If you’re the kind of person that tends to feel guilty about things, there are two thing you can do. 1. work on guilt issues. 2. avoid doing things you’ll feel guilty about. My sister called this morning, her son had gotten his foot stuck in the wheel of her bike. She needed to go […]
moreI was asked to write a column about 'feeling at home.' As mentioned before, I have always had a lot to say about the topic. But writing this column proved to be pretty hard. It's such a complex subject and hard to catch within a few hundred words. Oftentimes, borrowing on a non-fictional event or […]
moreI hardly ever think of my grandpas. I had two. My dad’s father walked out on his family when my dad was 11. We hardly ever saw him. When we did, he gave us cheese-puffs. I was allowed to play on his Hammond. I am still angry at my cousin for taking that Hammond after […]
moreDuring a recent reunion with five friends from high school (we hadn’t seen eachother in twenty years), we discussed what items we still had from those days. Photos, diaries, letters, notes, Tshirts, year books, that kind of thing. I have very little as since then I have moved around a lot. Therefore, I couldn’t recall […]
moreThe continuous smell of smoke. The rattling sound of dice. I lean over our balcony to verify: indeed, she is back. That skinny, short-haired, fourty-something woman has returned. And so has their life they had together for a short while. The chain-smoking, their playing backgammon or scrabble, and therefore not having to say a word […]
moreA few years ago, my friend emailed me that his father had died. I told him he had to go to his Dad's funeral. "I can't," he said. "Why?" "I'm afraid," he said. "I know you are but you have to." Somehow, I was convinced he'd regret it for the rest of his life if […]
moreThe screenplay I’ve been writing together with a director -who is also a dear friend of mine- is about to be fired off into the world of financing. Half the financing is already in place. Which means just about now comes the time when I’m to make a graceful exit. This is when screenwriters tend […]
moreIn the playground recently, I told my son “five more minutes.” We left half an hour later. The sun was shining. Simply being there, watching him and doing nothing in particular was fine. As a little girl, five more minutes of swimming felt really, really long. Only a few years later, five minutes went by […]
moreIn a flash I could see what had happened. Someone was hanging from my shower. A man. He wasn’t all that big it seemed. Round glasses. Pleated pants. After that, I didn’t dare look in any mirrors for fear of what else I’d see.While packing my things the next morning I decided to ask the owner […]
moreI am reading a writer’s diary. At one stage he describes a narrow escape he experienced and how everyone has them all the time, without necessarily knowing it. I wondered whether I’d had any.Instantly, an image sprung to mind. It was a memory I never knew I had. Lago de Garda, 16 years old. My […]
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