Jo Maeder

Author

Q&A: Jill McCorkle on dolls, dollhouses, tiny objects and what they have to do with writing and life

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    “I have always loved dolls. And yes, there are still within the love, those that have creeped me out!” – Jill McCorkle Jill McCorkle is a bestselling, award-winning author of unforgettable novels and short stories. She was a Briggs-Copeland Lecturer in Fiction at Harvard, where she also chaired the department of creative writing. […]

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How My French Work Exchange Journey Led to a New Life and Love

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Hotel de Cours de Thomazeau in Castillonnes, France. A few years ago I stumbled on the blog Enjoy Living Abroad and began a vicarious journey through Karen McCann and her husband Rich. In 2004, these intrepid Americans decided to live one year in Seville. They’re still there. If you’ve ever dreamed of living abroad or […]

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Chapter 1 of Zerk ‘Em and Pull the Push Rods: A Wry Squint at Aviation in the Mid-20th Century

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“Something went terribly wrong,” the stranger said. “Katie’s been in the hospital since her operation last month. She wanted me to call you. She’s on a ventilator and can’t speak.” Katie was my father’s widow. After George Weitz died in 1985 at age 75, the British Katie, almost two decades his junior and not prone […]

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The Tale of the Squirrel-proof Bird Feeder

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Let me explain why I was so determined to outwit the squirrels stealing birdseed from the wild birds I’d attracted to my yard. Of course they didn’t see it as stealing. It’s their natural right to snarf up anything they can. And boy are they smart. Ultimately though, I won this war. I was having […]

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Life Works in Mysterious Ways: How losing my last sibling gave me more than just a new perspective

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I once wrote an essay for AOL about getting through Mother’s Day when Mom is no longer here (the essay is no longer here as well—so much for everything living forever online). Now I’m faced with Mother’s Day without my brother, Art. Every day without him has been hard, but we always shared memories of “Mama […]

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When A Video of Someone You Know Goes Viral (in a bad way)

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It was bound to happen. Someone I knew and consider to be a nice person behaved badly, a bystander made a video, it went viral, this person lost their job and now must mentally wear the scarlet letters IPH (Internet Public Hanging). I don’t want to leave a clue to their identity by saying “he” […]

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How to leave a book review on Amazon (anonymously or not)

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When a tech-savvy friend confessed that she loved my book yet had no idea how to leave a review on Amazon, I decided to write this for her and anyone else who may not know. Books depend on word-of-mouth and mouse. It’s part of my job description now to ask readers to leave book reviews the way […]

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What is the #1 way to increase happiness?

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Life is not a bowl of cherries for anyone. We must take the bitter with the sweet, we’re told. But some people seem to have an innate melancholy they can never shake. Studies now show that we stay at the same level of happiness our entire life. There’s only one thing that’s been proven to […]

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Zerk ’em: Another surprise in a pile of old family papers

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In honor of Aviation History Month, Veteran’s Day, and my father’s birthday, I’m sharing a peek at a treasure I unearthed when his widow died. I was asked by her executor if I would like his papers. What papers?, I thought. When he passed she became obsessed with ballroom dancing and turned his office into […]

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Chuck Berry, the author, takes out the trash and dishes it, too

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I confess, I probably wouldn’t have read Chuck Berry’s autobiography had I not seen Bob Dylan reading it backstage. I immediately bought it and devoured it. Not long after, Berry played a club in New York City and I was asked to introduce him onstage as part of my DJ duties as “The Rock and […]

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