Jo Maeder

Author

What is the #1 way to increase happiness?

by 4 Comments

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 […]

LEARN MORE

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

by Leave a Comment

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 […]

LEARN MORE

Mother’s Day without Mama

by 4 Comments

This Mother’s Day, 2016, marks the eleventh one without Mama Jo. It’s always been tinged with sadness since her passing, but this one will be particularly hard. I recently completed reading and editing the audiobook of When I Married My Mother. I read it once. Didn’t like the way I did my mother’s parts. Re-read them […]

LEARN MORE

Q&A: Candace Bushnell on KILLING MONICA, what Hollywood needs to do, privacy, reinvention, Mom, and more

by Leave a Comment

                It’s indeed a pleasure to welcome Candace Bushnell to my ongoing author Q&As. Ms. Bushnell, of Sex and the City, Lipstick Jungle and The Carrie Diaries  fame, talked to me about her new novel Killing Monica (Grand Central Publishing, 2015). Killing Monica  is classic Candace Bushnell and yet […]

LEARN MORE

Casey Kasem and His End-of-life Family Drama: How Can You Avoid Something Similar?

by Leave a Comment

In 1997, I was honored to present a prestigious radio industry award to one of my heroes in the business, Casey Kasem. The sordid drama that unfolded around his death made headlines around the world. As author of the national bestseller WHEN I MARRIED MY MOTHER: A Daughter’s Search for What Really Matters – and […]

LEARN MORE

Shirley Temple: The girl, the woman, the dolls

by 2 Comments

I’ve now been in the doll adoption business about 18 months. If I had to pick the one with the most universal, indestructible appeal, it would be Shirley Temple in all her various sizes and outfits. Barbie is too polarizing. Madame Alexander dolls too prissy. No one dislikes Shirley Temple. She appeals to a goodness and […]

LEARN MORE

FADED PHOTOGRAPHS

by 2 Comments

In going through another purge/organization of my home, I found this photo. I have no idea who this woman is. I do know the photo was taken in Kansas City, Missouri, around 1900. I’ve seen her face in a few other pictures but there’s nothing written on the back to identify her. Look at that hat! […]

LEARN MORE

HOLIDAY REMINISCENCES AND REGRETS

by Leave a Comment

An adapted excerpt from the chapter “Watching a Photograph Slowly Fade” from When I Married My Mother “Are we putting up a Christmas tree this year?” Mama Jo asked when our third Thanksgiving as roommates rolled around. I groaned and was sorry I did. The first year we lived together, after uncovering the ornaments of […]

LEARN MORE