Tag: writing

Thank You to Jimmy Greenfield for Helping Me to Retire with Purpose

Back in September of 2013, Jimmy Greenfield gave a confused recent retiree a voice and a purpose. That floundering soul was me. When Jimmy helped me begin blogging on ChicagoNow, I was one grateful 68-year-old woman who was struggling with the loss of my identity after retiring as the founding director of Cherry Preschool. When... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
December 11, 2017 at 1:28 pm • 

Retired: The Forever Young Generation Retools

(Or why a seventy-year-old woman wrote her first book) My younger brother just retired. So did my husband’s younger sister. Like me back in May of 2013, when I finally really retired from Cherry Preschool, after breathing a sigh of relief, they are asking, “Now what?” I’m not sure how to answer that question. Every... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
June 20, 2016 at 5:05 pm • 

My book is now available on Amazon!

Who writes her first book at age seventy? That would be me. Terribly Strange and Wonderfully Real is a collection of essays speaking to and for baby boomers, a generation transitioning to senior citizenship. My essays catalog the strangeness of turning seventy and becoming the family matriarch, coupled with the wonders of adapting to an... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
May 18, 2016 at 3:06 pm • 
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About Writing: My November Writer's Block

#MyMindIsShot&WeNeedGroceries…MaybeTomorrow? Yes, I actually wrote that in an email as an excuse for not working on my book or writing something for my blog yesterday. Totally embarrassing and totally true.  Lately, I have found it much easier to stumble through Jewel than come up with an original thought. ChicagoNow Community Manager Jimmy Greenfield recently posed... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
November 24, 2015 at 8:02 am • 

It's October: Time to Stop Writing About Writing and Just Write

Today seems like the perfect day to wrap up my version of Bridget Jones’s Diary for Seniors (AKA Writing My Book). There’s a nip of fall in the air and I want to resume advocating. So many things are happening that compel me to advocate. This week alone, Blue Cross decided to cancel the Obamacare... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
October 1, 2015 at 2:05 pm • 

Writing my Book: Summer Vacation is Done but my Book is Not

My writing journal (AKA Bridget Jones’s Diary for Seniors) for the last two weeks of August reflects a fried brain (mine) waiting for September to impose some order to life. Over the summer, I had discovered that writing a book is a process that ebbs and flows like the waves on the beach. Speaking of the... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
September 15, 2015 at 7:24 am • 
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I'm Writing This Book for my Mom

When I started this book writing project, I really thought I could do it over the summer. LOL. This kind of writing is is so much harder than I thought it would be. In this Monday’s installment of my writing journal (AKA Bridget Jones’s Diary for Seniors), it finally dawns on me why I started... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
August 31, 2015 at 8:48 am • 

Writing my Book: July...not so Productive

OK, this was totally predictable. Who told me summer was a good time to write a book? Why did I not even consider the possibility that first drafts are easy for me but actual writing requires revision and more revision? I am finally conceding that I welcome the interruptions. Ideas and first drafts are totally... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
August 24, 2015 at 10:08 am • 

Why I Can't Overcome my Addiction to Blogging to Write a Book

If you are still following my Monday morning chronicle of my efforts to write a book, you are probably thinking she’ll never do it. I don’t blame you. As the calendar flipped from June to July, I was still battling my vow to stop blogging, or at the very least, to blog less frequently. And... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
August 17, 2015 at 9:47 am • 
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Writing a Book: When my Granddaughter's Photos Become the Story

When I was working as the director of Cherry Preschool, one of the maxims I followed was “the interruptions are the job.” Writing isn’t that different. Often, the disruptions become the story. So while my day may total a big fat zero for writing my book, blogging about my granddaughter’s passion for photography inspires me to return to... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
August 10, 2015 at 10:43 am •