LOSING MY EYE AND GAINING A FAKE ONE: Art Meets Science in the Making of a Prosthetic Eye (plus FAQ)

By Jo Maeder / December 18, 2025 /

I’d never heard of ocular/uveal melanoma before I was told I had it. Odds: six in a million. My vision in my right eye had become blurry. I thought it was my cataract progressing. Surprise. Had my ophthalmologist been using early detection retinal imaging, it would have been caught sooner, the tumor small enough to…

PASSION ALWAYS WINS: How Lenny Horowitz Helped Transform Me and Miami’s South Beach Almost Fifty Years Ago

By Jo Maeder / July 14, 2025 /

    It was 1977. I didn’t think Barbara Capitman and Lenny Horowitz could throw a tea party much less transform the decrepit lower end of Miami Beach into the “Riviera of the South.” Through my flippant 21-year-old eyes it was where hippies went to score pot, the downtrodden bet on greyhounds, and old people…

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THE JAPANESE

By Jo Maeder / October 12, 2024 /

Japan was on my husband’s bucket list, not mine. How long a pane ride? What about the language barrier? Now I’m so in love with Japan (and sumo wrestling!) I’m pushing to go back. What has stayed with me the most is the thoughtfulness of the Japanese; a unique culture centered on beauty (even the…

MY TRAIL CAMERA OBSESSION: Tips and Triumphs from Spying on Wildlife

By Jo Maeder / September 18, 2024 /

  Depending on where you live, a variety of wildlife may be having a convention on your property while you sleep. See for yourself what happens at night and during the day with a trail camera. Strap it to a tree, sit it on a table, be creative. WHAT TO BUY It’s possible to spend…

SUMO WRESTLING: How I unexpectedly fell in love with an ancient Japanese tradition

By Jo Maeder / December 29, 2023 /

I’m not much of a sports fan. I mainly watch the Super Bowl for the ads and halftime show. But when my husband and I were planning our first trip to Japan, to his surprise I suggested we take in sumo wrestling. I saw it as quintessential Japanese entertainment, like a tea ceremony with a…

MASKS FOR LIFE: Wearing a mask is liberating. I’m not saying good-bye for good to mine yet.

By Jo Maeder / June 21, 2023 /

It took me a nanosecond to embrace wearing a mask when the pandemic hit. Aside from deterring all airborne infections and reducing the risk to others, it checked these boxes: • No one sees my “phony smile” • No one sees me talking to myself • No one sees my Resting Bitch Face Nor did…

Q&A: Holly Adams on the Art of Audiobook Narrations and Opposites Attack

By Jo Maeder / June 16, 2023 /

Holly Adams, narrator of Opposites Attack, isn’t just a voice actress. She works in contemporary film, easily tackles Shakespeare, teaches how to be a clown, walks on stilts, and more. Earphone and Independent Audiobook Award winner, and Audie Finalist, I was thrilled to have her inhabit the multi-cultural cast of my novel set in Provence…

OPPOSITES ATTACK: THE AUDIOBOOK. A long journey and rebirth

By Jo Maeder / May 26, 2023 /

Bonjour! Summer is here and the thrill of new travel odysseys beckon. I’m thrilled to share that my culture clash novel set in the South of France, Opposites Attack, is finally an audiobook. For various reasons, the project kept dying on the vine like Viognier grapes in a drought. And then, life burst forth. There’s even…

2020: The Ups and Downs, a New Year’s Eve Invitation, and Wedding Photos!

By Jo Maeder / December 17, 2020 /

A Year Like No Other How many times in 2020 did you say: “What a year!” I hope you didn’t lose a loved one to Covid-19 or meet with financial ruin. Surely, someone reading this has and you have my deepest sympathies. Please keep reading. I have something to invite you to at the end that might be…

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

By Jo Maeder / September 9, 2020 /

    “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.…