Month: September 2026

Sit, Cinderella, Sit

Posted on by Wendy Kennar
Paperback book with red background, yellow letters, and photos of a dog

I enjoy reading memoir. Not only because I write memoir and personal essay, but because I’m curious, and I enjoy learning about someone else’s life story. 

And I’m lucky because, through the gift of a memoir, I get that front-row seat to someone else’s lived experience. The author generously shares a moment (or several moments) in their life with me, the reader. Maybe they hope their story will resonate with me. Maybe they’re hoping their story will contribute an additional perspective to a conversation already happening in society. Maybe they hope their memoir will serve as a bridge, connecting readers and the author to each other. 

As a reader of memoir, I gain insight into the emotions and experiences of other human beings. And I like to think those insights make me a more compassionate member of the human race. 

Which brings me to the topic of this week’s blog post — Sit, Cinderella, Sit: A Mostly True Memoir written by Lisa Cheek. 

Ms. Cheek’s memoir really did give me an awareness of a career, a trip, a life that I may never have otherwise learned about. 

Sit, Cinderella, Sit is the story of an editor (of television commercials and films).

Sit, Cinderella, Sit is the story of a dog owner and dog lover.

Sit, Cinderella, Sit is the story of a woman who doesn’t speak Chinese spending several months in China for work. 

Allow me to share some of my favorite passages:

“For me, coffee was a necessary luxury. It was how I spoiled myself. Between the anticipation, the event, and the enjoyment, it was life at its finest. Coffee was the most important ritual of the day. It was like prayer. It brought me back to life each morning. Got the juices flowing. Made me take a second, third, and fourth look at things. I felt like I could do anything after a really good cup of coffee.”

I loved the author’s unique descriptions: 

“His tail wagged like a windshield wiper in a rainstorm.”

“I stepped over an overflowing trash can. A black banana peel thrown over the top, looking like a dead octopus in a sea of trash, stared back at me.”

“Mounds of clementine oranges in bright, wrinkly skins with stems and leaves still attached appeared just picked.”

“She had a square face and two triangle ears, which folded over like a pita bread sandwich that matched the color of her heart marking.”

“With the calmness of a bomb expert and the focus of a tightrope walker, Vin rode the edge of that cliff with the speed of a race car driver.”

“…I took in the lush colors — a masterpiece in nature. Saturated in mist, the mountains became a deep velvety brown, less jagged and harsh, soft like a watercolor. Terraced lime-green rice fields bathed in drizzle with golden yellow flowers sprinkled throughout. Far below, the swirling blueish-green Yangtze rushed along the banks, forceful and impatient, on its way to its next destination.”

“I’d lived alone my whole adult life, until Ron Howard moved in, so sharing a house with thirteen men who didn’t speak English was something I never even knew one could do. But here I was — in the middle of Shaxi, in a guesthouse just off the main square, living with a baker’s dozen.” (Note – Ron Howard is the author’s dog.)

“Soon the song changed to ‘Thriller,’ which brought the whole party out to the sunken garden. Everyone knew all the dance moves — each movement made with the exactness of Jackson himself. No one missed a beat. Not a limb was out of place. It was a performance the icon himself would have been proud of.” 

“Here, in a tiny village thousands of years old in the middle of nowhere, Michael Jackson’s music and dance was the language we all knew. It connected us in a way that no spoken word ever could or would.”

“… I thought about all the people who had loved and cared for me, who didn’t speak a word of English, yet there was so much deep communication — heartfelt communication. Kindness is the universal language and can be spoken anywhere without uttering a word. It’s the magic in our lives.”

Title page of a book, with a personalized message to me, signed by the author

Note — this memoir was published in 2025. Ms. Cheek’s second memoir, The Big Day: Saying “I Do” Only to Discover I Didn’t will be published next week and is available for pre-order now. 

Please note: I am including a link to buy the book that I’m highlighting this week. If you use my link, I do make a small commission on your purchase at no additional cost to you. I am working with Bookshop.org which also sends a portion of the profit to support local, independent bookstores.


My Worst Qualities

Posted on by Wendy Kennar
Black page with white letters, ending with orange letters and the words "Keep Moving."

Since June, my life has been full and busy. Filled with devastating lows and incredible highs. 

In the midst of all of it, though, I feel like I’m losing part of myself. 

So when I turned the calendar page to September, I set a goal for myself: to complete thirty five-minute writing exercises, one for each day of September. 

(Note – This isn’t the first time I have written blog posts about five-minute writing exercises. Here’s a link to a post I wrote about them back in August of 2025.)

While my goal seemed completely doable, I’ve already missed some days. 

And you know what? I did something I rarely do. 

I cut myself some slack. I didn’t make myself write at 11:00 pm, when I struggled just to keep my eyes open. 

I just accepted it — I missed a few days. 

But, I’ve also written a few days. 

I’ve been using some of the prompts from Keep Moving – The Journal by Maggie Smith as my starting-off point for these writing exercises.

The prompt I wrote to the other day has stayed with me: “What are some of your ‘worst’ qualities?”

Since I’m publishing my memoir in Spring 2028, I started thinking about what you’ll learn about me from my book. And, what you won’t learn about me. 

This week, I wanted to share with you a more complete idea of who I am, beyond the identities of former teacher, mother, wife, and current chronic illness patient. 

One paper with black letters with the writing prompt: What are some of your 'worst' qualities?

Here then is my response to “What are some of your ‘worst’ qualities?”:

– I find it difficult to say No.

– I am always trying to please those closest to me.

– I do not put my own needs, my own self-care, at the top of any of my to-do lists.

– My Monica Geller-like ways. (In case you don’t know, Monica Geller was the fictional character on Friends portrayed by Courteney Cox.) For example, the way I load the dishwasher. Then, the way I empty the dishwasher and attempt to circulate our dishes, so the just-washed plates go at the bottom of the stack of dishes.

– My aversion to conflict. Which means I don’t always express my anger, my frustration, and/or my disappointment in the moment.

– My tendency to over-apologize, especially for things I have no control over. (Like apologizing for all the traffic when our family is headed out somewhere.)

– The way I’m always focused on work before pleasure. 

– My inclination to wait around for someone to offer me and give me what I’d like, instead of me having to come out and ask for it. (And I don’t mean giving me a physical item, but giving me a break from making dinner, for instance.)

Thank you, friends, for reading. 

I’d love to know more about you — what do you consider to be one of your “worst” qualities? Feel free to share in the comments, if you feel comfortable doing so. 

Please note: I am including a link to buy the book that I’m highlighting this week. If you use my link, I do make a small commission on your purchase at no additional cost to you. I am working with Bookshop.org which also sends a portion of the profit to support local, independent bookstores.


It’s Pain Awareness Month

Posted on by Wendy Kennar
Can you tell I'm in pain?

September is Pain Awareness Month. 

But what the heck does that even mean? Because when you live with chronic pain, you’re managing it and trying to handle it 24 hours a day/7 days a week/365 days a year.  

Pain is complicated, because no one can ever truly know someone else’s pain. Plus, there’s this inclination to compare pain, to determine if someone else “has it worse” or someone else’s pain “isn’t as bad” which is all pointless. Pain is pain.

Many years ago, I participated in a very small (three patients including myself) chronic pain support group. I remember something the therapist said at the time, something that I often need to remind myself of — there could be a terrible, horrific natural disaster somewhere on the planet. Mass destruction. Severe injuries. (Which, as I write this, I can think of several instances from just the last week alone.) And, at the same time, if I fell and broke my leg, for example, I would absolutely be in pain. This therapist helped me see that my pain is no less valid simply because my situation and circumstances are different from someone else’s. I shouldn’t try to hide my pain or discount my pain because I think someone else’s pain is more intense than mine. 

Maybe that’s also the point of Pain Awareness Month. 

In the past, I’ve written blog posts suggesting Pain Awareness Month is for the general population of folks who don’t live with everyday pain. This year, however, I’m thinking I am also the target audience of Pain Awareness Month. Because I’ve gotten so used to being in pain, I don’t take the time to acknowledge my own efforts. I don’t just sweep the patio and water the plants, for instance. I sweep the patio and water the plants while my left calf feels like it’s stuck in a perpetual charley horse. I don’t just stand at the stove preparing dinner. I’m standing at the stove while my thigh aches, a painful sensation that has been with me since I woke up that morning. 

Yes, we need to practice kindness towards others, because you never really know what someone else is going through, and let’s face it, everyone is going through something. 

But also, I need to practice some kindness towards myself. 

I’m working on it.