An Unexpected Review
/0 Comments/in Reading /by BethanyJust taking a moment to share this unexpected review of Body My House. When you visit Loren Webster’s blog, In a Dark Time…, be sure to scroll back through the posts — his nature photography is stunning.
https://www.lorenwebster.net/In_a_Dark_Time/2019/10/22/bethany-reids-body-my-house/
The Unsinkable Priscilla Long
/3 Comments/in Family Stories, parenting, Poetry, Quotes, Writing /by BethanyIf you have been my student or talked about writing with me, then you probably already know that Priscilla Long, author of The Writer’s Portable Mentor and other books, has been my friend for 30 years.
We met while I was studying for my MFA in poetry at the University of Washington and Priscilla, for her fiction MFA. Or, she was supposed to be studying fiction. After taking a workshop with Colleen McElroy, we decided to exchange poetry manuscripts, and we began meeting for dinner almost every week to rework and deepen our poems.
At our table at the old College Inn in the university district, I confessed to Priscilla my very un-feminist craving for a baby and she told me, “For heaven’s sake! If you want a baby, have a baby! Don’t blame feminism!”
When my twins were a year old and I stalled on my Ph.D. dissertation, Priscilla saved me. “Send me seven pages! They can be terrible! Even with two babies you can write seven terrible pages!” She coaxed that dissertation out of me, never rewriting a single sentence, always telling me, “Of course you can do it!”
So, for those reasons and many others, I am very pleased to direct you to this bio, newly posted at History Link, the free on-line encyclopedia of Washington state history.
What’s Your Mountain?
/2 Comments/in Reading /by BethanyOver the last couple of years, walking has become a central part of who I am, as much, it seems, as writing. Writing every day has led me to take on bigger and bigger writing projects. And walking every day makes me want to take on bigger walking projects. So of course I had to see this movie, about a Scottish octogenarian who decides to hike up a mountain. Be sure to click on the behind the scenes video, too!