a bottle of poison sits alone

Whose opinions of me matter?

A moment of self-awareness demands that I admit that I have a problem saying ‘no’ to good ideas. If there’s something that my time/effort/attention could make better for the world or another person (or lots of people), I’m apt to knee-jerk commit to the project with little reflection on whether, realistically, I have the time …

Judgy cat sits in judgment of you.

Never, ever read the comments

When I first started this newest iteration of liznorell.com and started blogging right here on this site, I was pretty excited about the ability to have conversations on the page. Because I actively don’t want fame — I dread it, in fact — I never anticipated that the comments on my blog would become hotbeds …

gnocchi

Gnocchi, with a side of frustration

In Atlanta for an Enneagram workshop on the instincts (sidebar: FASCINATING STUFF), I took myself to Mirko Pasta for dinner tonight. As is often the case when I eat alone, I pulled out some reading material — first, some student response papers that need feedback, then (once my food arrived) a novel on my Kindle …

Just say no!

My ‘I don’t’ list.

A friend recently shared this article on Facebook: Every woman has an ‘I Don’t’ list. And it’s about time we shared them. TL;DR? Women today feel the need to appear to be doing ALL. THE. THINGS. … even as we inwardly feel certain we’re not enough, because we aren’t squeezing productivity out of every single …

pages of a book

Going to battle with Resistance

I’m leaving later today to attend a week-long writing retreat with Jen Louden (in Taos, New Mexico, squee!) Writing that sentence immediately sparks fear, anxiety, and excitement in me … a flutter just below my sternum that is probably the reason I haven’t slept more than about six hours a night (WAY TOO LITTLE for …

to do

Let’s just be real for a moment…

Too often, I feel like I come to my Facebook community, my blog, or my podcast with thoughts I’ve mulled over at length and tied up into a neat package for public consumption. But today? I just don’t have that. Instead, meet the messy middle. I had a rough week… one marked with little pockets …

I am grateful

Acknowledgements

After an incredibly tortuous journey, in August 2014 I defended my dissertation and officially earned my Ph.D., which would be conferred at some point later on. While I’m proud of my tenacity and proud of the research and writing I did, there’s no question that the best part of the whole process was getting to …

what if failure IS an option?!

Why I’m ok with failing

Ok, so, honestly? That title is aspirational. I’m really not someone who runs out into the street, arms stretched wide, yelling, “C’mon, failure! Just try to knock me over!” But last night, while I was attending the Chattanooga Women’s Leadership Initiative IMPACT dinner with colleagues from Chattanooga State, the BBC’s Katty Kay said, “Robots are …