7:58 AM on June 6. Welcome to the world, James! My first words after his birth: “He’d better love me his whole life!” Well, it’s the kind of thing you say after hours and hours of labor… We knew some things about him before he was born (I had the test, knew he was a… Continue Reading
Author Archives: Risa Nye
A look at books
This is my latest piece on the wonderful site called Retrospect. Here I write about some of my favorite books back in the day. Oh, to climb a tree with a book! Easy Reader
A few more tidbits about brunch cocktails
Once I started writing my latest article for Berkeleyside’s Nosh, I became fascinated with the colorful history of brunch and brunch cocktails. I may have gotten a little carried away, but that’s what editors are for. However, I really wanted to share a couple of things that were left on the virtual cutting room floor.… Continue Reading
The Writing Year in Review: 2017
I’m copying (stealing?) this idea from a new author friend, Erika Mailman. In a year where it felt like I didn’t do much writing, it’s good to look back and see what I actually did. It felt like a rather unproductive year, writing-wise, but the evidence shows it wasn’t as unproductive as I thought. For… Continue Reading
The World Works in Mysterious Ways: Birthday Edition
Today, November 14th, is my birthday. I’m moved, overwhelmed, and touched by all the birthday love I’ve received from friends and family. And here are two things that happened to mark this day in 2017: The dream I had night before last, where my sister appeared as a surprise visitor–here to spend my birthday with… Continue Reading
Fighting off worry in the midst of beauty
The counties to the north–Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino–are still on fire as I write this. Some people, unable to go back to check, still don’t know for sure if they have homes anymore. All those affected by these raging fires have been on my mind over the past few days. Living in the Bay Area,… Continue Reading
Good Morning, Little School Girl
In honor of the first week of school, three little school girls! First, my Kindergarten picture: And here’s my daughter on her first day. And this one, on her first day of kindergarten (no more current pictures allowed… Continue Reading
The House I Live In (That’s America To Me)
It’s the name of a song. I heard Frank Sinatra sing this song twice in two days recently. Because of the disturbing events of the last few days and months, it made me think. What was the story behind this song? And why did it become identified with Sinatra? I was curious about who wrote… Continue Reading
I Was Here
Several years ago, I wrote articles about the craft of writing for Hippocampus Magazine. This is one of them, which came to mind this morning as I was reading a book about writing. I sometimes wonder, as I’m reading, why a writer has chosen to highlight a particular incident in an essay or a memoir.… Continue Reading
Card-Carrying Grandmother
First, a little background. My Grandma Eve was my Grampa Mike’s second wife. His first wife, my dad’s beloved mother, passed away before any of us grandchildren got to meet her. So Grandma Eve was the grandmother we knew growing up. If I have the story straight, my grandfather engaged the services of a matchmaker,… Continue Reading