MUSINGS ON LIFE AND WRITING WITH SARAH BUCKLEITNER
It's Wednesday night--almost 10 p.m. on Wednesday night--and I'm sitting on the couch next to a sleepy cat and a husband who's absorbed in a book. For the last few months, I've had posts for this blog scheduled out for weeks, and sometimes months, at a time. But over time, sick kids, travel, and the … Continue reading On Catching Up
Two months ago, my Grandma Izzy died. She was 97 years old, so it shouldn't necessarily have come as a surprise to me. But it did. It swept me right off my feet. We saw her the weekend prior, and she'd quizzed Jordan about all of the wild animals he'd gotten to see lately at … Continue reading On a Wonderful Woman
Back when I worked in the animal shelter, I encountered a new concept: sometimes, when someone who frequently fostered animals in their home reached out to see if they could foster another, we'd talk about their "Capacity for Care." Meaning--did that person have the time, space and energy to properly care for an additional responsibility? … Continue reading On Capacity for Care
Life is not easy. As my dear friend put it this past weekend, it's like a coin with two sides: love and grief. The older I get, and the more I experience, the more I find this to be true. Nothing on this planet is permanent, including our loved ones. The longer we live, the … Continue reading On Expecting the Worst
Jordan and I excel at making our lives more difficult than they need to be. Maybe it's the product of a chaotic past decade that we don't know how to come down off of. Or a desire to distract ourselves from more difficult tasks. Whatever the reason, sometimes we make choices that I look back … Continue reading On Planting 208 Baby Trees
For some reason--despite years and years of doing it and a year as the co-President of the Sustainable Foods club (and thus co-director of the campus community garden)--gardening has never felt in my comfort zone. The concept is simple: you stick plants in the ground. You give them sunlight and water. And if the conditions … Continue reading On Travails in the Garden
Warning: this post contains spoilers to Little Birds and Other Small Magic. Read at your own discrection. One of the most common questions I get about Little Birds and Other Small Magic is how much of the story and characters are based on events and people in real life. The answer: a lot. I stole … Continue reading On Stealing from the Real World in Writing Fiction
To start, a disclaimer: I am not currently pregnant. I'm writing this post for a dear friend, who asked me to show her the lovely parts of pregnancy and childbirth, instead of just the hard parts, as they prepare to grow their family. I also want to be clear that pregnancy is 9 months of … Continue reading On the Poignance of Pregnancy
Jordan and I are ten years into our relationship, and in those ten years, we've lived in four different states and six different towns. Each place we've lived has had a unique culture, one that slowly revealed itself to us over the passing days and interactions. There was Burnsville, Minnesota, with its teeming highways and … Continue reading On Family Culture
Over the last two months, I've been cranking on the sequel to Little Birds. Of course, as a parent to three small children and full time communications director, cranking looks a little bit different these days. Lately, it means choosing between knitting and writing each evening after we've gotten the kids into bed, or waking … Continue reading On Cranking Out Words
Feathery Thoughts 