Maddie's Mom Writes

Author: Dianne Lehmann

  • Magical Meatloaf Memories

    My mom, bless her soul, was not a good cook. To be fair, taking care of a house and yard, two young girls and dog didn’t leave her with a lot of extra time. Her idea of a vegetable was something that came out of a can. Green beans, peas, corn, creamed corn; we basically…

  • Publish or Perish

    Not being a professor of any type, that admonition really doesn’t apply to me. But there are times when I feel that if I don’t publish, I will surely perish. Ask me why I want other people to read what I have written and I can’t really answer. At times, it seems odd to me…

  • Yin and Yang

    Balance is important in everything you do. There’s that old saying that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. It’s definitely true. Try to think of some action, thought or feeling that doesn’t have an opposite. Forward/backward, happy/sad, good/bad, there’s balance implied in all those couplings. It’s an integral part of living…

  • Proofreading Your Own Work

    Proofreading your own work is a colossal pain in the nether regions. If you are like me, you’ve already read every paragraph in your novel a dozen times or more. I might write a few paragraphs and then go back to where I started and read it from there to be certain that the paragraphs…

  • Autumn Rain

    Inspiration strikes and sizzles like water on a hot skillet. Words form freely and pour forth upon the page like a torrent of refreshing summer rain. Cooling, soothing and oh so welcome after the days heat. The promise of more to come is like the lightning and the thunder, one faithfully following the other. Would…

  • Maybelle and Beezle

    This story is based on another weirdly real dream that I had. Maybelle was in the front garden. Digging. That’s what Maybelle did whenever she had anything vexing on her mind. And by the energy of her digging, Maybelle was surely vexed. But the digging wasn’t helping like it usually did. There were now five…

  • Weird Words 2

    Phlegm When you look at the word “phlegm,” it looks really odd, but when you say it you realize that it is perfect.It has a sound that is somehow just right for what it represents. And if you happen to have phlegm in your throat when you say it, it gets even better. Its roots…

  • 500 Words or Less

    When I first started writing professionally, I was asked to provide high-quality content that got the point across clearly and concisely. It was suggested that I keep my articles to 500 words or less. If you are reporting about a robbery (I never did) all you really need to do is answer the who-what-where-when-how-why questions…

  • Father Figures

    My father loved me. I’m sure of it. He never really expressed it in words. It was more in the way he looked at me across the dinner table or stayed with me until I fell asleep on those nights that something troubled me. It was in the tenderness of his hand atop my head.…

  • Reading for Inspiration?

    Back when I started writing my first novel, Bernd (my husband) bought a book by Sheri S. Tepper titled “The Family Tree.” He read it and said that it was very good and that I should read it; with one caveat. He said I should not read it until I had finished my book. He…