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Barbara Falconer Newhall

Veteran journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall riffs on life as she knows it.

  • A CASE OF THE HUMAN CONDITION
  • MY EVER-CHANGING FAMILY
  • WRITING & READING
  • MY ROCKY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
  • WIDOWED
  • FUNNY BUTTON

writing

Widowed: My Husband Is the Hero of My Next Book

November 8, 2025 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

widowed My husband is the hero of my next book man-with-toddler-on-shoulers

My husband is the hero of my next book. I wanted it all — family and career. And Jon made it possible. Read more.

Linguist Anne Curzan: Grammar That’s Funner Than Ever

September 13, 2025 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

says-who-book-cover-curzan

A kindly University of Michigan linguist, Anne Curzan, makes grammar funner than ever with her new guide to usage, “Says Who.”  Read more.

I Write. Therefore, I Procrastinate. Why?

July 18, 2025 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

i-write-therefore-i-procrastinate-why barbara-falconer-newhall-at-a-writing-retreat

I write. Therefore, I procrastinate. Why? Could the thing I have in mind to write be too big, too gleaming, too unattainable?  Read more.

My Mother’s Writing Desk Is Not My Writing Desk. Here’s Why

February 22, 2025 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

ink-stain-in-an-old-desk-drawer

Being in the same room with my mother’s writing desk is like being in the same room with my mother, which is why her desk isn’t in my writing room.  Read more.

Happily Retired? Take the Quiz

January 25, 2025 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

happily-retired-doing-crossword

Retired, I’ve decided, is an attitude. It’s a state of mind, a state of equanimity. You can have that attitude whether you’re still working or you’ve clocked your last forty-hour work-week.  Read more.

Am I an Artist? Or Am I a Brand?

January 18, 2025 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

am i an artist or am i a brand barbara-falconer-newhall-writer-FB-page

What kind of writer am I anyway? When I sit down to the keyboard, is it to write something beautiful — or something that will sell?  Am I an artist? Or am I a brand?  Read more.

Widowed: I’ve Been Writing a Memoir in Essays All This Time

September 14, 2024 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

memoir in essays widowed

For three-plus years, I’ve been writing blog posts about being widowed. Do I have the makings of a memoir in essays?  Read more.
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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

For China’s Young Fashionistas the Cultural Revolution Is So Over

Two teenaged Chinese girls getting their picture taken in Beijing. One has dyed her hair orange.

Until very recently, when I thought of China, I didn’t think of fun. I thought of the Cultural Revolution of the ’60s and ’70s, when traditional Chinese men were forced to cut off their queues, and intellectuals were banished to the countryside to till the soil and be reeducated into the proletariat.

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TO MY READERS

Please feel free to share links to my posts with one and all and to quote briefly from them in your own writing, remembering, of course, to attribute the quote to me and to provide a link back to this site.

My Oakland Tribune columns, btw, are reprinted by permission of the Trib. With the exception of review copies of books, I do not accept ads or freebies of any kind. Click on the "Contact" button if you have questions. Enjoy!

 

DON’T MISS!

Perdita by Frederick Sandys is on the cover of Patricia Monaghan's Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines, 2014.

A Thousand Goddesses–Some Nice, Some Not So Nice–Take Your Pick

"Garden Party," by Amy Roman Vassar, San Francisco. A floral commen on Frank Stella's "Lettre sur les aveuglesII, 1974. At the de Young Museum Bouquets to Art 2017. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Bouquets to Art 2017 — Seduced by Those Quirky, Charming Boxed Bouquets

balega-socks

Writing Tips From a Famous Author — I Put on My Best Socks to Get Them

Leaves, Twigs and Seeds at the de Young — It’s Art, but Is It a Bouquet?

MORE DON'T MISS!

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