids--all soul-fulfilling work. Jessica is represented by Linda Epstein of Emerald City Literary Agency, has had work published in Curious Parents Magazine and is a theater critic for patheatreguide.com. She lives with her partner, Joe McGee (also a children's author) and her sheltie, Marley, (who is not an author, but is an excellent fetcher), in Pennsylvania.

The Importance of Being Still and the Get Up and Go

Renee DeMont

My four year old son asked, “Are we up in the air yet?” With the certainty of a frequent flyer his twin sister responded, “No. We have to wait until the plane shivers. Then we can go up in the air.” Double checking their seat belts, I stopped up short Read more

Renee DeMont

Renee DeMont is a SURVIVOR. She was born into poverty; spent much of her childhood homeless, living on the streets of Los Angeles, and in foster care. Renee learned early on: life is about adapting to adversity. The greatest gift she ever received? No one expected anything from her. By 18, she was ready to experience life on her own terms. First one in her family to attend college. After college, her focus and determination earned her a spot working at Paramount Studios, on the #1 show in television, "Cheers". At 29, Renee gave entrepreneurship a go and began a Biomedical engineering business out of her garage. Twenty years later, that risky venture grew into 8,000 square feet of success. She broke the cycle of poverty that plagued her family for generations. Recently, Renee turned fifty, filed for divorce (he declared WAR), and trudged through a debilitating nervous breakdown. Through therapy and writing, she reclaimed her sanity. Sold her half of the business to the ex, and now she has clarity and choices. Renee is personally and financially independent. With her new found freedom, she chooses to write in a sincere effort to reconcile her past with her present. Hopefully, through this cathartic process, the second half of her life will be led by her soul's desire, rather than by the fears and doubts of her first half. Currently, she lives in South Orange County with her teenage son and daughter, and her high maintenance yet lovable dog, Joe. Soon to be an empty nester, she plans to downsize the big house in the OC bubble, for a bigger life in the real world. Her days are spent gently launching her almost grown children into adulthood, and passionately penning her memoir. In the mean time, you can find her essays on pain, positivity, and empowerment at: onedropofgrace.blogspot.com

A Tale of Two Daddies

Virginia and Donna

(… it was the best of times… it was the worst of times.) In the course of more than twenty-five years of friendship (and writing seven books together), we have discussed pretty much every subject under the sun at least a dozen times, and in a variety of moods from Read more

Virginia and Donna

VIRGINIA DEBERRY: Prior to becoming a successful plus-size model, Vice President of BB/LW modeling agency, spokesperson for Hanes Hosiery, editor-in-chief of Maxima magazine and bestselling novelist, Virginia taught high school English for 10 years. She is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo. Virginia currently resides in New Jersey where she is social media consultant and a founder of the New Brunswick Jazz Project, a non-profit jazz presenting organization. She also blogs about aging with style, wit and wisdom. DONNA GRANT: Donna spent more than a decade as a model, represented by the 12+ division of Ford. She has been featured on the pages of many magazines including Essence and McCall’s. Grant served as the Managing Editor of Maxima before her writing career. She attended Barnard College and is a graduate of New York University. A Brooklyn native, Donna is at work on a children’s book and is a founder of Footsteps to Follow, a group that presents career path information to youth in the five boroughs. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband. Best friends for nearly 30 years and writing together for 20, DeBerry & Grant are the “author” of seven novels: Uptown, Tryin’ to Sleep in the Bed You Made, Far From the Tree, Better Than I Know Myself, Gotta Keep on Tryin’, What Doesn’t Kill You, and Exposures.

16 Things My Father Never Told Me

Dori Owen

It has been 13 years since my Father died. His birthday fell on the same weekend as Father’s Day. I try to avoid everything Hallmark about this weekend because I still miss my father so deeply. We were always close and shared a symbiotic bond he never had with my Read more

Dori Owen

Dori Owen is a storyteller, writing from small town Arizona, after living a few decades in California as an LA Wild Child, with a brief stop in Reno. She settled into grownup life as a project manager, collecting an MBA and a few husbands along the way. She is a shown artist and her favorite pastime is upcycling old furniture and decor she finds from thrift stores. She lives with the cat who came to visit but stayed. The love of her life is her grown son who lives in Portland, Oregon. Her essays and poems have been published in RAW&UNFILTERED VOL I, StigmaFighters Vol 2, and Love Notes From Humanity. Her blogs have been featured on The Lithium Chronicles, Open Thought Vortex, Sudden Denouement, and The Mighty.

Forever Daddy’s Girl

Julie Anderson

I have been fortunate lately. Really fortunate. A wake-up call came, and I was called back home. Back to my parent’s nest of protection. Whenever I travel back home, I travel back in time. It is impossible not too. Home is where my heart is, it is also where our Read more

Julie Anderson

Julie Anderson is the Creator and Publisher of Feminine Collective. Julie was inspired to create this safe place for women to share their secrets, desires, triumphs and pain as the antithesis of what mainstream media offers women today. In her column Pursuit of Perfection, she explores the importance of rectifying the balance of inner and outer beauty through essays, poems and articles on self-esteem, shame, family, and self- acceptance.

A Swan Song for an Expectant Mother

Mary Novaria

I used to read my horoscope occasionally just for fun, but I didn’t put much stock in it. In fact, I was skeptical of anything I considered to border on divination or the occult. Sure, as a teen, there were slumber parties with séances and Ouija boards, but I never Read more

Mary Novaria

Mary Novaria's is a two-time Writer's Digest award winner whose work has been featured in Oprah Daily, Washington Post, Spirituality & Health, Cosmopolitan, Feminine Collective, FF2 Media, HuffPost, and elsewhere. She and her husband are empty nesters who live in the mountains of Colorado with their rescue dog, Rooney. She is currently working on a novel.

The Hierarchy of Existence

Julie Anderson

I can hear sanguine words with every beep, whoosh, expansion, and dink dink the vital sign machine makes. I see the other families clinging to them for dear life, as the used tissues gather into moist mounds in the trash bin.

Julie Anderson

Julie Anderson is the Creator and Publisher of Feminine Collective. Julie was inspired to create this safe place for women to share their secrets, desires, triumphs and pain as the antithesis of what mainstream media offers women today. In her column Pursuit of Perfection, she explores the importance of rectifying the balance of inner and outer beauty through essays, poems and articles on self-esteem, shame, family, and self- acceptance.

An Open Letter to My Son on Graduation Day

SA Smith

To My Son, You came into our lives that January day, all wrinkled and full of hope. You smiled, laughed and took in your world. Sight by sight, memory by memory. You went from crawling one week to walking the next. You learned, grew and thrived. You were full of Read more

SA Smith

SA Smith has always loved the magical life. She is the bestselling Amazon author of FOREVER, her four part young adult paranormal romance series. She is an advocate for women of all shapes and sizes. Believing that we are all enough just as we are, and needing to spread that word far and wide. Having been diagnosed with CRPS over 12 years ago, SA also uses her writing to increase social awareness of the disease. Writing is her passion. She often tells friends that writing is a journey for her. It’s like spending time with friends. "I just follow my characters along on their adventures, like a fly on the wall, and see where they take me." SA currently lives in Florida with her best friend/husband and their one son.